Mujer Sentada (crouching woman)

Francisco Zuniga

This ink drawing is possibly a preliminary sketch for "Maternidad" (1973),"Domitila" (1977), or the "Yucateca" sculptures of 1975-1980.

Zuniga captures an intimate glimpse of a woman crouching, arms resting on her knees. He provides no clues to his subject’s life path, asking the viewer to abandon any narrative they begin to construct; the image then is simply a gentle, dignified moment of rest.

As a complement to his emotionally powerful sculpture, his drawings and prints articulate the sensitivity and sensuality of the figure, particularly the strong and powerful matriarchs of his cultural heritage.

A master of portraying the human figure, Costa Rican/Mexican artist Zuniga often chose poses and forms that directly rejected Eurocentric ideals, opting to use the knowledge gathered in his study of European artists and techniques to redirect the focus onto the world that he most closely related to, that of the daily lives of everyday Indigenous Mexican peoples. Once of a source of scorn from institutions bent on upholding traditional Western art values, Zuniga’s work came to be recognized as revolutionary and masterful.