Emilio Amero (1901 in Ixtlahuaca – 1976 in

Norman, Oklahoma Norman () is the third-largest city in the U.S. state of Oklahoma, with a population of 128,097 as of 2021. It is the largest city and the county seat of Cleveland County, and the second-largest city in the Oklahoma City metropolitan area, b ...

) was a Mexican artist, illustrator, muralist, and educator, he was among the leading figures of the Mexican Modern art movement. He was also a member of the first group of muralists to receive commissions in Post-Revolutionary Mexico, working alongside artists including José Clemente Orozco,

Carlos Mérida Carlos Mérida (December 2, 1891 – December 21, 1985) was a Guatemalan artist who was one of the first to fuse European modern painting to Latin American themes, especially those related to Guatemala and Mexico. He was part of the Mexican mura ...

, 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 ...

Biography

Raised and educated amidst the social and political upheaval of the Mexican Revolution, Amero fully embraced its lessons and began to express his personal vision in

painting Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ai ...

, printmaking, illustration,

photography Photography is the art, application, and practice of creating durable images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is employe ...

, and

filmmaking Filmmaking (film production) is the process by which a motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, starting with an initial story, idea, or commission. It then continues through screenwriting, cast ...

. In particular, Amero developed a great passion for

lithography Lithography () is a planographic method of printing originally based on the immiscibility of oil and water. The printing is from a stone (lithographic limestone) or a metal plate with a smooth surface. It was invented in 1796 by the German a ...

, establishing several print workshops during his career and influencing a generation of young artists. Like many leading Mexican artists of his time, Amero had an important relationship with the United States. In the late 1920s, he went via

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

to New York City, where he worked as an illustrator for several publications, as well as the

Saks Fifth Avenue Saks Fifth Avenue (originally Saks & Company; colloquially Saks) is an American luxury department store chain headquartered in New York City and founded by Andrew Saks. The original store opened in the F Street shopping district of Washington ...

department store. Most important of all to him were the lessons he received from George Miller, the master lithographer. In 1930 he returned to Mexico City, where he established a successful lithography workshop at ENBA. Among those who attended his classes were such noteworthy artists as Bracho,

Jean Charlot Louis Henri Jean Charlot (February 8, 1898 – March 20, 1979) was a French-born American painter and illustrator, active mainly in Mexico and the United States. Life Charlot was born in Paris. His father, Henri, owned an import-export business ...

, Olga Costa, Gabriel Fernández Ledesma, Francisco Díaz de León, Francisco Dosamantes,

José Chávez Morado José Chávez Morado (4 January 1909 – 1 December 2002) was a Mexican artist who was associated with the Mexican muralism movement of the 20th century. His generation followed that of Diego Rivera, José Clemente Orozco and David Alfaro Siqu ...

Carlos Orozco Romero Carlos Orozco Romero (September 3, 1896 – March 29, 1984) was a Mexican cartoonist and painter who co-founded several cultural institutions in Mexico, including the Escuela Nacional de Pintura, Escultura y Grabado "La Esmeralda". His work was re ...

, and Alfredo Zalce. On his return to New York a few years later he became a teacher at the Florence Cane School of Art, executed murals for the

Works Progress Administration The Works Progress Administration (WPA; renamed in 1939 as the Work Projects Administration) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to carry out public works projects, i ...

, and experimented with photography and filmmaking. He developed a friendship with the poet

Federico García Lorca Federico del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús García Lorca (5 June 1898 – 19 August 1936), known as Federico García Lorca ( ), was a Spanish poet, playwright, and theatre director. García Lorca achieved international recognition as an emblemat ...

, who wrote a script for a Dada-esque Amero film entitled ''Viaje a la Luna (Trip to the Moon)''. He also had his first solo show at the

Julien Levy Gallery Julien Levy (1906–1981) was an art dealer and owner of Julien Levy Gallery in New York City, important as a venue for Surrealists, avant-garde artists, and American photographers in the 1930s and 1940s. Biography Levy was born in New York. Aft ...

and subsequently helped

Henri Cartier-Bresson Henri Cartier-Bresson (; 22 August 1908 – 3 August 2004) was a French humanist photographer considered a master of candid photography, and an early user of 35mm film. He pioneered the genre of street photography, and viewed photography as cap ...

exhibit there. In 1940 Amero moved to

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

, Washington to teach at the Cornish School, which had attracted such innovators as Martha Graham and John Cage. In 1946, Amero took a professorship at the

University of Oklahoma , mottoeng = "For the benefit of the Citizen and the State" , type = Public research university , established = , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $2.7billion (2021) , pr ...

. There, he established a world-class print workshop and taught classes until his retirement in 1968.Mainline Gallery; Emilio Amero - artist biography; http://mainlineartok.com/?page_id=182 retvd 8 8 15

References

20th-century Mexican painters 20th-century Mexican male artists Mexican male painters Mexican muralists 1901 births 1976 deaths Mexican people of Italian descent Works Progress Administration workers Mexican expatriates in the United States {{Mexico-painter-stub