Pedro León Zapata (1929-2015)
'Very sad news. Our great, dear Zapata, a master of caricature, has died." This is what writer Leonardo Padrón tweeted that morning, on February 6th. Like him, many voices made the announcement in the social networks. Pedro León Zapata was indeed not only a master of caricature, humorist, and artist, but also a dear friend to many who knew him in Venezuela for many decades.
Zapata was certainly a pillar of Venezuelan-ness. For over 50 years, every Venezuelan had a connection to him: his daily cartoons appeared in El Nacional, one of the country's most important and longstanding newspapers. It can be said that, through the medium of humor (his humor, which was also a very personal way of thinking), Zapata presented us with an immediate, extremely effective reading of the country's situation. Using sarcasm as well as perfectly targeted situation and words, Zapata critically assessed aspects of the nation's life. This was clear to him: a humorist must be critical and questioning. Always in the opposition, to whatever government was in office.
Reading his cartoons, be it sequentially or in an alternating manner, is essential for knowing, from the inside, the contemporary history of Venezuela. It is true that he turned immediate reality into a reason for laughter, but his humor, as Sofía Imber accurately pointed out, was never simple On the contrary, through his cartoons, drawings, and words, Zapata taught people to think. To think about our circumstances. And he did this for more than fifty years.
After two years as a student at the Fine Arts School in Caracas, Zapata joined other artists in a sort of studio known as the Barraca de Maripérez. At that point, he decided to travel to Mexico to study painting. He remained in Mexico from 1947 and 1958, studying at the Instituto Politécnico Nacional, the Escuela Nacional de Pintura y Escultura La Esmeralda, and the Siqueiros Studio. Zapata also taught at the Fine Arts School in Buenos Aires. After returning to Caracas in 1958, he began teaching drawing at the Universidad Central de Venezuela's Architecture and Urbanism School. His first cartoon appeared in the newspaper Dominguito in 1959, and from then on he published in a variety of print media. His first Zapatazo, the name of his humor section, appeared in 1968. In 1975 Zapata presented one of the most important and well remembered solo exhibitions in a long and fruitful career as a painter: Todo el museo para Zapata, at the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Caracas Sofía Imber. In 1978 he launched El sádico ilustrado, a magazine that was to last only until 1979. That same year, the UCV established the Pedro León Zapata Humor Literature Contest. In 1980, Zapata founded and directed the Aquiles Nazoa Humor Program at the same university, which reopened twice: in 1986 and in 1993. The Program brings together noted humorists from around the country. In 1993, Zapata was named honorary humor professor by the Universidad de Alcalá de Henares, in Spain, and continued publishing books of cartoons and illustrating books and records, creating stage designs and costumes for the theater, working in radio and TV, giving lectures, and, of course, painting. Among other recognitions, he received the National Visual Arts Award in 1981. In 2002, Universidad de los Andes in Mérida gave him an honorary doctorate for his career achievements.
Zapata used to say that he painted like he thought. This is why his cartooning and painting were integrated. His oeuvre was characterized by a forceful expressiveness, based on a kind of humoristic drawing were the character's attitude, hyperbole, and exaggeration were essential elements of the language. Widely read and cultured, he was able to treat many different topics wit...
