Francisco Clapera

Happy Birthday Francisco Clapera!

After training in Spain, this artist, born in 1746, in Barcelona, traveled first to Peru then to Colonial Mexico, where he lived and worked for the remainder of his life. He met and worked with Jeronimo Antonio Gil, the director of the Academy at San Carlos.

Clapera became the first European to paint the distinctly Mexican genre casta scenes which I have discussed here in the past. Casta refers to interracial pairings represented in paintings of everyday life. Clapera demonstrated his European training by employing contrapposto which refers to depicting the figure with weight on one leg and twisting the body. The pose can create either a relaxed or a more dynamic feel to the figure as compared to a more stationary stance. The painting below exemplifies that technique as well as depicting a Chinese man and Spanish woman with their presumably "mulatto" child.

Cristobal de Villalpando

Happy Birthday Cristobal de Villalpando!

Baroque artist Cristobal de Villalpando was born in 1649, in Mexico City. He came from an important family and because of this, in addition to his art, he served in the local militia, moving up from ensign to captain. He was married and had 4 children.

A prolific painter, he created numerous religious works and portraits as well as a depiction of Mexico City's square. He also served a several terms as director of the painter's guild. He initially followed the style of Peter Paul Rubens, but as time passed, moved away from the bright, bold colors and employed smudging, meticulous brushstrokes and dramatic artificial light depending on the patron's wishes and certainly the constraints of his subject matter.

He included his self portrait in the Apparition of St. Michael on Mt. Gargano, in the bottom right corner.

Carlos Obregon Santacilia

Happy Birthday Carlos Obregon Santacilia!

Mexican art-deco architect Carlos Obregon Santacilia was born in 1896. He was the great grandson of 26th Mexican president of Mexico, Benito Juarez and his great uncle was 39th president, Alvaro Obregon. He trained at San Carlos Academy during the Mexican Revolution and following that he was very instrumental in aiding the government to rebuild several destroyed buildings. This work included a primary school in Mexico City, and the Secretariats of both Foreign Relations and that of Health and Welfare. They were re-designed to represent the governments "new nationalist perspective". Perhaps his crowning glory was the transformation of the dated Legislative Palace into a Monument to the Revolution (pictured below).

Art Deco-Modernist style short for Arts Decoratifs involving visual arts, architecture, and design, originating in Paris, France. It joins glamorous style with finely crafted rich materials, using, at times, touches of bold color, with clean lines and geometric shapes.

Alberto Arai

Happy Birthday Alberto Arai!!

This architect of Japanese descent was born on March 29, 1915, in Mexico City. His father was the Japanese ambassador to Mexico and Alberto was his fourth son. Arai studied philosophy, literature and architecture. He was a socialist and politically active through his art. He was fascinated with Functionalism, supporting its application specifically to architecture.

He changed views on use of traditional materials for building, preferring instead to use volcanic stone, bamboo, tree trunks, etc. The building pictured below is the library for Ciuidad Universitaria, Mexico City. In this design Arai used volcanic rock in the stylized pyramid shape.

Functionalism: as applied to architecture...Belief that building design should be based solely on the purpose of that building. Ornamentation is only enriching to the basic construction of said building.

Vicente Rojo Almazon

Happy Birthday Vicente Rojo Almazan!

Although he was born in Barcelona in 1932, Vicente Rojo Almazan is included in my blog of artists of Mexican descent since the bulk of his life's work took place in Mexico. He began his study of art in Spain with drawing, sculpture and ceramics and then traveled to Mexico in 1949 to study painting and printing. He has tended to work in series, of which his work is divided into five: Senales (signs), Negacionales (denials) , Recuerdos (memories), Mexico bajo la lluvia (under the rain), and Escenarios (scenarios).

In addition to painting, he has also worked professionally in graphic arts and sculpture. Almazan won the Gold Medal for Merit in Fine Arts.

Jose Hernandez Delgadillo

Happy Birthday Jose Hernandez Delgadillo!!

This Mexican painter and muralist was born in Tepeapulco, in 1927. Jose Hernandez Delgadillo came from a rural upbringing and did not begin studying art until 1945. Delgadillo was also quite politically active and used his mural work to promote his message of social injustice. The artist wrote a weekly column for the Excelsior newspaper. He created over 160 murals during the course of his lifetime. His murals have indigenous cultural nuances lending a primeval air.

Delgadillo was married to artist Beatriz Zamora and had 3 children with her. He died in 2000, the day after Christmas.

Beatriz Zamora

Happy Birthday Beatriz Zamora!

In 1935 Beatriz Zamora was born in Mexico City. She studied mural painting with Jose Hernandez Delgadillo, ultimately marrying him. Later she studied ceramics with Jose Castano, and in 1972 traveled to Paris, and attended École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts .

Her professional work has focused on monochrome works in black. To achieve this she uses a variety of materials and mediums such as charcoal, obsidian, oxidized metals, semi-precious stones, etc. Through these means she creates a variety of surfaces, textures. She has stated "...black is the theme because it is the absolute, it is cosmic and it implies the common and the sublime as part of life itself..."

Although Zamora has struggled to profit from her work commercially, she has received grants, been recognized and exhibited in Mexico and abroad.