Alfonso V Peña

Alfonso X Peña - Idealized Young Mexican Couple - Watercolor and Ink on Paper P2935

Regular price $750.00

An absolutely breathtaking image, erotic and elegant, a vision of Mexican beauty  to set beside people's dreams of Polynesia. Very much in the deco style, beautifully assimilating the folkloric. We really admire the range, humanity and sheer gorgeousness of this seminal Mexican artist's work.

Art measures 11" x 15", frame 20" x 24".

Peña caricatured by his friend AB Arias.

 Biography from Morton Casa de Subastas

From a family with great artistic inclinations, Alfonso X. Peña began his career as a caricaturist in the newspaper El Mundo de Tampico and later moved to Mexico City to join the Academy of San Carlos.

In search of better opportunities, he migrated to New York to complete his studies. It was during that time where he perfected his drawing technique and skill in handling color. He then traveled to Europe, where he did most of his work. At that time, there was a special interest in Mexican folklore abroad, Alfonso X. Peña same advantage to adapt his work to the stereotypical idealization of the country.

In his murals, watercolors and oil paintings, scenes with peasants, indigenous, pastoral landscapes and small-town festivals are shown, which were well received by the European public. This did obtain official commissions to paint murals in Paris, Los Angeles and Caracas as well as important exhibitions in Italy and France.

In 1950 he received the medal José Clemente Orozco and seven years later won the gold medal as a muralist in the International Exhibition of Paris.

Sources: QUINTANAR, Beatriz. "Alfonso X. Peña, painter and bohemian heart." Mexico. Aeromexico Tips magazine, No. 30, Spring 2004. CRUZ Porchini, Dafne. "Alfonso X. Peña: Mexican painter". Houston. ICAA Museum of Fine Arts Houston, section Documents of 20th-century Latin American and Latino Art.

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