Matiz, Leo

Prominent Colombian photographer and caricaturist (1917-1998). In 1933, he published his first caricatures in the magazine Civilización and held his first exhibition in Santa Marta. His work began to be featured in important national publications such as El Tiempo and El Espectador. The following year, he traveled through Central America, showcasing his work. Upon arriving in Mexico, he held a series of exhibitions and gained significant recognition in that country and internationally. In 1945, he met Spanish film director Luis Buñuel, and the same year he was awarded the prize for best photojournalist in Mexico. After collaborating on international films, he held an exhibition of his work at the MoMA in New York in 1947. He left Mexico due to a climate of persecution resulting from his accusation of artist David Alfaro Siqueiros of plagiarism. In 1948, he returned to Colombia and was injured in the assassination attempt on liberal leader Jorge Eliécer Gaitan. In 1951, he opened an art gallery that became the cultural center of Bogotá, where the works of Fernando Botero were exhibited for the first time. He covered important international news events such as the fall of dictator Marcos Pérez Jiménez in Caracas, Venezuela, in 1958. In 1978, he lost his left eye in a robbery in Bogotá, leading him to temporarily resign from photography. "Leo Matiz: fotografie" was the artist's first book published in Europe, released in 1992. In 1995, he received recognition in Italy, and an exhibition of his work was held in Milan. Inspired by the model Angela Carruba, he resumed his work as a photographer in 1996 and held an exhibition in Athens, Greece.