Agapito Labios - Girl in Kitchen

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Agapito Labios
Mexican, 1898-1996

Girl in Kitchen

oil on canvas

canvas: 24 by 27 inches
frame: 27 ¼ by 34 … Read more Agapito Labios
Mexican, 1898-1996

Girl in Kitchen

oil on canvas

canvas: 24 by 27 inches
frame: 27 ¼ by 34 ½ inches

signed lower right Labios with a note from the young chef upper left.

Agapito Labios was born on September of 1898 in Pachuca, Hidalgo, by the name Agapito Engel Cifuentes. His career started in prison, where he painted on the walls to pass the time as he served a sentence for his participation in the Mexican Revolution. A high ranking official became interested in his work and started to commission him to make portraits of his children. Labios would find great success in this line of work and he would continue to do so for years to come along with his contemporary, Horacio Renteria. Agapito Labios became successful selling his charming portraits at the Lagunilla market in downtown Mexico City, and later opened his own store with antiques and folk art that he sold along with his own artwork. His death in 1996, a full 24 years after Renteria passed away, saw the culmination of a body of work that has now been categorized as an important movement in Mexican art history. Katherine Hepburn was just one of his high profile collectors who had works by Agapito Labios hanging on her walls. See less