Manuel Lepe Native Art in Puerto Vallarta. Overview of Manuel Lepe Macedo and his daughter Marcella Lepe Quiroz, focusing on their careers and contributions to the arts, especially in Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, Mexico.

Manuel Lepe Macedo. Pioneer of Naïve Art in Puerto Vallarta

Biography and Artistic Significance

Manuel Lepe Macedo (April 17, 1936 – September 9, 1984) was a Mexican painter born in Puerto Vallarta who became internationally recognized for his naïve style artwork.
He had no formal artistic training, attending only the first four years of primary school, yet developed a distinctive voice in painting that captured the landscapes, traditions, and everyday life of his hometown.
His paintings typically featured vibrant, lyrical depictions of Puerto Vallarta, including children, angels, and local scenery, visuals that came to symbolize the town itself as it grew into a prominent tourist destination.
Lepe’s body of work exceeds 2,500 paintings and has been exhibited worldwide, including in several U.S. galleries and museums. His art is held in prestigious collections and has been collected by figures such as Queen Elizabeth II and Ronald Reagan.
He was honored by Mexican President Luis Echeverría Álvarez in 1976 as a significant national artist and is celebrated locally, including with a Manuel Lepe Day in Puerto Vallarta.
Lepe’s contributions were vital in placing Puerto Vallarta on the cultural map; his work helped define a visual identity for the city’s heritage and landscape through art.

Legacy

His studio was preserved as a gallery and museum in Puerto Vallarta (though some locations have since closed), and his paintings are still widely shown in regional collections, including at the ARTe Vallarta Museo.
Murals and public art in Puerto Vallarta incorporate his style, and his influence remains embedded in the city’s visual culture, including maxiletras and urban public artworks.

Marcela (Marcella) Lepe Quiroz — Artist and Cultural Advocate

Background and Training
Marcela Lepe Quiroz (born May 13, 1966 in Puerto Vallarta) is the daughter of Manuel Lepe and art promoter Laura Quiroz.
She began engaging with art from a very young age, painting alongside her father from about age four and adopting his naïve artistic approach.

Artistic Career
Marcella continued in the naïf tradition she learned from her father and has become an active artist in her own right, creating mural works and paintings that celebrate and extend his visual legacy in Puerto Vallarta.
She has produced notable public artworks, such as the mural “Raíces” in the lobby of Hotel Las Palmas, featuring elements evocative of Puerto Vallarta’s landscape and Lepe’s visual language.
Marcela has also been directly involved in decorating and restoring iconic public art, such as redecorating the maxiletras of “Puerto Vallarta” on the Malecón using motifs informed by her father’s style, helping reinforce the city’s cultural branding.

Cultural Leadership and Community Work
She was named director of the Puerto Vallarta Institute of Culture, where she has promoted arts, local artists, and community cultural programs, including outreach to children and youth.
Beyond painting, Marcela’s early career involved theater, dance, music, and radio; she formed performing groups, wrote and directed productions, and engaged in cultural promotion across multiple arts disciplines.
She has also been recognized in Puerto Vallarta with awards such as the Premio Vallarta “Manuel Lepe Macedo” for her artistic contributions.

Legacy and Continuity
As custodian of her father’s artistic estate, she has been instrumental in promoting and preserving Manuel Lepe’s legacy, including the management of collections and exhibitions and advocating for the proper representation of his visual heritage in public art and cultural memory.

Summary

Manuel Lepe Macedo is one of Puerto Vallarta’s most influential artists, recognized for developing a distinctive naïve style that captured the essence of the coastal town and helped establish its cultural identity on an international stage. His work remains central to the artistic heritage of the region.

His daughter, Marcella Lepe Quiroz, has carried forward this legacy through her own artistic practice, public art, cultural leadership, and community engagement, preserving and expanding the Lepe aesthetic and ensuring its relevance in Puerto Vallarta’s contemporary cultural landscape.

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