Peru, Brazil, Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, and other countries. Through these travels, he observed more of the indigenous lifestyle and poverty that appeared in his paintings. Oswaldo Guayasamín won first prize at the Ecuadorian Salón Nacional de Acuarelistas y Dibujantes in 1948. He also won the first prize at the Third Hispano-American Biennial of Art in Barcelona in 1955. In 1957, at the Fourth Biennial of São Paulo, he was named the best South American painter. In 1988, the Congress of Ecuador asked Guayasamín to paint a mural depicting the history of Ecuador. Due to its controversial nature, the United States government criticized him because one of the figures in the painting shows a man in a Nazi helmet with the lettering "CIA" on it. The artist's last exhibits were inaugurated by him personally in the Luxembourg Palace in Paris, and in the Palais de Glace in Buenos Aires in 1995. In Quito, Guayasamín built a museum that features his work. His images capture the political oppression, racism, poverty, Latin American lifestyle, and class division found in much of South America. Guayasamín dedicated his life to painting, sculpting and collecting. He was an ardent supporter of the communist Cuban Revolution in general and Fidel Castro in particular. He was given a prize for "an entire life of work for peace" by UNESCO. His death on March 10, 1999, was considered a great loss to Ecuador and occurred in the midst of a political and socioeconomic crisis, with the day marked by strikes by the indigenous people (whom he spent his life supporting) and other sectors of society. He is still lauded as a national treasure and has been likened to the Michelangelo of Latin America by the Spanish art historian José Camón Aznar. In 2002, three years after his death, a building co-designed by Guayasamín, La Capilla del Hombre ("The Chapel of Man"), was completed and opened to the public. The Chapel is meant to document not only man's cruelty to man but also the potential for greatness within humanity. It is co-located with Guayasamín's home in the hills overlooking Quito. References Oswaldo Guayasamin Original Design Hammered Silver Plate Choker with Turquoise Accent External links Oswaldo Guayasamín.org. Facebook Fan Page - Oswaldo Guayasamín oficial. Facebook Fan Page - FUNDACIÓN GUAYASAMÍN. Oswaldo Guayasamin biography Chapel of Man (Spanish and English versions) La Capilla del Hombre.com. 1919 births 1999 deaths Ecuadorian painters Ecuadorian