Emigdio Vasquez | Pioneering artist, 75
Emigdio Vasquez, 75, whose bold use of color, exacting brush skills and uncanny ability to capture everyday people in dramatic moments made him one of the most influential pioneers of the Chicano art movement, died Saturday of pneumonia in Newport Beach, Calif.
Emigdio Vasquez, 75, whose bold use of color, exacting brush skills and uncanny ability to capture everyday people in dramatic moments made him one of the most influential pioneers of the Chicano art movement, died Saturday of pneumonia in Newport Beach, Calif.
Mr. Vasquez created more than 400 paintings and nearly two dozen murals. Many of the latter dot buildings throughout Orange County.
Arguably his most famous work, Legacy of Cesar Chavez, graces the lobby of the computer center at Santa Ana College, where Mr. Vasquez once studied art and later taught the subject. It shows the labor leader surrounded by everyday people at a United Farm Workers event.
"I consider my art to be a part of the experience of the working class," Mr. Vasquez once said. "The daily lives of people in the barrio are documented in my work."
Born in Jerome, Ariz., in 1939, Mr. Vasquez was the son of a copper miner who moved his family to Southern California when the end of World War II eased demand for the mineral. - AP