Alfredo Zalce Torres (1908-2003) was a Mexican artist and muralist born in Patzcuaro, Michoacan. According to his friend and collector of his works, Zalce began drawing at the age of 6/7 on the linoleum floor of his home, and was praised by it from his parents. During primary school, he would regularly draw on the blackboard alongside his teachers and illustrate their lessons as a way to encourage other students. During 1924-1927, Zalce studied at the Escuela Nacional de Artes Plasticas in Mexico City. He met with prominent muralists around this time, like Diego Rivera and David Siquieros, and other artists like Frida Kahlo, Jose Clemente Orozco and Rufino Tamayo. Zalce also took responsibilty of his family, being the oldest of three, and would study in the morning and work in the afternoon. He would also further his studies at the Escuela de Talla Directa and the Taller de Litografia of Emilio Amero. Zalce's career was mostly spent in teaching and cultural activities. He went to teach art in Zacatecas shortly after the Cristero War had ended, but the school was not permitted to operate due to lingering political tensions. He would teach drawing for various primary schools from 1932-1935 and then would become a teacher at La Esmeralda and Escuela Nacional de Artes Plasticas in 1944. He then moved to Morelia in 1950 and became the director of the Escuela de Pintura y Escultura. Besides teaching, he also illustrated books with academic and social themes. Zalce worked with oil, acrylic, watercolors, pastels, ink, pencil, engraving, monotyping, serigraphy, batik, bronze, stone, ceramics, precious metals and more. As a muralist, he first used colored cement and usually operated contrary to the trends of his time. He was prominent in using figurativism and expressionism, which was popular in Mexico during the 1920s, and his works would be often be characterized by its "precision and clarity." Zalce received awards like the Generalisimo Morelos Prize from Morelia in 1969 and the Vasco de Quiroga Prize from Patzcuaro in 1985. The government of Michoacan created the Premio de Artes Plasticas Alfredo Zalce in 1979. He initially declined the Premio Nacional de Ciencias y Artes twice before accepting it in 2001, 2 years before his death.
