Alejandro Mario Yllanes (1913–1960) was an

Aymara Aymara may refer to: Languages and people * Aymaran languages, the second most widespread Andean language ** Aymara language, the main language within that family ** Central Aymara, the other surviving branch of the Aymara(n) family, which today ...

painter and printmaker from Bolivia. He disappeared from the public spotlight in 1946, after he was awarded, but did not claim, the Guggenheim Fellowship.Raynor, Vivien
ART; Works by a Vanished Bolivian Painter.
''New York Times.'' 5 April 1992 (retrieved 2 May 2009)

Art career

Alejandro Yllanes was born in

Oruro Oruro (Hispanicized spelling) or Uru Uru is a city in Bolivia with a population of 264,683 (2012 calculation), about halfway between La Paz and Sucre in the Altiplano, approximately above sea level. It is Bolivia's fifth-largest city by pop ...

in 1913. He first worked as a tin miner.Arts and Literature.
''The Social Studies Lab.'' (retrieved 2 May 2009) His art career began with an exhibition in his hometown in 1930, when he was only 19 years old. He went on to show in La Paz and other cities, including

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital city, capital and primate city, largest city of Mexico, and the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North Amer ...

. As an easel painter, Yllanes was extremely militant and portrayed the Bolivian government's mistreatment of Indians in his paintings.Barnitz 97 The Bolivian government exiled the artist due to his political stance. In the 1940s, Yllanes served as a cultural attache to the Bolivian Embassy in Mexico. During this time he had a solo exhibition at the

Palacio de Bellas Artes The Palacio de Bellas Artes (Palace of Fine Arts) is a prominent cultural center in Mexico City. It has hosted notable events in music, dance, theatre, opera and literature in Mexico and has held important exhibitions of painting, sculpture and p ...

, and

Diego Rivera Diego María de la Concepción Juan Nepomuceno Estanislao de la Rivera y Barrientos Acosta y Rodríguez, known as Diego Rivera (; December 8, 1886 – November 24, 1957), was a prominent Mexican painter. His large frescoes helped establish the ...

wrote the introduction to the show's catalog. Yllanes moved to 419 West 115th Street in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

. He returned to Mexico, leaving his artwork behind in New York. It is thought he died there in 1960, but in fact, not much is known of his later years. ''Who's Who in Art'' continued to list him until 1972. His work is in the collection of the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...

, and he received much critical acclaim during his lifetime. Nicholas Clemente curated a show of Yllanes' work in New York in 1992, entitled, "Being Discovered: The Spanish Conquest from the Amer-Indian Point of View." He says that Yllanes remains a highly popular artist in Bolivia.

Obras

Yllanes was inspired by Bolivia's

precolumbian In the history of the Americas, the pre-Columbian era spans from the original settlement of North and South America in the Upper Paleolithic period through European colonization, which began with Christopher Columbus's voyage of 1492. Usually, t ...

heritage and the native peoples of his homelands. His stylized, figurative work often includes Andean clothing, such as woolen helmets. He also painted landscapes, often on humble supports, such as burlap. Yllanes also draw in graphite, charcoal and ink, and printed with woodblocks and lithography. His palette tended towards warm earth tones In 1934, he painted tempera murals on the schoolhouse walls of Warisata, a rural commune on the Bolivian shores of

Lake Titicaca Lake Titicaca (; es, Lago Titicaca ; qu, Titiqaqa Qucha) is a large freshwater lake in the Andes mountains on the border of Bolivia and Peru. It is often called the highest navigable lake in the world. By volume of water and by surface area, i ...

. Although never fully completed, these murals portray daily labors of the commune and focused on sustainable productivity. The murals included scenes of ferryman crossing Lake Titicaca on

reed boat Reed boats and rafts, along with dugout canoes and other rafts, are among the oldest known types of boats. Often used as traditional fishing boats, they are still used in a few places around the world, though they have generally been replaced with ...

s and Aymara people farming, working with leather, and having a picnic. Other murals portrayed Andean history and cultural beliefs.

Published work

* Mario Yllanes, Alejandro and Linda Weintraub. ''Being discovered: the Spanish conquest from the Amer-Indian point of view: Alejandro Mario Yllanes: from the collection of Edward and Teresa Ford.'' Annandale-on-Hudson, New York: Edith C. Blum Art Institute, 1992.Alejandro Mario Yllanes.
''Google Books.'' (retrieved 21 August 2009) *Mario Alejandro Yllanes, A Bolivian Muralist, Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings Drawings and Graphic Works by Victoria Combalia for Martin du Louvre, Paris. https://www.martindulouvre.com/publications/catalogue-mario-alejandro-yllanes/

Notes

References

*Barnitz, Jacqueline
Twentieth-century art of Latin America.
Austin: University of Texas Press, 2001:97-87 (retrieved through Google Books, 2 May 2009). *Nystrom, Andrew Dean and Morgan Konn. ''Bolivia.'' Oakland, CA: Lonely Planet, 2004. .

External links