Born in Madrid, Izquierdo had to flee Spain during the Spanish Civil War with his sister and brother. They endured refugee camps in France for years before making their way to Portland, Oregon, in 1943. After finishing high school, he went on to study sculpture and printmaking at the Museum Art School, graduating in 1951. He taught at the Museum School for 46 years alongside other iconic Portland artists, like Louis Bunce, Jack McLarty and George Johanson.
Izquierdo received the prestigious Oregon Governor's Award in 1991. His work has been exhibited in the Northwest and nationally, including a ten-year retrospective at the Portland Art Museum in 1967. In 2013, the Hallie Ford Musuem of Art in Salem presented a large exhibit and published a monograph called Manuel Izquierdo: Myth, Nature, and Renewal.The HFMA curator and author of the monograph, Professor Roger Hull, will speak at 6 pm on March 4th. Hull's monograph will be available for sale that evening and throughout the show.
Izquierdo has been represented by Portland's Laura Russo Gallery for 20 years, and his work is in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Philadelphia Museum, and the Portland Art Museum.