Emigdio Vasquez (1939-2014) is considered one of the pioneering Chicano artists in California. He began oil painting in the 1950s, often documenting everyday life around him in the barrio community in Orange, Calif. By the mid-1960s, inspired by famous Mexican artist Diego Rivera, Vasquez began painting murals, the most recognized of which is “The Legacy of Cesar Chavez” at Santa Ana College, where he taught in the art department. His stunning 2017 mural at Chapman University, "El Proletariado de Aztlán" (The Proletariat of Aztlán) can be found on a university-owned apartment building on Cypress Street near the campus. Orange resident Fred Ortiz befriended Vasquez during the latter part of the artist’s life, and collected many of Vasquez’s social-realist paintings depicting daily life in the Cypress Street barrio, reflecting the many facets of his perception of the Chicano historical and cultural experience.

-Mary Platt, Museum Director