{{Short description|Mexican artist (1918–2014)}} {{Family name hatnote|lang=Spanish|Nishizawa|Flores}} {{Infobox artist | name = Luis Nishizawa | image = Luis Nishizawa (crop).jpg | caption = Luis Nishizawa in 2006 | birth_name = Luis Nishizawa Flores | birth_date = {{birth date|1918|2|2}} | birth_place = [[Cuautitlán]], State of Mexico, Mexico | death_date = {{death date and age|2014|9|29|1918|2|2}} | death_place = [[Toluca]], State of Mexico, Mexico | resting_place = | field = Painting (landscapes, murals), ceramics | training = [[Academy of San Carlos]] | movement = [[Mexican muralism]], [[Expressionism]], [[Abstract art]], [[Figurativism]], [[Engraving]] | works = | spouse = Eva Zepeda | patrons = | awards = }}
'''Luis Nishizawa Flores''' (February 2, 1918 – September 29, 2014) was a [[Mexicans|Mexican]] artist known for his landscape work and murals, which often show Japanese and Mexican influence. He began formal training as an artist in 1942 at the height of the [[Mexican muralism|Mexican muralism movement]] but studied other painting styles as well as [[Japanese art]].
In addition to painting canvases and murals, including murals made with ceramics, he was a professor of fine arts at the [[Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México|National Autonomous University of Mexico]] (UNAM) from which he received an honorary doctorate. The [[State of Mexico]], where he was born, created the Museo Taller Luis Nishizawa in [[Toluca]] to honor and promote his life's work.
==Biography== Luis Nishizawa Flores was born on February 2, 1918, at the San Mateo Ixtacalco Hacienda in the municipality of [[Cuautitlán]], State of Mexico.<ref name="pnacional">{{cite web |url=http://www.pnca.sep.gob.mx/luis_nishizawa.html |title=Luis Nishizawa |publisher=Premio Nacional de Ciencias y Artes |location=Mexico |language=es |access-date=June 4, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141006081159/http://www.pnca.sep.gob.mx/luis_nishizawa.html |archive-date=October 6, 2014 }}</ref><ref name="94años">{{cite news |title=Luis Nishizawa cumplió 94 fructíferos años |author=Lilián Anaya |url=http://www.eluniversaledomex.mx/toluca/nota27120.html |newspaper=El Universo Estado de México |location=Toluca |date=February 3, 2012 |access-date=June 4, 2012 |language=es |trans-title=Luis Nishizawa celebrates 94 fruitful years |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170530075359/http://www.eluniversaledomex.mx/toluca/nota27120.html |archive-date=May 30, 2017 |url-status=dead }}</ref> His father, Kenji Nishizawa, was Japanese and his mother, María de Jesús Flores, was Mexican.<ref name="90años">{{cite news |title= Homenajean a Luis Nishizawa por sus 90 años de vida |url= https://www.informador.mx/Entretenimiento/Homenajean-a-Luis-Nishizawa-por-sus-90-anos-de-vida-20080408-0060.html |newspaper= El Informador |location=Guadalajara, Mexico |date=April 8, 2008 |access-date=June 4, 2012 |language=es |trans-title=Pay homage to Luis Nishizawa for his 90 years of life }}</ref><ref name="mexiquense">{{cite news |title= Centro Mexiquense dedica mes a Luis Nishizawa |url= http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/notas/826504.html |newspaper= El Universal |location=Mexico City |date=January 30, 2012 |access-date=June 4, 2012 |language=es |trans-title=Centro Mexiquense dedicates month to Luis Nishizawa }}</ref> Since he was a child, he was introverted and solitary, spending his childhood tending cattle for his family.<ref name="94años"/> The family moved to [[Mexico City]] in 1925, where Nishizawa learned to create jewelry and studied music with a teacher named Rodolfo Halfter.<ref name="bicentenario">{{cite web |url=http://qacontent.edomex.gob.mx/bicentenario/historia/mexiquenses/luis_nishizawa/index.htm |title=Luis Nishizawa |publisher=State of Mexico |location=Mexico |language=es |access-date=June 4, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130731125157/http://qacontent.edomex.gob.mx/bicentenario/historia/mexiquenses/luis_nishizawa/index.htm |archive-date=July 31, 2013 }}</ref>
[[File:Funeral de Luis Nishizawa.jpg|thumbnail|300px|left|Funeral of Luis Nishizawa. President [[Enrique Peña Nieto]] (right) attended to pay his respects.]]
Although he had interest in art at age 15, he began artistic training at the [[Academy of San Carlos]] in 1942, when he was 24, at the height of the [[Mexican muralism|Mexican muralism movement]].<ref name="94años"/><ref name="mexiquense"/> He learned to paint landscapes as well as abstract art and graphics with an interest in the art tradition of Japan.<ref name="94años"/> Either as teachers or working for them as assistants, Nishizawa had various mentors such as [[José María Velasco Gómez|José María Velasco]], [[Julio Castellanos]], [[José Chávez Morado]], [[Alfredo Zalce]] and Benjamin Correa.<ref name="90años" /><ref name="festeja">{{cite news |title= Festeja Luis Nishizawa 50 anos de arte |author= Martha Valdespino |newspaper= Reforma |location=Mexico City |date=January 5, 1999 |page=16 |language=es |trans-title=Luis Nishizawa celebrates 50 year of art }}</ref> Although nationalism was the prevailing sentiment in artistic production in the 1940s, he studied other movements such as [[expressionism]], [[abstract art]] and [[figurativism]] as well.<ref name="bicentenario"/> He received his master's degree in fine arts in 1947.<ref name="pnacional"/><ref name="bicentenario"/>
In 1955, he began teaching art at the UNAM's [[Faculty of Arts and Design|National School of Plastic Arts]].<ref name="pnacional"/>
In 1963, he studied engraving with [[Yukio Fukazawa]] and took another course in engraving at the Center for Japanese Artists in Tokyo.<ref name="pnacional"/>
He married Eva Zepeda in 1964, with whom he had four children.<ref name="festeja"/>
Luis Nishizawa died in Toluca, State of Mexico, on September 29, 2014, at age 96.<ref>[http://www.abc.es/agencias/noticia.asp?noticia=1680748 "El pintor mexicano Luis Nishizawa fallece a los 96 años de edad"] ABC.es September 30, 2014</ref>
==Career== [[File:Obra_de_Nishizawa.JPG|thumb|left|250px|Art by Nishizawa]] Nishizawa was a painter, engraver, graphic artist, sketch artist and ceramicist.<ref name="pnacional"/> His techniques included drawing, watercolor and ink.<ref name="mexiquense"/> Most of his works depict landscapes of the central highlands of Mexico such as the [[Valley of Mexico]], areas in [[Morelos]], [[Guanajuato]], [[Puebla]] and the [[State of Mexico]].<ref name="festeja"/> He is considered to have been one of Mexico's best landscape artists, known for his paintings of volcanoes.<ref name="justicia">{{cite news |title= Inauguran un mural del mexicano Luis Nishizawa en la Corte Suprema de México |url= https://www.informador.mx/Entretenimiento/Inauguran-un-mural-del-mexicano-Luis-Nishizawa-en-la-Corte-Suprema-de-Mexico-20080421-0073.html |newspaper= El Informador |location=Guadalajara, Mexico |date=April 21, 2008 |access-date=June 4, 2012 |language=es |trans-title=Inaugurate mural by Mexican Luis Nishizawa at the Supreme Court of Mexico }}</ref> Some of his more important canvases include ''Paisaje: Valle de México'' (1947), ''Paisaje de Yagul'' (1976) and ''Pátzcuaro'' (1960) where the blending of this Mexican and Japanese heritage and training are evident.<ref name="crecien">{{cite news |title= Crecí en la tradición de los paisajes a tinta: Luis Nishizawa |author=Fabiola Palapa Quijas |url= http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2008/03/12/index.php?section=cultura&article=a03n1cul |newspaper= La Jornada |location=Mexico City |date=March 12, 2012 |access-date=June 4, 2012 |language=es |trans-title=I grew up in the tradition of landscapes in ink: Luis Nishizawa }}</ref> His works have been exhibited in the [[Museo de Arte Moderno]] for over forty years, but most of his works can be found in the permanent collection of the Museo Taller Nishizawa.<ref name="90años"/> He created murals, paintings, drawings, ceramic and glass pieces and sculpture.<ref name="mexiquense"/> His works can be found in the permanent collections of the [[Centro Cultural Mexiquense]] in Toluca, the [[Museo de Bellas Artes (Toluca)|Museo de Bellas Artes]] in Toluca, the [[Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes y Literatura]], the [[Museo de la Estampa]] and the {{ill|Museo Carrillo Gil|es|Museo de Arte Carrillo Gil}}, the Engraving Museum in [[Bulgaria]], the Culture Museum in [[Yokohama]], the Museum of Modern Art in [[Kyoto]] and the Shinanu Museum in [[Nagano, Nagano|Nagano]]. His works are also held in private collections in Mexico, Japan and the United States.<ref name="mexiquense"/>
[[File:ENAP37.JPG|thumb|300px|Mural en Cerámica II at the [[National School of Arts (UNAM)|Escuela Nacional de Artes Plásticas]].]] He participated in numerous individual and collective exhibitions in Mexico and abroad, with his first individual exhibition in 1951.<ref name="94años"/><ref name="90años"/> Individual exhibitions include Pago en especie in [[Cancún]] (a collection of paintings donated to the [[Secretaría de Hacienda y Crédito Público]]), Retrospective in the Gallery of the [[University of Colima]], and De Ayer y Hoy at the Teléfonos de México, The work of Nishizawa at the Ruth Hermose Galleries in [[San Francisco]] as well as various exhibitions at the [[Salón de la Plástica Mexicana]] and the Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes, and “Las vacas flacas y los sueños rotos” in various locations and times.<ref name="pnacional"/><ref name="crecien"/> In 1995, the Casa de Cultura in Cancún held an exhibition to honor his life's work.<ref name="pnacional"/> The Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes y Literature sponsored an exhibition of his life's work at the [[Museo Nacional de San Carlos]] in 2008.<ref name="90años"/>
Nishizawa painted his first major mural “El aire es vida y la salud es la mayor riqueza” at the [[Centro Médico Nacional Siglo XXI]], with another shortly after in 1969 at the Hospital General de Zona No. 4 in [[Celaya]], Guanajuato with the name of “El Nacimiento de la Vida” done with high fire ceramics.<ref name="rinden">{{cite news |title= Rinden homenaje al muralista Luis Nishizawa |url= https://www.informador.mx/Entretenimiento/Rinden-homenaje-al-muralista-Luis-Nishizawa-20080813-0108.html |newspaper= El Informador |location=Guadalajara, Mexico |date=April 13, 2008 |access-date=June 4, 2012 |language=es |trans-title=Pay homage to muralist Luis Nishizawa }}</ref> One of his important works is a ceramic mural done in a Keisei metro station in Japan in 1981.<ref name="90años"/><ref name="rinden"/> Other murals are found at the Centro Cultural Martí, the Centro Cultural Universitario, the General Archives of the State of Mexico in [[Toluca]], the [[Procuraduría General de la República]] and the [[Secretaría de Educación Pública]] .<ref name="rinden"/> One of his most recent murals is “La Justicia,” which was created in the main stairwell of the [[Mexican Supreme Court]] for the [[Celebration of Mexican political anniversaries in 2010|Bicentennial of Mexico's Independence in 2010]].<ref name="justicia"/>
==Artistry== Over his career, Nishizawa employed various techniques and styles in his work, with some of his best known work being in ink.<ref name="pnacional"/><ref name="rinden"/> He is one of few painters who also draws as an end rather than just a means.<ref name="crecien"/> Most of his work is dedicated to nature, the universe and the human figure, with much of the imagery influenced by his childhood contact with the landscape of Mexico.<ref name="94años"/><ref name="90años"/> His Japanese and Mexican ethnic heritage is evident in his work, with themes mostly related to Mexico but Japanese style and technique evident, especially with the use of color.<ref name="mexiquense"/><ref name="justicia"/>
==Recognition== [[File:Composición Simple, Centro Cultural Luis Nishizawa, Edo. de México 2007.jpg|thumbnail|The Centro Cultural Luis Nishizawa in [[Atizapán de Zaragoza]], Edomex.]] Nishizawa received recognition from the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, as a judge for the Premio Universidad Nacional, receiving an honorary doctorate from the school in 1996 and named Master Emeritus (Maestro Emérito) as well.<ref name="pnacional"/><ref name="bicentenario"/> Related to the Mexican government, he was named Creator Emeritus by [[CONACULTA]], received the [[National Prize for Arts and Sciences (Mexico)|Premio Nacional de Artes]] in 1996, and was commemorated with a [[Postage stamps and postal history of Mexico|Mexican postage stamp]].<ref name="pnacional"/><ref name="mexiquense"/><ref name="rinden"/> He was honored various times by the State of Mexico, which created the Museo Taller Luis Nishizawa in an old mansion near the Palacio de Gobierno in Toluca.<ref name="94años"/>
Other honors include membership in the Academy of Arts of Mexico, various institutions named after him such as the Galería Luis Nishizawa at UNAM and the Centro Cultural Luis Nishizawa at the [[Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education, State of Mexico|Campus Estado de México of ITESM]], and received the Sacred Treasure of the Dragon award from the government of Japan.<ref name="pnacional"/><ref name="rinden"/>
==Museo Taller Luis Nishizawa== The {{ill|Museo Taller Luis Nishizawa|es}} was inaugurated in 1992 in a mansion from the end of the 18th century in Toluca, restored for its current purpose. It was created in recognition for his creative work as well as his work as an art professor. The institution functions as both a museum and workshop as well as center of documentation on the artist for researchers and the general public.<ref name="edomex">{{cite web |url= http://www.toluca.gob.mx/turismo/museos/?id=17 |title= Museo-Taller Nishizawa |publisher=State of Mexico |location=Mexico |language=es |access-date=June 4, 2012 }}</ref><ref name="sicgob">{{cite web |url= http://sic.conaculta.gob.mx/ficha.php?table=museo&table_id=485 |title= Museo Taller Nishizawa |work= Sistema de Información Cultural |publisher= CONACULTA |location=Mexico |language=es |access-date=June 4, 2012 }}</ref> Its main function is to preserve and promote the works of the artist and contains about 800 works in various media. It has seven halls for temporary exhibits, a library and spaces for concerts, conferences and workshop in ceramics, engraving and drawing.<ref name="sicgob"/>
==References== {{Commons category}} {{Reflist}}
{{Alumni of the National School of Arts (UNAM)}} {{Members of the Salón de la Plástica Mexicana}} {{Artists who collaborate with Uriarte Talavera}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nishizawa, Luis}} [[Category:1918 births]] [[Category:2014 deaths]] [[Category:Mexican landscape painters]] [[Category:Mexican muralists]] [[Category:Artists from the State of Mexico]] [[Category:20th-century Mexican painters]] [[Category:Mexican male painters]] [[Category:21st-century Mexican painters]] [[Category:Mexican people of Japanese descent]] [[Category:People from Cuautitlán]] [[Category:Academic staff of the National Autonomous University of Mexico]] [[Category:20th-century Mexican male artists]] [[Category:21st-century Mexican male artists]] [[Category:Members of the Academia de Artes]]