Luis Nishizawa

Luis Nishizawa
Luis Nishizawa in 2006
Born	Luis Nishizawa Flores (1918-02-02)February 2, 1918 San Mateo Ixtacalco Hacienda, Cuautitlán, Estado de México, México
Died	September 29, 2014(2014-09-29) (aged 96) Toluca, Estado de México, México
Nationality	Mexican
Education	Academia de San Carlos, México, D.F.
Known for	Painting (landscapes, murals), ceramics
Movement	Mexican muralism, Expressionism, Abstract art, Figurativism, Engraving
Spouse(s)	Eva Zepeda

Luis Nishizawa (February 2, 1918 – September 29, 2014) was a 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 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 from which he received an honorary doctorate. The State of Mexico, where he was born, created the Museo Taller Luis Nishizawa to honor and promote his life’s work.

Luis Nishizawa Flores was born on February 2, 1918 at the San Mateo Ixtacalco Hacienda in the Cuautitlán municipality of the State of Mexico. His father, Kenji Nishizawa, was Japanese and his mother, María de Jesús Flores, was Mexican. Since he was a child, he was introverted and solitary, spending his childhood tending cattle for his family. The family moved to Mexico City in 1925, where Nishizawa learned to create jewelry and studied music with a teacher named Rodolfo Halfter.

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 movement. He learned to paint landscapes as well as abstract art and graphics with an interest in the art tradition of Japan. Either as teachers or working for them as assistants, Nishizawa had various mentors such as José María Velasco, Julio Castellanos, José Chávez Morado, Alfredo Zalce and Benjamin Correa . 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. He received his masters in fine arts in 1947.