Tribute to the Guatemalan muralist for her friendship during her lifetime and in her memory in the first mourning year.
Rina Lazo Wasem was born in Guatemala City in 1923. She began her studies in Don Julio Urruela’s workshop; Later, she entered the Academy of Fine Arts of Guatemala, where she obtained an award to study at the School of Painting and Sculpture “La Esmeralda”, in Mexico. In 1946 she graduated, joining the Mexican plastic arts.
She was selected to work as an assistant to Diego Rivera from whom she learned the fresco technique. She created several murals in Mexico City and in some of its states, including a replica of the Bonampak murals, from the Museum of Anthropology of Mexico. She also developed her graphic skills in woodcut, linoleum, lithography, and etching. She worked alongside her husband, Arturo García Bustos, whom she married in 1949.
Her easel work is known for her multiple solo and group exhibitions, both in America and Europe. Her favorite themes were landscape and still life. She obtained important awards and numerous distinctions throughout her outstanding artistic career. She died on November 1, 2019, in her home in Coyoacán, Mexico, leaving a legacy that must be investigated, disseminated and valued for the present and the future generations.