Isidoro Ocampo Sold at Auction Prices

Painter, Illustrator, b. 1910 - d. 1983

Isidoro Ocampo (20 June 1910, Veracruz — 4 February 1983, Mexico City) was a Mexican artist during the Mexican Muralism era, best known for his graphic work. Much of his career was dedicated to teaching, which kept his artistic output low, but he was also a founding member of the Taller de Gráfica Popular and the Sociedad Mexicana de Grabadores as well as member of the Liga de Escritores y Artistas Revolucionarios and the Salón de la Plástica Mexicana.

Ocampo was born Isidoro Ocampo Vidal in the city of Veracruz on Mexico’s Gulf Coast to Medarno Ocampo and María Vidal.[1][2] His very early childhood was spent with his father, who was a lighthouse keeper. When he was five, he was sent to Mexico City to begin his primary education.[3]

Ocampo had been drawing since age ten, but the family’s economic needs led his father to send him to study commerce. However, Ocampo rebelled and began to study art at the Academy of San Carlos at night from 1928 to 1932.[2][3] Engraving and printmaking became his main specialty, learning techniques in wood, metal and stone.[3][4] Because of his exemplary coursework, he was named a teaching assistant at San Carlos. Ocampo also went on to study at the Escuela de Artes del Libro with Francisco Díaz de León and Carlos Alvarado Lang, learning lithography with Emilio Amero.[3]

Ocampo remained in Mexico City throughout his life and during his career, dying in his home at age 72 from cardiac arrest. He was buried at the San Lorenzo Tezonco Cemetery in Iztapalapa.