Desiderio Hernandez Xochitiotzin

Happy Birthday Desiderio Hernandez Xochitiotzin!

Born in Tlaxcala in 1922, Desiderio Hernandez Xochitiotzin was a muralist from a family involved in handcrafts. He traveled Europe and Mexico, finally returning to Tlaxcala to reside where he dedicated his life's work to chronicling the history of his state. Xochitiotzin was an artist of many talents including drawing, illustration, writing, architecture, historian and teacher.

He was considered one of the second generation muralists and the last to use the fresco technique for his large scale murals. The last of the grand scale murals of Mexico is attributed to him: La Historia de Tlaxcala y su Contribucion lo Mexicano (The History of Tlaxcala and its Contribution to Mexico Identity) depicting the history of his state, and is quite famous and popular. (seen below) Unfortunately he was unable to complete it before his death. It was his wish that his son would finish it, but alas, that wish was never granted. The mural is unfinished and in some disrepair today.

fresco: technique for painting murals using paint mixed into the wet plaster so when applied it actually becomes part of the wall.

 

 

 

By Wolfgang Sauber - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=6888012

Nefero

Happy Birthday Ignacio Nieves Beltran!

Known as Nefero, or "Beautiful One" in ancient Egyptian, it is said he got his artist name from mentor Manuel Rodriguez Lozano. He was born in 1920. After studying painting at the Academy of San Carlos, Nefero received a scholarship to study in Paris. He traveled Europe before returning to Mexico to concentrate on his easel and mural painting.

He was a founding member of  the Salón de la Plástica Mexicana.  His friendship with Lozano led to his first exhibit and since then his work has been exhibited all over the world and is found in many collections also. He was a muralist as well as a portrait painter and in fact finished a mural Piedad en el Desierto (Mercy in the Desert) for Lozano after he became incarcerated.

An example of his easel work Mujer con Rebozo Verde (1943) is pictured here today...

German Cueto

Happy Birthday German Cueto!!

German Cueto was born either today or yesterday, in 1893, in Mexico City. His father was from Spain and when the Mexican Revolution broke out, he fled there to escape the violence. Cueto had been studying chemistry, but once in Spain was persuaded to pursue art instead. Later he studied in Paris. Initially his art was influenced by the Mexican Revolution but he moved away from that toward an European abstract influence. He created sculpture and masks, becoming one of the first Mexicans to create using found objects (wire, wood, scraps, etc.)

He was  member of the Stridentism movement (art and intellect) in Mexico, rejecting strictures and instead focusing on a futuristic utopia. German Cueto was frustrated with his lack of success at fame during his lifetime, since he did not work in the preferred historical style. He did, however,  become known as one of Mexico's premier vanguard artists after his death.

Gabriel Flores

Happy Birthday Gabriel Flores!

Today, painter and muralist, Gabriel Flores was born in 1930, in Guadalajara. He was interested in art from an early age and studied in earnest at the School of Fine Arts at University of Guadalajara beginning at age 17.

He formed a Neo-Realist group with fellow artists to challenge the abstract movement of the times. His favored themes were historical and universal; of course his influences were Diego Rivera and Jose Clemente Orozco. Flores painted murals for various government entities in states across Mexico, including libraries, offices and auditoriums. His pinnacle project is said to be Los Niños Héroes, a depiction of the historic Battle of Chapultepec in the Mexican-American War. It is said that the six young military cadets were the last to stave off the US troops invading Chapultepec Castle, fighting to their death. The last one leapt from the tower wrapped in the Mexican flag.

In the 70's, Flores began to concentrate on his own ideas about social problems. He did several murals on injustices of society such as Culto al Dinero (Worship of Money).

Gabriel Flores died in 1993.

Jose Jimenez Aranda

Happpy Birthday Jose Jimenez Aranda!!

Born today, February 7, 1837, Jose Jimenez Aranda was one of three brothers, all artists. Although he was born and lived in Spain, I am including him today since he was a great influence on several Mexican painters, especially in the costumbrista style.

Aranda was quite adept at drawing, so attended Royal Academy of Fine Arts of Saint Elizabeth of Hungary, in Seville, Spain. His career began as an art restorer and stained glass artist, but he moved to painting, studying with Mariano Fortuny and influenced by Goya and Velasquez.

He relocated to Madrid, in 1890, and pursued painting in earnest, working in the costumbrista style. One of his most notable paintings in this style is A Pass in the Bullring (below). After his wife and daughter died, he returned to Seville and was a teacher at the Academy of Fine Arts. Aranda died in 1903.

costumbrista: Literal, pictorial interpretation of everday life. Usually considered a combination of Romanticism and Realism, with specific rather than general events and locales (Realism) depicted with the emotion of Romanticism. Can be satiric, but otherwise usually represented folkloric Hispanic life.

Agustin Lazo Adalid

Happy Birthday Agusin Lazo Adalid!

Born in 1896, in Mexico City, Agustin Lazo Adalid came from a wealthy family, allowing him to pursue his interests free of monetary worry. He began his academic study in architecture, but abandoned that for painting.


He spent a couple of years painting in Paris, where he was greatly influenced by the avante garde artists, especially Maz Ernst and Giorgio di Chirico and upon his return to Mexico became a member of  Los Contemporáneos (Grupo sin Grupo)an organization of painters, writers, intellectuals, etc. who rejected art as messenger, rather painting for art's sake. He is credited for introducing Surrealism to Mexico and the influence is evident in his own work with its dreamy fantastical qualities.

He also developed an interest in the theater while in Paris and even wrote some plays. He pursued that interest in Mexico also, becoming a member of theater groups and working on set and costume design.

He was said to be a dignified gentleman of good taste and aristocracy. Lazo died at age 74.

Luis Nishizawa

Happy Birthday Luis Nishizawa!

Actually born on February 2, in 1918, Luis Nishizawa's father was Japanese, his mother Mexican, and his art shows a combination of the two heritages. As a young boy he learned jewelery making but did not study art formally until age 24, at the Academy of San Carlos and with other artists and teachers. He became an artist of several mediums, including painting, mural painting, ceramic murals, engraving, and ceramics. Nishizawa was one of few artists to use drawing as the art form not just a means to achieve other goals. His subject was often landscapes of central Mexican highlands, specifically volcanoes.

He was a fine arts professor at Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México

His work is held in collections in Mexico, Japan and the US. The Museo Taller de Luis Nishizawa, located in The State of Mexico, where he was born, honors his life's work. Luis Nisxhzawa died in 2014.