Julio Zachrisson

Julio Augusto Zachrisson Acevedo
Born in Panama City on February 5, 1930, Julio Zachrisson was a Panamanian painter, printmaker, and sculptor who lived in Madrid, Spain.
He began his artistic training at the National School of Painting in Panama under the guidance of painter Juan Manuel Cedeño Henríquez. In the early 1950s, after traveling through various Central American countries, he settled in Mexico, where he attended the National School of Painting, Sculpture, and Printmaking "La Esmeralda." There, he came into contact with the aesthetics of Mexican muralism and the influence of Rufino Tamayo. His time at the Taller de Gráfica Popular, founded by José Guadalupe Posada, was also significant.
In 1960, Zachrisson held his first exhibition at the University of Panama. That same year, he traveled to Europe and worked in Italy at the studios of the Pietro Vannucci Academy in Perugia. He later moved to Madrid, where he studied at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando, deepening his engagement with the art of printmaking.
Zachrisson’s work reflects the heritage of three major artistic traditions. The first stems from his Panamanian predecessors; the second, from the cultural references of Central America he encountered during his time in Mexico in the 1950s, which show a strong influence of indigenismo and pre-Columbian painting. Finally, his European experience—particularly in Italy and Spain—shaped his vision with a distinct Hispanic perspective.
His work is part of major collections, including the National Library of Spain, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Madrid, the Museum of Latin American Contemporary Art (MACLA) in La Plata, the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Museum of Poznan in Poland, the Cincinnati Art Museum, the Goya Print Museum in Fuendetodos, Spain, and the Institute of Graphic Arts in Oaxaca, Mexico, among others. His work can also be found in collections across the world, including in Yugoslavia, Iraq, Colombia, Chile, Puerto Rico, and France.
In December 2020, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Madrid, located in the Conde-Duque cultural center, hosted the exhibition An Artist Between Two Shores. Zachrisson donated the fifty-two prints featured in the retrospective to the institution. The show included his visual, graphic, and sculptural works, offering an example of syncretism in both technique and subject matter.
Passing
He passed away in Madrid in the early hours of Saturday, December 18, 2021, at the age of ninety-one—just nine days after the death of his wife, Marisé (María José) Torrente Malvido, daughter of writer Gonzalo Torrente Ballester and sister of Gonzalo Torrente Malvido.