Vladimir Cora

A student of master painter Rufino Tamayo, Cora has risen to the heights of his teacher.

On Dec. 14, 2000, 500 of his paintings were among 1,800 works displayed permanently at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in Los Angeles as part of the Bernard and Edith Lewin Latin American Art Galleries. The artists also included Tamayo, Jose Clemente Orozco, Diego Rivera, and David Alfaro Siqueiros. The permanent collection is the country’s largest of 20th-century Mexican art and worth $25 million.

Cora spent part of 1981 in Palm Springs where he met the Lewins through Tamayo, who was his mentor from 1979 until his passing in 1991.

The 49-year-old is self-taught, honing his skill in his hometown of Tecuala in the state of Nayarit, Mexico, near Puerto Vallarta. He spends most of the year in Mexico where he has his studio.