# Julio Larraz artist context and auction value notes

Canonical page: https://appraisily.com/artist/julio-larraz/
Profile generated: 2026-05-23T13:47:38.814Z
Quality: high confidence, strong sources

## Artist identity

- Nationality: Cuban
- Movements: Contemporary Latin American art
- Common media: oil painting, sculpture, printmaking, works on paper (caricature and cartoon)

## About Julio Larraz

Julio Larraz (born 1944, Havana, Cuba) is a painter, sculptor, and printmaker who has been based in the United States since 1961. He began his career as a political caricaturist and cartoonist, publishing under the name Julio Fernandez. In the early 1970s he shifted to painting and adopted the signature Julio Larraz, the name by which he is now widely known. His work spans oil on canvas, sculpture, and works on paper, and is characterized by richly rendered, often surreal or metaphorical compositions that draw on his Cuban heritage and decades of life in America. Larraz is represented in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and his career is documented in the Getty Union List of Artist Names, VIAF, the Library of Congress authority file, and the RKD Netherlands Institute for Art History.

## Common works and media

Larraz is best known for oil paintings on canvas, often large-format, featuring dreamlike or metaphorical imagery. He also produces sculptures and prints. Earlier in his career he created political cartoons and caricatures on paper. Collectors may encounter editions, works on paper, and preparatory drawings alongside major paintings. Works are typically signed 'Julio Larraz' for paintings and sculpture; early caricature bears the signature 'Julio Fernandez.'

## Market and appraisal context

Julio Larraz's work appears regularly in the Latin American Art and Contemporary Art auction categories. Collectors encounter oils on canvas most frequently at auction, though prints, works on paper, and sculptures also enter the market. Valuation depends on medium, scale, provenance, exhibition history, and whether the work dates from his mature painting period. Early caricature signed 'Julio Fernandez' represents a distinct collecting category. As with any living artist, auction results should be reviewed individually and compared with comparable lots of similar date, medium, and dimensions.

## Appraisily data basis

Appraisily artist pages combine structured artist identity research from museum, library authority, and scholarly sources with auction records, auction-house context, sale dates, realized prices, and comparable lots when those records are available. For Julio Larraz, identity data is sourced from the Getty ULAN, VIAF, the Library of Congress, the RKD, Wikidata, and the Museum of Modern Art.

## Sources

- Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6309380
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julio_Larraz
- Getty Vocabulary Program: https://vocab.getty.edu/page/ulan/500116716
- VIAF: https://viaf.org/viaf/57416721/
- Library of Congress: https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n87144851
- The Museum of Modern Art: https://www.moma.org/artists/6639
- RKD Netherlands Institute for Art History: https://rkd.nl/en/explore/artists/244502