Francisco Espinoza Dueñas, Modern Lithograph, Face, 1960, Peru, Paris, Portrait, 1950

Francisco ESPINOZA DUEÑAS (Lima, 1926 – Seville, 2020)

Face / Abstract Figure

Large original color lithograph by Francisco Espinoza Dueñas, signed in pencil and printed in a limited edition of only 10 copies.

At the heart of a composition dominated by blues, turquoise, deep greens, blacks, and whites, a monumental face emerges, constructed from a few essential lines: the arch of the eyebrows, horizontal eyes, nose, and mouth. The face seems to emerge and then disappear within the dense network of streaks, scratches, and printed marks.

Here, Espinoza transforms the human figure into an inner presence. The physiognomy is not depicted in a naturalistic manner: it arises directly from the material itself. The interplay of concentric lines around the head lends it an archaic and totemic quality, reflecting the artist’s interest in pre-Columbian civilizations and the encounter between European and Latin American cultures.

Francisco Espinoza Dueñas was born in Lima in 1926. After studying at the Lima School of Fine Arts, he continued his training in Spain before moving to Paris in 1958. He refined his graphic techniques, worked with ceramics in Sèvres, and represented Peru at the Paris Biennale in the printmaking section in 1959 and again in 1961.

His body of work reflects that of a humanist and eclectic artist whose creative practice was never limited to a single discipline. Painting, printmaking, fresco, sculpture, ceramics, drawing, and teaching form a unified whole. He traveled and taught throughout Europe and the Americas, developing a body of work in which the human figure, material, and cultural memory occupy a central place. In his prints from the late 1950s, the material is manipulated through layering, scratching, rubbing, scraping, and erasing. Viewed within the context of the informal and lyrical abstraction of that era, these explorations may today evoke certain effects that Gerhard Richter would later develop in his abstract paintings, particularly through blurring, scraping, and the partial dissolution of the image.

Artist: Francisco Espinoza Dueñas
Subject: face / abstract figure
School / origin: Peru, European and Parisian periods
Technique: original color lithograph on paper
Sheet dimensions, including margins: 76 × 56 cm
Dimensions in inches: 29.9 × 22 in
Signature: signed in pencil “Espinoza D.” in the lower left corner
Edition: numbered 4/10 in the lower right corner

Condition: good overall condition. A few tears and minor imperfections in the margins, as well as signs of wear due to the age of the sheet