Sapos y Chapulines, 1977
Etching, roulette and soft-ground in colors on paper under glass
Edition: 12/30
Signed and numbered in pencil in the lower margin: Toledo; titled and dated on a gallery label affixed to the frame's backing paper
Plate: 8" H x 11.5" W; Sheet: 13.75" H x 22.25" W

Provenance: Galeria Arvil, Mexico City, Mexico
The Carolyn J. Adrian Collection, South Pasadena, CA

Notes: Born in Juchitan, Oaxaca in 1940, Francisco Toledo spent his childhood between Juchitan and Minatitlan, Veracruz. As a young man, Francisco Toledo followed his father into the jungles of Oaxaca on wild animal hunts. Later, he moved to Mexico where he took up the trade of lithography from the engraving workshops at the local School of Arts and Crafts. In 1959, after developing his craft, Toledo exhibited his works at Antonio Souza's gallery in Mexico and at the Forth Worth Art Center in Texas. These early years informed the artist he would become. "Toledo's is the art of shamanism," Christopher Goodwin of The Guardian wrote in 2000, "in which people are transformed into beasts and animals and may take on human characteristics." President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador of Mexico announced the death on Twitter, calling Mr. Toledo "a true defender of nature, customs, and traditions of our people." While he preferred anonymity, his service to cultural preservation and celebration of traditional imagery gained him national acclaim. His first one-man show at 19 years set the stage for his travels to Paris where he was supported by poet Octavio Paz and the painter Rufino Tamayo. Toledo's fascination with the metaphors of indigenous animals as symbols of Mexican history and mythology abound in his art. He settled definitively in Mexico in 1967.

Good condition. Uneven toning to the paper. Hinged to the overmat with archival tape in the upper corners.

Frame: 17.5" H x 23.25" W x 1" D