Remedies Varo

Happy Birthday Remedios Varo!

Surrealist artist Remedios Varo was born in Spain today, in 1908. Her father was very encouraging of her interest in art and helped her begin to perfect her technical drawing skills. He also provided reading material on mysticism and  Oriental philosophy to offset her Catholic upbringing. Varo would use these ideals in her subsequent  canvas paintings, becoming one of the premier 20th century "para-Surrealists". She studied art at the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando, Madrid, before emegrating to France to flee the Spanish Civil War. There, Remedios became familiar with the Surrealist movement and artists  such as Andre Breton and Leonara Carrington (who would become a friend for life). She also met her second husband and great influence, Surrealist poet Benjamin Peret. The occupation of France by the Germans in 1941, exiled the couple, this time, to Mexico City, where she would make her home for the rest of her life.

Upon arrival to Mexico, Varo began work in commercial art, costume design and decorating, not returning to her Surrealistic painting for a couple of years. She did know famed Mexican artists (Rivera, Kahlo, etc.) but since she was not part of the Mexican muralist movement, Varo was more compatible with other expats...Carrington in particular...who had similar ideals. She had her first exhibit in 1955.

In addition to the paranormal, Remedios Varo's work also alludes to the isolationism Surrealist women artists often experienced (women were often thought of as simply the artists' muse). Often her figures' features resembled her own. Her work exhibits a Renaissance quality in tone and narrative. She considered her art a way of "communicating the incommunicable". Varo had several exhibits and two galleries devoted to her work before her untimely death from a heart attack at age 54. The retrospective of her work in 1971, drew the largest crowd in the history of the Museum of Modern Art, Mexico City,  (even larger than retrospectives of Rivera or Jose Clemente Orozco).

Jose Villagran Garcia

Happy Birthday Jose Villagran Garcia!

Born on September 22, 1901, Jose Villagran Garcia was a Mexican architect. He studied at Academy San Carlos for 4 years. After graduation, Villagran Garcia was one of the many hired by the government under President Alvaro Obregon to design structures that "carried meaning". During that period he designed the National Stadium, in Mexico City, a huge neo-Colonial structure in the eighteenth century style. The building seated over 30,000 and was constructed of concrete and native stone.

Villagran Garcia became the chair of Architecture at his alma mater and was responsible for designing the master plan for the University. He also developed numerous theories for Modernist Architecture. He received prizes and awards for his work, including the National Prize of Architecture, in 1980.

Monument to the Mother

photos by Carlos Tomasini

Juan Sordo Madaleno

Happy Birthday Juan Sordo Madaleno!

Juan Sordo Madaleno was born in October 28, 1916, in Mexico City. He was an architect, influenced by Le Corbusier, working in the Bauhaus style. He worked with well known architects, Luis Barragan, Jose Villagran Garcia, etc. After establishing his own firm, Sordo Madaleno Arquitectos SC. Moral worked primarily on residential and hotel projects. His son, Javier Sordo Madaleno Bringas took over the family business in 1982.

Maqueta de la Iglesia San Ignacio de Loyola

Enrique del Moral

Happy Birthday Enrique del Moral!

Architect, Enrique del Moral, was born (an only child) in Irapuato, Guanajuato, on January 21, 1905. His parents relocated the family to Mexico City when he was just 4. He attended school there and entered the Academy of San Carlos with childhood friend, Juan O'Gorman, to study architecture. During the Mexican Revolution he lived for a time with relatives in Texas. Following his studies, Moral traveled extensively in Europe, familiarizing himself with the architectural styles there.

In the 30's, Moral set up his own architectural practice in addition to beginning a teaching career. He continued throughout his lifetime to explore contemporary architecture. Enrique del Moral was head of the most prominent contemporary architecture project: Ciudad Universitaria (pictured below). Over 70 professionals worked on the extensive endeavor.

Manuel Felguerez

Happy Birthday Manuel Felguerez!

Abstract artist, Manuel Felguerez, was born on December 12, 1928, in Zacatecas. His family relocated to Mexico City and although he did begin his studies at Academy of San Carlos, dissatisfied, he relocated to France, to further his art education there. He became an abstract artist, which was not accepted in Mexico at the time so his exhibits were limited. He was a member of the Generation de la Ruptura group who broke from the muralists in Mexico. After returning to Mexico he enrolled at La Esmeralda to learn  about terracotta and later went back to France to study at Colarossi Academy, in Paris.

Felguerez' work is tied to his experiences with the artists he was associated with in Europe and the geometric-constructivist and abstract expressionist styles. In his paintings as well as sculpture, geometric shapes are fundamental. To him, "art is life".

With a wide educational experience, Felguerez has had a varied art career focused primarily on painting and sculpture. He has also worked as a professor, an anthropologist, taxidermist, and researcher. In 1998, he opened the Manuel Felguerez Abstract Art Museum in his hometown of Zacatecas. Married three times, Manuel Felguerez currently lives in Colorado and Mexico City with his current wife Mercedes Oteyza, where he continues to create.

Myra Landau

Happy Birthday Myra Landau!

Born on December 5, 1926, Myra Landau was from Bucharest, Romania, and has lived in several countries. When her family moved through Europe and finally arrived in Brazil (and later moved to Mexico), Landau began to experiment with painting. She began with figurative works but following a suggestion by her uncle, Marcel Janco, an artist credited with the founding of Dadaism, Landau moved toward abstract painting, where she found her niche. In addition to painting, Landau also worked with engraving in a series called Metal Relief.

Landau also has taught and worked in art research. She currently lives in Holland. She has had over 60 solo exhibits and over a hundred collective shows. Her work has been shown all over the world.

Manuel Jimenez Ramirez

Happy Birthday Manuel Jimenez Ramirez!

Carver, sculptor and painter, Manuel Jimenez Ramirez was born on December 9, 1919, near Oaxaca. He began creating figurines from clay as a young boy and gradually switched to carving the figures from wood. Self-taught, he is thought to be the originator of the Oaxacan (wood) style of "alebrijes"* Besides the alebrijes, Jimenez Ramirez also created nativity scenes, human figures, masks, etc. He was thought by some to be a curandero or shaman and some even thought he was a nahual or one who can transform into an animal form.

His creations were painted with bright colors and often had hair, beads, etc., added. Jimenez Ramirez' work is included in collections both private and public in the US and Mexico. Fomento Cultural Banamex named Manuel Jimenez Ramirez a "grand master". His two sons carry on his unique art after his death at 86.

*Alebrijes: brightly colored Mexican folk art figurines, traditionally made of cartoneria or hard paper mache.