"Familia" Bronze Sculpture by Francisco Zuniga
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"Familia" Bronze Sculpture by Francisco Zuniga
About the Item
1912-1998 · Costa Rican-Mexican
Familia
Patinated bronze
Marked "Zúñiga III/V" and dated 1974
23" wide x 13" deep x 15" high
This work is registered with # 717 page 417 of the Francisco Zúñiga Catalogue Raisonné, Volume I, Sculpture 1923-1993.
This evocative bronze group is the work of celebrated Costa Rican-Mexican sculptor Francisco Zúñiga, who is considered to be the best sculptor of the Mexican political modern style. Entitled Familia, this stunning piece comprises a man, woman and child whose bodies, and lives, are symbolically connected. Zúñiga originally intended to sculpt this piece in a large size for the National Insurance Institute of San Jose, Costa Rica, but the Institute preferred a more traditional work. It is the third of only five cast. This piece is one of the most exceptional examples of Zúñiga's tactile skill for portraying the human figure and reveals his deep respect for Central American people and traditions. It exudes warmth and life. Zúñiga mainly focused on full-bodied female nudes, and this is one of a very few groupings of his that includes an adult male nude.
Zúñiga is one of the most important sculptors of Central American art in the 20th century, and was known both for his painting and his sculpture. The son of a sculptor of religious statues, he received his early training in carving, as well as drawing and painting, while acting as his father's assistant. Though influenced by Renaissance art early on, he soon began to study natural subjects and completed his education at the School of Fine Arts in San Jose. Later, in 1936, he studied stone carving at La Esmeralda in Mexico City, where he served on the faculty until 1970. Incorporating primitive Aztec forms into the classical style, he helped to create a regionalized style, one that focused on the bodies and forms of the natives of Central America. By celebrating body types and poses unfamiliar to classical sculpture, Zúñiga expanded boundaries of representational art.
Gaining recognition in his native Costa Rica, then Mexico, Zúñiga soon achieved fame in the United States and abroad, where museums like the Metropolitan Museum of Art both purchased and exhibited his work. In 1935, he won his first Central American prize for sculpture. During the 1940s, Zúñiga also exhibited his work in several other cities in the United States. Besides his smaller paintings and sculpture, his works can also be seen in numerous permanent installations in public buildings and gardens.
Zúñiga was the recipient of numerous international prizes and awards, and his work may be found in the permanent collections of 29 museums throughout the world, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art New York, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Franklin D. Murphy Sculpture Garden at the University of California Los Angeles, and the Mexican Museum of San Francisco. During the last phase of his career, Zúñiga continued creating and participating in exhibitions and large commissions, mostly in Mexico where he lived until his death in 1998. Reference:
Francisco Zuñiga Catalogue Raisonné, Volume I, Sculpture 1923-1993, 1999, Albedrío/ Zúñiga Laborde Foundation, A.C.
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