Peruvian Master Tilsa Tsuchiya 1928-1984 antique oil canvas painting, dated 77s.

Measures: 30″ x 25″ inches.

Tilsa Tsuchiya is regarded as perhaps one of the greatest Peruvian visual artists of the 20th century, receiving the prestigious Teknoquimica Prize for painting in 1970. Tsuchiya has credited her unique mytho-Surrealist aesthetic both to her education at leading art institutions in Lima and Paris and to the influence of her Japanese-Peruvian heritage.

Born the seventh of eight children in Supe, Peru, 1928, Tsuchiya was drawn to painting from a young age — later crediting her older brother Wilfredo’s interest in drawing for sparking her fascination with visual art. Tsuchiya’s father, Yoshiguro, was born in Chiba, Japan and studied in the U.S. for several years before arriving in Peru; her mother, Maria Luisa Castillo, was born at Chavin, in Peru, of both Chinese and Peruvian descent. Tsuchiya’s groundbreaking artistic career emerged directly from her experiences in Peru’s Nikkei immigrant community, which we’ll explore here.