Emigdio Vasquez

Early life

Emigdio Vasquez was born on May 25, 1939 in the historic mining town of Jerome, Arizona. His father worked for Phelps-Dodge Copper mines; and in the early 1940s, his family moved to Orange, California. His interest in art was evident as early as grade school where he would replicate comic book styles to create his own comics based on stories his father told about the Mexican Revolution. In the late 1950s, he started oil painting; and by the mid 1960s, inspired by famous Mexican artist Diego Rivera, he painted his first mural in his parent’s patio – Pancho Villa on a horse.

Education

Emigdio earned an Associate of Arts degree from Santa Ana College; and he transferred to California State University, Fullerton, where he received his Bachelor of Arts and a master's degree in Fine Arts. In 1979, for his master's degree thesis project, Emigdio painted an 85-foot long mural as a tribute to the Chicano working class - complete with figures modeled after his father as a miner and other relatives and friends as field workers and laborers.

Recognition

Several groups recognized Emigdio for his contributions to art and culture. Including, in 2004, Emigdio was inducted into Santa Ana College Alumni Hall of Fame; in 2007, Cal State Fullerton University recognized Emigdio as one of the 50 most influential Hispanic graduates from its 50 years of existence; and, on May 25, 2013, his birthday, the city of Santa Ana Proclaimed that day as Emigdio Vasquez day.

Style

Emigdio drew upon and transformed photographs and his plain air paintings into a body of work that documented and commented on the daily life of working people in the Barrio. With painstaking skills, he recorded the urban experience without sentimentality and with dignity, neither glorifying nor criticizing. Emigdio painted over 400 works and 22 murals in Orange County. His work is often recognized as a ‘super-realistic’ style, with historical transitions and themes.

Teaching

Vasquez taught in the art department at Santa Ana College, and managed major public arts programs for the Bowers Museum of Cultural Art, the California Arts Council, and the City of Santa Ana - including creating a 65-foot mural at the Orange County Transportation Center in Santa Ana. In 1996, he received an Artist Fellowship from the Adolph and Ester Gottlieb Foundation in New York.

Legacy of Cesar Chavez and other works and style

The most recognized mural of Emigdio’s is the "Legacy of Cesar Chavez," which is located in the lobby of the Cesar Chavez Business and Computer Center in Santa Ana College. Some of Emigdio’s favorite subjects were Zoot Suites and Pachucos as well as street people and day laborers that reflected a time in history presented in his narrative style. He also enjoyed still life and landscape painting, as well as portraits of historical figures. His diversity of subject matter and style place him in a select class of artists that transcends the traditional "pigeon hole" description that most artists are assigned.

Self-assessment

In an interview, Emigdio stated, "I consider myself a social realist painter because I like to paint the world that I perceive around me - an environment constructed of human and urban experiences of working class people. Through my art, I want to convey a powerful sense of the human struggle for dignity within the urban experience of 20th Century America."

Personal life

Vasquez is the father of six children. His daughter, Rosemary Vasquez Tuthill is an artist who paints commission people and pets portraits, still-lives and landscapes. His son Emigdio Vasquez Jr. aka "Higgy" has been restoring his fathers murals. Higgy had apprenticed and assisted Emigdio on many mural projects. Higgy has restored four of his father's murals in their original style. His son Adolph Vasquez is an accomplished digital artist.

His late ex-wife, Rosie Lopez Schelerth, had written much about Vasquez's early life and their marriage in her autobiography Hi! My Name is Chicken, found at the Anaheim City Library.

Vasquez's life story is featured in a documentary titled, The Cypress St. Mural: "El Proletariado de Atzlan." Produced and directed by Katherine Bowers for Chapman University; the documentary is about Vasquez's journey from his birthplace in Jerome, Arizona to Orange, Ca. where Vasquez's early interest in drawing led to a lifetime of fine art painting. Known as the "Godfather of Chicano Art," Vasquez painted over 24 large public murals in Central Orange County, Ca. and 400 fine art paintings.

Death

Vasquez died from pneumonia on August 9, 2014 in Newport Beach, California. He was 75 years old.