Francisco Toledo, Mexican artist and activist known as ‘El Maestro,’ dies at 79

Francisco Toledo, one of Mexico’s most renowned artists, whose work fused nature and myth while drawing international attention to the indigenous traditions of southern Mexico, died Sept. 5 at his home in Oaxaca City.

He was 79.

His death was announced by Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who called him “a true defender of nature, customs and traditions of our people.”

His daughter Sara López Ellitsgaard said the cause was cancer.

Toledo was known as both a master artist and an ambassador for the southern state of Oaxaca, an impoverished hub of indigenous language and culture that he helped elevate into a dynamic center of the Mexican art scene.

The son of a Zapotec tanner and shoemaker, he worked as a painter, photographer, lithographer, engraver, sculptor, ceramist and tapestry designer, all while developing a reputation as a fiery defender of Oaxacan tradition.

He sometimes described himself as a grillo (Zapotec for cricket), using a nickname for Oaxacans who – in addition to dining on grasshopper, a local delicacy – are “troublemakers and can’t sit still.”

When McDonald’s planned to open a new location in Oaxaca City’s historic square, he announced he would protest naked in front of the proposed site. His clothes stayed on, but he gave away free tamales alongside hundreds of demonstrators, chanting, “Tamales, yes! Hamburgers, no!”

Other political efforts dovetailed with his art, which veered from grand 80-foot-long sculptures to whimsical hand puppets and felt hats.