Mario Urteaga Alvarado (1875 – 1957)
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He was born in Cajamarca. He started working as a journalist, administrator, teacher and farmer, however, he switched to oil painting at around the age of 30.
Urteaga appears to have been self-taught, using poor quality materials for his art such as old sugar sacks and cheap pigments, as well as making his own brushes.
His paintings of the northern Andean Indians are colorful. Their naïve though detailed execution has been described as primitive and nonacademic, and has been likened to that of Henri Rousseau.
His spontaneity and topicality are reminiscent of the caricatures of Pancho Fierro, yet his representation of the indigenous peoples and their daily life is serious. He is considered to be the first painter to portray Indian people without patronizing them.
He was the first Peruvian painter with a work in the “MOMA” of New York.
Still wondering about a Peruvian painting in your family collection? Contact us…it could be by Mario Urteaga.