On unexpected Treasures: Discovering the Drawings of Luis Nishizawa

April 7, 2007



A couple of years ago I chanced to be seated at a luncheon next to a young man whose family business was art collection and sale of Mexican master printers. We engaged in a pleasant conversation and he offered to show me the work that he and his father had at his home, followed by lunch. I decided to take him up on his offer and invited the Latin American art historian, Dr. Janet Brody Esser, along for authentification and education purposes. She and her husband Bob Radlow have a grand collection and she would know what was authentic from what was derivative.

We gave each other a signal that would indicate, “this is the real thing,” and I was to note it and pass along. As my appreciation for his collection grew I admit I forgot the signal.

The house was full of wonderful work, mostly prints but some original works. They were in closets, hanging about in the rec room, and in trunks and portfolios in the garage. We went through all of it like greedy children at Christmas, wondering what treasures were hidden. Most of it, again, was intaglio prints by Mexican Masters like Tamayo or Rafael Coronel, But to our amazement, in their own yellowing portfolio was a stack of black and white line drawings of the most exquisite quality. Japanese in sensibility but definitely the work of a Mexican Master. We had come upon the rarely seen work of Luis Nishizawa, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luis_Nishizawa)

The product of a Mexican mother and Japanese father he is considered a living national treasure, a gifted and generous teacher, and the author of many landscapes. He was born in Mexico in 1920 and lives and teaches there at the Academy of San Carlos where he also received his training.

I cannot describe the over whelming delight of seeing something completely new and outside of my experience. The delight mingled with the immediate thoughts of preservation and display. Thank fully a local institution took the work on loan so that it might have a better preservation location. It still needs proper presentation and documentation but for now it is safe and out of the garage so easily accessible through the alley of the collector’s home.

Nishizawa demonstrates a delicate, almost calligraphic technique known to Japanese landscape painters. His work is of people in relationship to each other, and he demonstrates intense feeling and relationships through just a few marks; heavy, light, barely there, His figures are not the heroic of Caravaggio. but they have great presence. They are small, delicate, and yet have such a deep presence.

I hope they finally find their way to exhibition once all the work of insuring, etc. is complete. For me it was an astonishing afternoon find. It was Easter and Christmas and my birthday combined. I believe I shall never again stand in front of something unknown and splendid like that. I am grateful to have experienced that once.

In San Diego there is still the possibility for that to happen. In Balboa Park, in obscure offices, there are wonderful little WPA paintings that never see the light of day, much less are accessible to the general public to whom they truly belong as part of the Civic collection Treasures are scattered everywhere. Slow down and notice the art around you, and don’t be afraid to note when something is excellent. Trust that sense that tells you that one thing can be better than another without being elitist.

Perhaps the Nishizawa drawings, will find a permananent home in an appropriate venue. For now there is no Civic Gallery and no funds to create on. City staff does their heroic best to catalog and keep track of what is out there and will continue to keep these orphaned works on their radar screen. As citizens we should care about these works as we are their stewards as well.

There is so much out there; so much to discover, so much to help bring back before it’s gone forever. I’m so glad to meet Nishizawa and claim him for my own cultural patrimony.