ARTIST ~ Eduardo Kingman

"Mano Grande" (Big Hands), 1981

ARTIST - Eduardo Kingman Riofrío  (1913 - 1997)

Born in Loja, Eduardo is known as "the painter of hands" and was regarded as one of the masters of twentieth century expressionism.   He studied at the School of Fine Arts in Quito, with stops in Venezuela, Peru, Bolivia, and in the United States at the San Francisco Art Institute.  Eventually he received a chair at the same institute, was the director of Quito's Colonial Art Museum, and a owned private gallery also in Quito.  While living in Quito, he became the protege of other famous Lojanos like writers Bejamin Carrion and Pablo Palacio. 

His lithographs, woodcuts, and paintings concentrated on the social realities of Ecuador's indigenous people.  The artisit's deeply humanistic style captured the range of emotions from anguish, anger, and impotence in the face of injustice, to the quieter feelings of tenderness and devotion.  As well as painting, Eduardo wrote and was a social crusader for human rights.

Eduardo is one of  Loja's and Ecuador's most recognizable modern artists.  He first gained worldwide attention in 1939 as one of the two artists who decorated the Ecuadorian Pavilion at the World's Fair in New York City.  His work has been shown internationally in San Francisco, Mexico City, Caracas, and Bogota.  One of his most important exhibitions was a solo show at the Untied Nations in New York near the end of his life.

His works include a number of public murals inspired by the work of Diego Rivera, paintings and prints in public galleries around the world, and the Kingman Gallery in Quito located in the artist's former home.  In Loja, Eduardo's monumental mural can be seen in the entrance to the city hall.  The art gallery and archeological museum at UTPL owns a large lithograph.   

Artist quote: "I think that my pictorial formation, practically arose in Guayaquil, there I found a feverish search to renew the artistic expression. So, I had the opportunity to tie very closely to Joaquín Gallegos Lara, Enrique Gil Gilbert, Demetrio Aguilera Malta, Pedro Jorge Vera, in them I found the echo I needed for a more vigorous, more humanistic expression."




"Siembra" (Planting), 1939 oil






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