Ernesto Gutierrez is a leading Peruvian artist who was born in Lima, Peru to a Spanish father and a mother of Incan descent.

"El Duo" by Ernesto Gutierrez

Upon completion of his secondary education in his native country, Gutierrez attended the prestigious School of Fine Arts in Lima, where he was awarded with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree and a gold medal in 1964.

Gutierrez received the Itamarati Scholarship, sponsored by the Brazilian government, and studied for two years (1966-1967) at the Museum of Modern Art in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, while exhibiting his work in the various art centers throughout South America: Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, Cordova, Santiago, Lima, etc.

"Mandolin Musico" by Ernesto Gutierrez

In 1972, Gutierrez was granted a Fulbright Scholarship and went on to study at the University of Wisconsin in the United States where he received a Master of Fine Arts Degree in 1976.

Gutierrez has been influenced by both local artistic factors—Pre-Columbian forms, native Peruvian art—and by modern French maters such as Cézanne, Gauguin and Matisse. He is not of the school that needs the art critic to explain pallid lines to uncomprehending viewers. The boldness of Gutierrez’s colors—shocking pink, chartreuse, mauve hues, and the whole gamut of blues, purples, and greens, sometimes underlined and emphasized by opposite colors such as black, maize, or even pure white—adds to their dramatic effect, creating almost sensual excitement.

"Small Market" by Ernesto Gutierrez

In some of his paintings, Gutierrez assumes a cubist-realist simplification of forms and volumes and a precise rendering of surfaces. His sensibility strikes as essentially Spanish while his inspiration derives form his Incan heritage, Peruvian landscapes and folklore.

Gutierrez is also a noted writer, illustrator, and historian of Pre-Columbian culture, and has received several awards for his printmaking.

"Panchita" by Ernesto Gutierrez

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