Oswaldo Muñoz Mariño ( Riobamba, December 24, 1923 – February 20, 2016) was an Ecuadorian architect and painter.

Biography

At fourteen years old, Muñoz Mariño lost his father, and moved with his family to

Quito Quito (; qu, Kitu), formally San Francisco de Quito, is the capital and largest city of Ecuador, with an estimated population of 2.8 million in its urban area. It is also the capital of the province of Pichincha. Quito is located in a valley o ...

where they faced a tough economic situation. In that city he attended to the

Instituto Nacional Mejía Instituto Nacional Mejía is a public secondary educational institution of Quito. It was founded on June 1, 1897 by Eloy Alfaro, Eloy Alfaro Delgado, then president of Ecuador. Mission According to its authorities, the mission of the institutio ...

. In the 1930s, after the resignation of President

Isidro Ayora Isidro Ramon Antonio Ayora Cueva (31 August 1879 – 22 March 1978) was an Ecuadorian political figure. He served as the 22nd President of Ecuador from 1926 to 1931. Isidro Ayora, a town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally ...

in 1931, Ecuador went through seventeen governments in a decade. Artists and intellectuals belonged to two camps: one with Marxist socialist tendencies, and a conservative group. At the Mejia School, one of the most notable learning institutions in Quito, Professor José Enrique Guerrero had great influence on Muñoz Mariño with his style. Muñoz Mariño's passion was also architecture. He painted buildings, evaluating their proportions, which helped in his becoming one of the most talented architects of Ecuador in recent decades. He co-wrote a study titled ''Ecuador en gráficos'' (Ecuador in graphs), which he traveled to

Guayaquil , motto = Por Guayaquil Independiente en, For Independent Guayaquil , image_map = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Ecuador#South America , pushpin_re ...

to present with the help of

Benjamín Carrión Manuel Benjamín Carrión Mora (April 20, 1897 in Loja – March 9, 1979 in Quito) was an Ecuadorian writer, diplomat and cultural promoter. Biography He was born into an aristocratic family in Loja. He was a lawyer by training, and occupied ...

. He was fascinated with the city, and having just graduated from high school, he got a job at Tucker Mc Klure, which was in charge of building the roads between Guayaquil-Salinas, and between Quito-Esmeraldas. This experience eventually defined his vocation as an architect. He yearned to move to Mexico to study architecture, and with the support of Benjamin Carrion and the Minister of War, he was able to do it. In 1974, he worked on the project Huayra Huanca (El origen del tiempo), which was commissioned by the Mexican government in accordance with a proposal by

Oswaldo Guayasamín Oswaldo Guayasamín (July 6, 1919 – March 10, 1999) was an Ecuadorian painter and sculptor of Kichwa and Mestizo heritage. Biography Early life Guayasamín was born in Quito, Ecuador, to a native father and a Mestiza mother, both of Kichwa de ...

. In 1962, he participated in a contest for the New City Hall building of Quito, for which he was awarded a prize. Unfortunately his design was never built. In 1962 and 1964, he exhibited his work in Mexico City and in its College of Architects. But in 1965, he won the first prize in the Annual Watercolor Exhibition in the College of Architects of Mexico, which opened the door to fame. He has traveled almost 100 cities around the world, of which he has painted 74. In 1999, he was awarded Ecuador's highest national art prize

Premio Eugenio Espejo The ''Premio Nacional Eugenio Espejo'' ("Eugenio Espejo National Award") is the national prize of the nation of Ecuador. Decrees 677 and 699 (of August 1975 and September 1997, respectively) established the prize, which is conferred by the President ...

by the President of Ecuador.List of winners of the Premio Eugenio Espejo and Spanish biographies

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Munoz Marino, Oswaldo 1923 births 2016 deaths People from Riobamba Ecuadorian painters