About The Warehouse @ Collinwood

Discovery

Artist: Agapito Labios (Mexican, 1898-1996)

Agapito Labios (Mexican, 1898-1996). Agapito Labios was born Agapito Engel Cifuentes in Pachuca, Hidalgo, Mexico in September of 1898. He took an active part in the Mexican Revolution and was put in prison. There he started painting the cell wall. The mayor of the town saw his paintings, liked them, and ordered him to paint his two little girls. Thus his artistic career began.

Labios was a self taught artist and made his living doing portraits - painting his children in the primitive Mexican style. He started selling on Sundays in the Lagunilla (the thieves market) and immediately his fame began to grow. He later had a shop called Mercado de Artesanias at La Ciudadela in Mexico City where his work was sought out by collectors worldwide.

He died in 1996, and his son currently owns the shop.