Background
Fernando de Szyszlo was born on July 5, 1925, in Lima, Peru, into the family of Vitold and María (Valdelomar) Szyszlo.
School of Plastic Arts of the Catholic University of Lima
School of Plastic Arts of the Catholic University of Lima
Pontifical Catholic University of Peru
Grand Cross of the Order The Sun of Peru
Fernando de Szyszlo was born on July 5, 1925, in Lima, Peru, into the family of Vitold and María (Valdelomar) Szyszlo.
Fernando de Szyszlo studied painting at the School of Plastic Arts of the Catholic University of Lima. He also went on to study art at the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru, having abandoned his initial studies in architecture.
In 1948 Fernando de Szyszlo went to Paris where he held his first exhibition the following year. He spent the next few years in both Paris and Florence, exploring the classic and 20th-century masters. Upon his return to Peru in 1951, Szyszlo became a major force for artistic renewal in his country, breaking new ground by expressing Peruvian Pre-Columbian themes in a non-representational style.
While still in Paris he met Octavio Paz and André Breton and frequented the group of writers and intellectuals that met regularly at the Cafe Flore engaging in vigorous discussions on how they could participate in the international modern movement while preserving their Latin American cultural identity. Upon his return to Peru, Szyszlo became a major force for artistic renewal in his country breaking new ground by expressing a Peruvian subject matter in a non-representational style.
His use of color, rich textural effects and a masterly handling of light and shadow were hallmarks of Szyszlo's work which links ancient rituals, myths, and the geography of sea and desert landscapes often associated with pre-Columbian sacred sites to a modernist artistic language.
Since his first solo exhibit in Lima in 1947, Szyszlo had over 100 individual exhibitions in museums and galleries in Latin America, Europe, and the United States and has participated in the prestigious international biennials of Sao Paulo and Venice. Since that time, his work is represented in important public and private collections throughout the world.
Lyricism of color enriched by rich textural effects and a masterly handling of light and shadow were hallmarks of Szyszlo's painting. Highly identified with the linking of ancient cultures to a modernist artistic language, Szyszlo's art reflected a broad culture that drew on many sources from philosophy and science to literature. His evocative allusions to rituals, myths, and the geography of sea and desert landscapes were often associated with pre-Columbian sacred sites. He died on October 9, 2017, the same day as his wife by a domestic accident according to his secretary.
De Szyszlo was committed to the promotion of liberal ideas in his country.
Quotations: "I am a painter. Those two simple words have given meaning to my existence."
Fernando de Szyszlo was married to a Peruvian poet Blanca Varela, with whom he had two children. Unfortunately, the couple divorced, and then he married Liliana de Szyszlo.
