Gonzalo Ariza

By LatAm ARTE

Gonzalo Ariza Vélez (born in 1912 in Bogotá, died in 1995) was a prominent Colombian watercolorist and landscape painter. He grew up in a family of artists—his father was a photographer—and showed early talent, studying at the School of Fine Arts in Bogotá. In the mid-1930s he received a government scholarship to travel to Japan, where he studied printmaking, linocut, woodcut, and watercolor, and took private lessons in the workshop of the artist Tsuguharu Foujita. Upon returning to Colombia he became known for capturing the natural and atmospheric beauty of Colombian landscapes: the savannas, the high páramo fog, forests, mountain views, and tropical flora. He served as a professor early in his career. Over time his work grew to reflect influences from Japanese art, especially the ways the Japanese use negative spaces, mist, and subtle transitions in light and shadow. Though in middle periods he faced criticism and withdrew somewhat from national salons and exhibitions, he later enjoyed retrospectives and honors for his life’s work. Ariza experimented in many media but particularly excelled in oil, watercolor, and print. His painting focuses on the mood of nature: humidity, morning mist, diffused light, and atmospheric conditions. He was decorated by the Japanese government and received national awards in Colombia. His legacy remains strong in Colombian art history: many regard him as one of the great interpreters of Colombian landscape in the twentieth century.