Manuel Gregorio Acosta

Manuel Acosta
Personal details
Born	(1921-05-09)May 9, 1921 Aldama, Mexico
Died	October 25, 1989(1989-10-25) El Paso, Texas
Nationality	American, Mexican
Education	Peter Hurd, Urbici Soler
Alma mater	University of Texas at El Paso

File:Portrait of Cesar Chavez by Manuel Gregorio Acosta, 1969.jpg

Portrait of labor leader César Chávez by Manuel Gregorio Acosta, 1969

Manuel Acosta (1921–1989) was a Mexican-American painter and illustrator who was born into an impoverished family in Aldama, Chihuahua, Mexico, on May 9, 1921. His father, Ramón P. Acosta, had fought in the Mexican Revolution with Pancho Villa, and the Mexican Revolution was a recurring theme in Manuel's paintings.The family moved to El Paso, Texas.He always seemed interested in drawings so as practice he would mock pictures of newspapers.Since he practiced so much he later started drawing pin up girls.}}

Manuel Acosta served in the United States Air Force during World War II, and became an American citizen shortly after discharge.}} Even though he went to the air force he never stopped practicing his passion.After he served the army Manuel became an American citizen. TSHA clarifies that he officially decided to draw when he observed Fransisico de Goya's Masterpiece in Europe. In the fall of 1946 he attended the College of Mines and Metallurgy (now the University of Texas at El Paso), where he studied drawing and sculpture under sculptor Urbici Soler (1890–1953). He started to sketch people and views from el Paso's Barrios in a realistic style enlivened by lysin colors and he would also add dramatic scenes in a chiaroscuro. He was also very into painting scenes of children as well as bullfighters.In 1952 he became an apprentice to painter Peter Hurd on a mural project about pioneer Texas located at the West Texas Museum in Lubbock. He spent a year at the Chouinard Art Institute in Los Angeles and six months at the University of California, Santa Barbara, before establishing his home and studio in El Paso, Texas.Manuel later was then recognized with an award for most talented Mexican American painters during the chicano movement.}} After this he later decided to move to his studio home to make his way for a new highway.Because of this, he later built a large stucco and adobe studio at his new home at 366 Buena Vista.

He was bludgeoned with a lead pipe and murdered on October 25, 1989 by a drunken Mexican national and is buried in the United States at Fort Bliss National Cemetery.}}

Public Collections

• National Portrait Gallery
• El Paso Museum of Art
• Museum of Texas Tech University
• New Mexico Museum of Art

References

• Braddy, Haldeen, The Paradox of Pancho Villa, Illustrated by Manuel Acosta, El Paso, Texas Western Press, 1978.
• Grauer, Paula L. & Michael R. Grauer, Dictionary of Texas Artists, 1800-1945, College Station, Texas, Texas A & M University, 1999.
• Thompson, William R., El Paso Museum of Art, in American Art Review
• Curlee, Kendall, "ACOSTA, MANUEL GREGORIO," Handbook of Texas Online (http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fac04). Published by the Texas State Historical Association.
• http://www.askart.com/artist/Manuel_Gregorio_Acosta/2284/Manuel_Gregorio_Acosta.aspx November 2017