Francisco Toledo Original Watercolor Painting c.1959 Fine original abstract watercolor Watercolor on paper dimensions 8" wide x 4.25" high The vintage frame measures 14.5" wide x 14" high Signed and dated lower right corner Very good condition Francisco Toledo (1940-2019) was one of the most important painters, potters and engravers in Mexico. As a Zapotec artist, he was an active promoter, sponsor and disseminator of the cultural values of his native state, turning its main town into a dynamic centre for the visual arts and literature. Francisco Toledo’s art is imbued with his Mexican heritage of history and mythology. In 1960 he moved to Paris from where he travelled through Europe. When he returned to Mexico, in 1965, he started to promote and protect the arts and crafts in Oaxaca. He exhibited in many galleries in Mexico, Europe, South and North America and Asia. His work is represented in public and private collections worldwide. He founded several important artistic and cultural institutions in Oaxaca, involving local actors. He created children’s libraries in indigenous communities, and a number of important artistic and cultural institutions, like the Museo de Arte Contemporaneo de Oaxaca or the Graphic Arts Institute of Oaxaca, which holds some 100,000 books on art and architecture. After watching a group of blind people visit a nearby art museum, he created the Jorge Luis Borges Library for the Blind, with the name of the prestigious Argentine blind writer. It is thanks to his initiative that the Centro Fotográfico Manuel Alvarez Bravo and Ediciones Toledo, a printing house which for example published translations of poets John Ashbery and Seamus Heaney, exist. It is also the case of the botanical garden, art restoration centre and library Centro Cultural Santo Domingo. Biography cited from Right Livelihood