# Francisco Corzas artist context and auction value notes

Canonical page: https://appraisily.com/artist/francisco-corzas/
Profile generated: 2026-05-06T22:32:14.883Z
Quality: high confidence, strong sources

## Artist identity

- Birth date: 1936-10-04
- Death date: 1983-09-15
- Nationality: Mexican
- Movements: Generación de la Ruptura
- Common media: painting, printmaking, drawing, graphic arts

## About Francisco Corzas

Francisco Corzas Chávez (1936–1983) was a Mexican painter, printmaker, and draftsman associated with the Generación de la Ruptura, a generation of artists who broke from the dominant Mexican muralism tradition to explore personal and figurative expression. Born into a modest family in Mexico City, Corzas studied art in Mexico before continuing his training in Italy, where his professional career took hold. He returned to Mexico in the 1960s while maintaining exhibition and commission ties across Europe. Despite a prolific output, his early death at age 47 limited the surviving body of work to an estimated 1,500 pieces. His paintings, prints, and drawings are held in museum and private collections in both Mexico and Europe, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

## Common works and media

Corzas worked primarily in oil on canvas, but his output also includes prints (etchings and lithographs), drawings in ink and wash, and works on paper. His subjects often center on the human figure, rendered with expressive distortion and gestural brushwork characteristic of mid-century figurative modernism. Collectors may encounter individual paintings, editioned prints, and preparatory drawings at auction. Works bearing gallery or exhibition labels from his European or Mexican showings provide useful provenance markers.

## Market and appraisal context

Francisco Corzas has a well-documented secondary-market footprint spanning 185 auction lots recorded by Appraisily, with 97 carrying realized prices. Works have appeared at major international houses—Christie's, Sotheby's, and Bonhams—as well as leading Mexican houses such as Morton Subastas, confirming sustained institutional-level demand. Price dispersion is wide: the recorded range runs from $150 USD (small prints and lithographs at regional houses) to $1,900,000 USD (large-scale oil paintings at top-tier sales). The interquartile spread ($2,800–$25,000) and a median of $7,500 indicate that mid-market works—typically works on paper, editioned prints, and smaller paintings—constitute the bulk of turnover, while important oil paintings from the 1960s and early 1970s command significantly higher prices. A notable recent result is 'Derecho de propiedad' (1967), a large oil on canvas that realized $38,000 at Bonhams in November 2023. The highest individual-priced lot in the recent sample is 'Mujer con cabellera,' which achieved $125,000 at Christie's in November 2018. Recent liquidity is thin—only one priced lot per year in 2025 and 2024—suggesting that Corzas works do not appear frequently at auction and collectors may face limited comparable data in any given year.

## Auction-house-backed market evidence

Francisco Corzas has a well-documented secondary-market footprint spanning 185 auction lots recorded by Appraisily, with 97 carrying realized prices. Works have appeared at major international houses—Christie's, Sotheby's, and Bonhams—as well as leading Mexican houses such as Morton Subastas, confirming sustained institutional-level demand. Price dispersion is wide: the recorded range runs from $150 USD (small prints and lithographs at regional houses) to $1,900,000 USD (large-scale oil paintings at top-tier sales). The interquartile spread ($2,800–$25,000) and a median of $7,500 indicate that mid-market works—typically works on paper, editioned prints, and smaller paintings—constitute the bulk of turnover, while important oil paintings from the 1960s and early 1970s command significantly higher prices. A notable recent result is 'Derecho de propiedad' (1967), a large oil on canvas that realized $38,000 at Bonhams in November 2023. The highest individual-priced lot in the recent sample is 'Mujer con cabellera,' which achieved $125,000 at Christie's in November 2018. Recent liquidity is thin—only one priced lot per year in 2025 and 2024—suggesting that Corzas works do not appear frequently at auction and collectors may face limited comparable data in any given year.

### Appraisal notes

Appraisily would use these auction records as a comparable-lot baseline alongside the collector's submitted photographs, measured dimensions, identified medium, signature examination, condition report, and documented provenance. Because Corzas worked across oil painting, printmaking (etchings, aquatints, lithographs), and drawing, medium identification is a critical first step: oil paintings on canvas from the 1960s and early 1970s dominate the upper price tier, while editioned prints and works on paper cluster below $1,000. Edition details (number, total edition size, printer proofs) materially affect print valuations. Provenance linking a work to exhibitions in Mexico or Italy, or to gallery labels from his active period, can increase appraised value. The wide price range means that no single lot is a reliable proxy; Appraisily would filter comparables by medium, dimensions, date of execution, subject matter, and sale date to produce a defensible estimate. Works consigned to Christie's, Sotheby's, or Bonhams tend to realize higher prices than those sold at regional houses, and the appraisal should note any house-specific premium.

### Valuation factors

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### Collector notes

- Oil paintings from the 1960s and early 1970s represent the strongest value tier in the Corzas market; focus on figurative compositions with gestural brushwork for the most established demand.
- Prints and works on paper are accessible entry points—lithographs and etchings have realized between $150 and $1,000 at auction—but should be verified for edition authenticity, plate marks, and condition.
- The same painting, 'Derecho de propiedad' (1967), appeared at Bonhams, Christie's, and Bonhams again between May 2023 and November 2023, suggesting that major works can cycle quickly through the market; check prior sale history before bidding.
- Recent auction volume is very low (one priced lot per year in 2024–2025), so comparable data for current valuations may be thin. Allow wider estimate ranges and consider results from 2018–2023 as the most relevant comparables.
- Works sold at Morton Subastas are priced in MXN; convert to USD at the prevailing exchange rate for comparison with international results.
- Attribution should be confirmed through provenance documentation, as unsigned or minimally documented prints circulate on the secondary market and may be confused with reproduction prints.

### Market caveats

- The maximum recorded price of $1,900,000 represents a single outlier and should not be used as a typical benchmark; the interquartile range ($2,800–$25,000) better represents the typical market for priced lots.
- Only 97 of 185 recorded lots carry realized prices; the remaining 88 lots either did not sell or lack published results, which may bias the price distribution upward toward successfully sold works.
- Recent liquidity is very thin—one priced lot per year in the last two years—making it difficult to establish a current market trend. Appraisals should note this data gap.
- Some lots are priced in MXN (Morton Subastas) or EUR (Casa d'Aste Babuino); all cross-currency comparisons should account for exchange-rate fluctuations at the time of sale.
- No catalogue raisonné was identified for Corzas; attribution relies on provenance documentation, signature examination, and stylistic analysis rather than a definitive reference.
- Corzas's prints were issued in editions (e.g., 75, 77, 120, 150), and multiple impressions of the same image may appear at auction with different condition and provenance profiles.

### Market evidence sources

- Appraisily auction record index: https://appraisily.com/api/scraper-search/artists/francisco-corzas/seo-profile?recentLimit=24&relatedLimit=0
- Invaluable / John Moran Auctioneers: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-francisco-corzas-1936-1983-mexican-untitled-from-the-umbrio-por-la-pena-portfolio-1973-211-c-cd6495d297
- Invaluable / Bonhams: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-francisco-corzas-1936-1983-desnudo-49-1-16-x-39-3-16-in-124-6-x-99-6-cm-painted-in-1964-42-c-6914f70849
- Invaluable / John Moran Auctioneers: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-francisco-corzas-1936-1983-mexican-untitled-1963-104-c-f0749ada30
- Invaluable / John Moran Auctioneers: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-francisco-corzas-1936-1983-two-women-1963-aquatint-on-tan-paper-image-sheet-11-25-h-x-15-w-144-c-7604820920
- Invaluable / Bonhams: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-francisco-corzas-1936-1983-derecho-de-propiedad-80-5-16-x-66-1-8-in-204-x-168-cm-painted-in-1967-25-c-f23407ba5f
- Invaluable / Christie's: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-francisco-corzas-1936-1983-mujer-con-cabellera-43-c-6b24532b64
- Invaluable / Morton Subastas: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-francisco-corzas-poeta-romagnolo-signed-and-dated-72-oil-on-canvas-99-8-x-80-cm-101-c-7e94fd5bf8

## Appraisily data basis

This artist page is built from identity records held by Getty ULAN, VIAF, the Library of Congress, and the RKD Netherlands Institute for Art History, supplemented by museum holdings data from the Museum of Modern Art and biographical context from Wikipedia and Wikidata. Appraisily artist pages combine artist identity research with auction records, auction-house context, sale dates, realized prices, and comparable lots when those records are available.

## Sources

- RKD Netherlands Institute for Art History: https://rkd.nl/en/explore/artists/236123
- Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q595191
- VIAF: https://viaf.org/viaf/77455833/
- Library of Congress: https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n88622116
- Getty Vocabulary Program: https://vocab.getty.edu/page/ulan/500118510
- The Museum of Modern Art: https://www.moma.org/artists/6781
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francisco_Corzas