born Aug. 26, 1899/1900, Oaxaca, Mex.
died June 24, 1991, Mexico City
Mexican painter and graphic artist.
He studied at Mexico City's School of Fine Arts and then taught at the National Museum of Archaeology (192126). He preferred easel painting to the monumental proportions and political rhetoric of José Clemente Orozco , Diego Rivera , and David Alfaro Siqueiros . His distinctive style blended Cubism and Surrealism with Mexican folk-art subjects involving semiabstract figures, still lifes, and animals in vibrant colours. From 1936 he lived principally in New York City. In 1950 an exhibition at the Venice Biennale brought him international recognition. He designed murals for Mexico City's Palace of Fine Arts (195253) and UNESCO's Paris headquarters (1958). In 1974 he donated his collection of pre-Hispanic art to his native Oaxaca.