Francisco Zúñiga

José Jesús Francisco Zúñiga Chavarría (December 27, 1912 – August 9, 1998[1]) was a Costa Rican-born Mexican artist, known both for his painting and his sculpture.

As part of his self-study, he studied German Expressionism and the writings of Alexander Heilmayer, through which he learned of the work of two French sculptors, Aristide Maillol and Auguste Rodin, coming to appreciate the idea of subordinating technique to expression.

[5] He did some formal study at La Escuela de Talla Directa, working with Guillermo Ruiz, sculptor Oliverio Martínez, and painter Rodríguez Lozano.

[7] In 1937 he worked as an assistant to Oliverio Martínez on the Monument to the Revolution, the re-imagined building that had begun as the Federal Legislative Palace conceived during the regime of Porfirio Díaz.

[5] In 1971, he received the Acquisition Prize at the 1971 Biennial of Open Air Sculpture of Middelheim in Antwerp, Belgium.

In 1975 twenty of his drawings with the Misrachi Gallery obtained the silver medal at the International Book Exposition of Leipzig.

[5] Near the end of his life, illness left him nearly blind, which caused him to shift his artistic work to terra cotta, using his hands to create the lines.

[5] Zúñiga created over thirty five public sculptures, such as the monument to poet Ramón López Velarde in the city of Zacatecas and others dedicated to Mexican heroes.

He was also strongly influenced by pre Hispanic art, spending significant time sketching pieces in museums, along with images of women in traditional markets, feeling that they represented maternity and familial responsibility.