Career
He originally worked as a painter, photographer and upon his return to Cajamarca from Lima he works as a school teacher, farming and journalist. This circumstance contributed to shaping the image of the artist as topical spontaneous product of his environment and to project an ambivalent perception of his work, sometimes classified as non-academic and as a manifestation of the independent indigenousness. The reality of his work and his life, however, is offers much more contradictory and complex.
His spontaneity and topicality are reminiscent of the caricatures of Pancho Fierro, yet his representation of the indigenous peoples of Peru and their daily life is serious.
He is considered to be the first painter to portray Indian people without patronizing them, as can be seen in the Adobe Makers (1937, priv colonel) and Return of the Peasants (Lima, Music A). An exhibition of his work was held at the Banco de la Nación, Lima, in 1989.
He was the first Peruvian painter with a work in the "Museum of Modern Art" of New New York