Francisco Corzas

Art Brokerage: Francisco Corzas Mexican Artist: b. 1936-1983. Francisco Corzas Chávez (October 4, 1936 - September 15, 1983) was a Mexican painter and printmaker, part of the Generación de la Ruptura. He was born in a very poor family but managed to study art in both Mexico and Italy, beginning his art career in Europe. He moved back to Mexico in the 1960s, but kept career ties in Europe with several commissions as well as exhibitions. Although he was a prolific creator, there are only about 1,500 of his works in existence because of his early death at age 47. His works can be found in museums and private collections in Europe (including the Vatican) and Mexico. He had fourteen individual exhibitions and participated in forty three in various countries of the world including Rome, Florence, Venice, Belgrade, Prague, Brussels, Vienna, New Delhi, Mumbai, Osaka, New York, San Antonio, Los Angeles, Montreal, Bogota, Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro and Santiago de Chile. The first individual exhibition was at the YMCA in Rome in 1958, followed by another at the Trentadue Gallery in Milan and various collective exhibitions. When he returned to Mexico he initially showed his work at the Antonio Souza Gallery. However, his first important exhibition was that of large-scale figurative works at the Galería Misrachi in 1962. By 1972, he was important enough to warrant a retrospective at the Palacio de Bellas Artes called “Francisco Corzas, 1962-1972, followed by an individual show at the Museo de Arte Moderno in 1976. Francisco Corzas is considered to be part of Mexico's Generación de la Ruptura, the generations of artists in the 20th century who rebelled against the artistic and political precepts of Mexican muralism. These artists experimented with other forms of expression. In Corzas case, a new kind of figurative expression that left much of the definition to the imagination, especially the background, giving the works an ethereal quality. He was a prolific artist that worked on several projects at a time. He always painted with a drink at hand, listening to operatic arias at full volume. Corzas described his work as impressionism, with strong influence from Goya; however, it was also been classified as expressionism. Corzas’ strongest influence on his artistic development came from his time in Italy and his study of European movements from the Renaissance, to Baroque, to Mannerism and the more modern avant garde. Among the painters Corzas most admired was Correggio, Veronese, Tintoretto, Velazquez and especially Goya. He even signed some of his very early works with the pseudonym of “Goya. He was profoundly attracted by the past and images from the past often appeared in his work such as figures in old fashioned garments and large hats. His preferred themes included sensual and erotic female nudes, among the best being melancholic, sadly beautiful women among faded colors that suggest a bed or a shawl. Listings wanted.