By: Francisco Zuniga

Title: Seated Female Nude
Year: 1977
Medium: Charcoal on paper
Dimensions: 25.5 × 19 inches
Signature: Signed and dated upper left
Condition: Very good (framed)
Provenance: Private collection

This large charcoal drawing by Francisco Zúñiga, signed and dated 1977, exemplifies the artist’s lifelong engagement with the monumental female figure. Seated frontally with her head gently inclined and eyes closed, the figure conveys a sense of inwardness and quiet gravity that is central to Zúñiga’s work across drawing and sculpture.

Executed with confident, economical strokes, the charcoal modeling emphasizes mass and structure over surface detail. The body is treated as a unified volume, with subtle shifts in tone defining form and weight. The draped head covering frames the figure and reinforces the sculptural presence, lending the composition a timeless, almost archaic stillness.

Zúñiga’s drawings from this mature period are not preparatory sketches but fully resolved works in their own right, closely related to his sculptural practice. This example, notable for its generous scale and strong compositional balance, stands as a powerful statement of the artist’s humanist vision and enduring exploration of form.