Julio Castellanos González (b.

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...

, October 3, 1905 – d. Mexico City, July 16, 1947) was a Mexican painter and engraver.

Biography

Castellanos matriculated the Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes in 1918, where he studied under

Saturnino Herrán Saturnino Herrán Guinchard (9 July 1887 – 8 October 1918) was a Mexican painter influential to Latin culture in the late 19th and early 20th century. Biography Born a mix of Indigenous Mexican and Swiss descent, Saturnino Herrán was rais ...

and Leandro Izaguirre, together with Agustín Lazo,

Rufino Tamayo Rufino del Carmen Arellanes Tamayo (August 25, 1899 – June 24, 1991) was a Mexican painter of Zapotec heritage, born in Oaxaca de Juárez, Mexico.Sullivan, 170-171Ades, 357 Tamayo was active in the mid-20th century in Mexico and New York, ...

and

Leopoldo Méndez Leopoldo Méndez (June 30, 1902 – February 8, 1969) was one of Mexico's most important graphic artists and one of that country's most important artists from the 20th century. Méndez's work mostly focused on engraving for illustrations and othe ...

. Afterwards he studied engraving in the United States, where he met Manuel Rodríguez Lozano, who influenced his work strongly. Back in Mexico, he participated in the open-air painting schools ( es, Escuela de Pintura al Aire Libre) there, and studied drawing under

Adolfo Best Maugard Adolfo Best Maugard, also known as Fito Best (June 11, 1891 – August 25, 1964),
(Spanish), ' ...

. In 1925 he had his first single exhibition in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

, and moved to

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

to deal with

European art The art of Europe, or Western art, encompasses the history of art, history of visual art in Europe. European prehistoric art started as mobile Upper Paleolithic rock art, rock and cave painting and petroglyph art and was characteristic of the ...

. Returned to Mexico, he joined the

Teatro Ulises The Teatro Ulises (literally ''Odysseus theater'') was an experimental theater, located in the ''calle de Mesones 42'' of Mexico City, that was established around 1927

group, and exhibited six paintings in a

Los Contemporáneos ''Los Contemporáneos'' (which means "The Contemporaries" in English) can refer to a Mexican modernist group, active in the late 1920s and early 1930s, as well as to the literary magazine which served as the group's mouthpiece and artistic vehi ...

' exhibition, that were totally different from his earlier works. His first and only finished two murals he painted at

Juan O'Gorman Juan O'Gorman (July 6, 1905 – January 17, 1982) was a Mexican painter and architect. Early life and family Juan O'Gorman was born on 6 July 1905 in Coyoacán, then a village to the south of Mexico City and now a borough of the Federal Distri ...

's ''Escuela Melchor Ocampo'' (''

Melchor Ocampo Melchor Ocampo (5 January 1814 – 3 June 1861) was a Mexican lawyer, scientist, and politician. A mestizo and a radical liberal, he was fiercely anticlerical, perhaps an atheist, and his early writings against the Catholic Church in Mexico gain ...

school''),

Coyoacán Coyoacán ( , ) is a borough (''demarcación territorial'') in Mexico City. The former village is now the borough's "historic center". The name comes from Nahuatl and most likely means "place of coyotes", when the Aztecs named a pre-Hispanic vil ...

, in 1933. A further partly finished mural, he painted in a school in the Colonia Peralvillo of Mexico City, titled "El ojo enfermo"(''the injured eye''). Together with

Frida Kahlo Magdalena Carmen Frida Kahlo y Calderón (; 6 July 1907 – 13 July 1954) was a Mexican painter known for her many portraits, self-portraits, and works inspired by the nature and artifacts of Mexico. Inspired by the country's popular culture, ...

, he was awarded by the

Secretaría de Educación Pública The Mexican Secretariat of Public Education ( in Spanish ''Secretaría de Educación Pública'', ''SEP'') is a federal government authority with cabinet representation and the responsibility for overseeing the development and implementation of ...

in 1946, the same year, when his wife Zita Basich Leija gave birth to their son

Antonio Antonio is a masculine given name of Etruscan origin deriving from the root name Antonius. It is a common name among Romance language-speaking populations as well as the Balkans and Lusophone Africa. It has been among the top 400 most popular male ...

, today a notable sculptor. Castellanos exhibited his works in Buenos Aires, Paris and New York City, and participated in several group exhibitions in his home country as well as in the United States. He died shortly after he became director of the department of plastic and fine arts.''Julio Castellanos''
(Spanish), Asociación Cultural El Estanquillo A.C., p. 42.

Selected works

* "La cirugía casera", 1932 * "El baño de san Juan", 1939 * self-portrait,1947 * "El día de San Juan" * "El Bohío Maya"

Literature

* ''Olivier Debroise'', Julio Castellanos 1905–1947. México, Banco Nacional de México, 1982.

References

20th-century Mexican painters Mexican male painters Mexican muralists Mexican engravers People from Mexico City 1905 births 1947 deaths 20th-century engravers 20th-century Mexican male artists {{mexico-painter-stub