Juan Soriano (artist)
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Juan Soriano (born Juan Francisco Rodríguez Montoya; August 18, 1920 – February 10, 2006) was a Mexican artist known for his paintings, sculptures and theater work. He was a child prodigy whose career began early as did his fame with various writers authoring works about him. He exhibited in the United States and Europe as well as major venues in Mexico such as the Museo de Arte Moderno and the Palacio de Bellas Artes. His monumental sculptures can be found in various parts of Mexico and in Europe as well. Recognitions of his work include Mexico's National Art Prize, the Chevalier des Arts et Lettres and membership in France's Legion of Honour.


Life

Soriano was born Juan Francisco Rodríguez Montoya in
Guadalajara Guadalajara ( , ) is a metropolis in western Mexico and the capital of the list of states of Mexico, state of Jalisco. According to the 2020 census, the city has a population of 1,385,629 people, making it the 7th largest city by population in Me ...
to Rafael Rodríguez Soriano and Amalia Montoya Navarro. Starting in childhood he began to call himself Juan Soriano, preferring the maternal surname of his father. He described his family of origin as “eccentric.” He was a
child prodigy A child prodigy is defined in psychology research literature as a person under the age of ten who produces meaningful output in some domain at the level of an adult expert. The term is also applied more broadly to young people who are extraor ...
, and in 1933, his sister introduced him to painter Alfonso Michel Martínez who taught him current modes of Expressionist and
neo Baroque The Baroque Revival, also known as Neo-Baroque (or Second Empire architecture in France and Wilhelminism in Germany), was an architectural style of the late 19th century. The term is used to describe architecture and architectural sculptur ...
painting. He then studied under Francisco Rodríguez “Caracalla” at the Evolución Studio in Guadalajara, which also trained
Raúl Anguiano José Raúl Anguiano Valadez (February 26, 1915 – January 13, 2006) was a notable Mexican painter of the 20th century, part of the “second generation” of Mexican muralists which continued the tradition of Diego Rivera, José Clemente Or ...
and Jesús Guerrero Galván. At this time he was also a regular visitor to the home and business of Jesús Reyes Ferreira. Reyes gave him work in his shop to make decorated wrapping paper as he did but Soriano found the work difficult. However, the time here allowed him to meet creators such as Luis Barragán and Roberto Montenegro, experience European art in books and magazines and discover portraits by José María Estrada, which Reyes collected. Soriano also went to his first museum and began to read classic books edited by José Vasconcelos. His first exhibition of his work allowed him to meet artists such as José Chávez Morado,
Lola Álvarez Bravo Lola Álvarez Bravo (3 April 1903 – 31 July 1993) was the first Mexican female photographer and a key figure in the post-revolution Mexican renaissance. Known for her high level of skill in composition, her works were seen by her peers as fin ...
and María Izquierdo, who encouraged him to move to Mexico City, which he did in 1935 at the age of fifteen, along with his sister Martha. Here he continued a lifelong cultivation of friendships with artists, writers and intellectuals, which Soriano stated was one of the main treasures of his life. These included
Xavier Villaurrutia Xavier Villaurrutia y González (27 March 1903 – 25 December 1950) was a Mexican poet, playwright and literary critic whose most famous works are the short theatrical dramas called ''Autos profanos'', compiled in the work ''Poesía y teatro c ...
,
Carlos Pellicer Carlos Pellicer Cámara (10 January 1897 – 16 February 1977) was part of the first wave of modernist Mexican poets and was active in the promotion of Mexican art, pictures, and literature. An enthusiastic traveler, his work is filled with ...
, Octavio Paz (who wrote several essays about him), Lola and
Manuel Álvarez Bravo Manuel Álvarez Bravo (February 4, 1902 – October 19, 2002) was a Mexican artistic photographer and one of the most important figures in 20th century Latin American photography. He was born and raised in Mexico City. While he took art classes a ...
, Rafael Solana (with whom he traveled to UC Berkeley in 1938),
Isabel Villaseñor Isabel 'Chabela' Villaseñor ( Guadalajara, 18 May 1909 - Mexico City, 13 March 1953) was a noted post-revolutionary Mexican sculptor, printmaker, painter, poet, and songwriter. Biography Villaseñor was born in the city of Guadalajara. In 1928 ...
,
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, ...
, Lupe Marín and
Salvador Novo Salvador Novo López (30 July 1904 – 13 January 1974) was a Mexican writer, poet, playwright, translator, television presenter, entrepreneur, and the official chronicler of Mexico City. As a noted intellectual, he influenced popular percept ...
. He was part of a regular social circle with
Octavio G. Barreda Octavio G. Barreda (30 November 1897 – 2 January 1964) was a Mexican poet, critic, essayist, translator, and a literary promoter. Poet of secret desolation and author of some precious Sonetos a la Virgen (Sonnets to the Virgin) (1937) with herme ...
as part of his love for poetry and writing, becoming involved in magazines such as ''El hijo prodigo'' and ''La Revista de la Universidad de México''. Soriano visited Rome for the first time in 1952 and in 1954 visited Crete where he painted ''Apolo y las musas.'' He returned to Rome again to live from 1969 to 1975, which allowed him to study classical art. In 1963 he suffered an automobile accident which he documented in a painting called ''El accidente''. In 1974, Soriano met Polish dancer Marek Keller on a visit to Paris, introduced by writer Sergio Pitol. This was the beginning of an over thirty-year relationship. Soriano worked incessantly and cared only about his work, leaving the rest of his affairs in disorder. Keller stepped in to manage most of these and put some order in the artist's life. The two remained together, living in both Mexico City and Paris until Soriano's death. Since then, Keller has worked to promote the artist's legacy in various parts of the world. Juan Soriano died in 2006 at the age of 85 at the ''Instituto Nacional de Nutrición Salvador Zubirán'' in Mexico City from multiple causes.


Career

Soriano began his career early in life and fame came early as well. Soriano's work was first exhibited at the Guadalajara Museum, which led to his move to Mexico City in 1935. From 1936 to 1937 he studied at the Escuela Noctura de Arte para Obreros under Emilio Caero and
Santos Balmori Santos Balmori Picazo (b. Mexico City, Sept. 26, 1899 – d. Mexico City, March 5, 1992) was a Spanish-Mexican painter whose heavily European style was not appreciated by his contemporaries of the Mexican muralism movement, but he had influence wit ...
. Balmori helped him to be accepted into the Liga de Escritores y Artistas Revolucionarios (LEAR) and a small exhibition at the end of this course at the Palacio de Bellas Artes brought him to the attention of Inés Amor. However, he did not stay with LEAR for long, leaving in 1938 because he did not like its politics. His first individual exhibition was in 1936 at the Galería de Arte Mexicano in Mexico City. This was followed by another at the Galería de Arte of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México . During the rest of the 1940s, he exhibited in various venues in New York and Philadelphia and at the Galería de Arte Mexicano. In the 1950s the exhibited at the Schneider Gallery in Rome, the first of many individual shows in Europe, along with exhibitions in venues in Mexico such as the Antonio Souza Gallery, the Rutherford Gallery in San Francisco and his first retrospective and tribute at the Museo de Arte Moderno and Palacio de Bellas Artes in 1959. In the 1960s he had an important show at the Palacio de Bellas Artes (1966) as well as an exhibit of a series of portraits her created with only Lupe Marín as model at the Misrachi Gallery. In the 1970s, he received a grant from the Fundación Cultural Televisa to create thirty largescale works and thirty small ones which were then exhibited at the Museo de Arte Moderno. In 1993, he had an exhibit of sculpture at the ''Colegio de Jalisco'' and the ''Instituto Cultural de México'' in San Antonio. His last major exhibits before his death included the ''Centro Cultural Español de Cooperación Iberoamericana'' in Miami (2001), the ''Real Casa de Correos'' in Madrid (2002), the Meadows Museum and Southern Methodist University (2002), the ''Instituto Italo-Latino Americano'' in Rome (2003) and multiple exhibitions at the ''Instituto Mora'' in Mexico City (2005). During his career, Soriano created a number of monumental sculptures which can be found in Mexico and Europe. These include ''El Toro'' at the Tomás Garrido Canabal Park in Villahermosa (1987), ''La Paloma'' at the MARCO Museum in
Monterrey Monterrey ( , ) is the capital and largest city of the northeastern state of Nuevo León, Mexico, and the third largest city in Mexico behind Guadalajara and Mexico City. Located at the foothills of the Sierra Madre Oriental, the city is anchor ...
(1989), ''La Ola'' for the World Trade Center in
Guadalajara Guadalajara ( , ) is a metropolis in western Mexico and the capital of the list of states of Mexico, state of Jalisco. According to the 2020 census, the city has a population of 1,385,629 people, making it the 7th largest city by population in Me ...
(1989), ''El Caracol'' for the Amparo Museum in
Puebla Puebla ( en, colony, settlement), officially Free and Sovereign State of Puebla ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Puebla), is one of the 32 states which comprise the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 217 municipalities and its cap ...
(1989), ''La Luna'' for the National Auditorium in Mexico City (1993), ''La Sirena'' for Plaza Loreto in Mexico City (1994), Dafne for the Arcos-Bosques Building (1995), ''Mano'' for the Herdez Group headquarters (1995), two sculptures for the Expo Hannover 2000 in Germany, six monumental sculptures for different parts of Mexico in 2003 and several of his works can be found in a park in Warsaw. Soriano dedicated much of his career from the 1930s to 1960s to the theater, starting as a child working with puppetry. Much of this work was with a group he created with Jaime García Terrés,
Leonora Carrington Mary Leonora Carrington (6 April 191725 May 2011) was a British-born Mexican artist, surrealist painter, and novelist. She lived most of her adult life in Mexico City and was one of the last surviving participants in the surrealist movement o ...
and others called Poesís en Voz Alta, noted by
Carlos Monsiváis Carlos Monsiváis Aceves (May 4, 1938 – June 19, 2010) was a Mexican philosopher, writer, critic, political activist, and journalist. He also wrote political opinion columns in leading newspapers within the country's progressive sectors. ...
as a “liberating movement of the theater” in Mexico. Most of this work was in set and costume design, such as for the ''Teatro del Sindicato de Electricistas'', ''Teatro Orientación'' (with Celestino Gorostiza), ''El Caballito'' Theater and ''Teatro Sullivan''. In the 1940s he wrote and produced a ballet with Diego de Mesa called ''El pájaro y las doncellas'', based on a painting by Carlos Mérida, with music by Carlos Jiménez Mabarak. Soriano began teaching art soon after his arrival to Mexico City, starting with the ''Escuela Primaria de Arte'' with the Secretaría de Educación Pública. From 1939 to 1941 he gave classes in nude drawing at the Escuela Nacional de Pintura, Escultura y Grabado "La Esmeralda", teaching students such as
Tomás Parra Tomás Parrá (born 1937, Mexico City) is a Mexican artist, cultural promoter and museum curator. His work has been noted with membership into Mexico Sistema Nacional de Creadores de Arte. Career Parrá began studying art at the Escuela de Inicia ...
. From 1961 to 1962 he taught ceramics at the Escuela De Diseño y Artesanias of the Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes. His affinity for poetry and association with many writers led to collaboration as an illustrator on a number of projects. In 1953 he illustrated the book ''Homenaje a Sor Juana'' edited by Juan José Arreola in the collection “Los Presentes.” In 1967 illustrated ''El Bestiario'' by Guillaume Apollinaire. In the 1979 he illustrated the cover of Octavio Paz's book ''Xavier Villarrutia en persona y en obra''. In 1980 he created a collection of thirty two prints with text by Sergio Piton called El único argumento. In 1989 he began illustration for the book ''Antológico Animalía'' by
Alfonso Reyes Alfonso Reyes Ochoa (17 May 1889 in Monterrey, Nuevo León – 27 December 1959 in Mexico City) was a Mexican writer, philosopher and diplomat. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature five times and has been acclaimed as one of th ...
. In 2003 he illustrated ''La Fuerza del Destino'' by Julieta Campos and ''El Aguila o Sol'' by Octavio Paz. The artist has received numerous awards and other recognitions for his art and career during his lifetime and posthumously. In 1950 he received the first prize at the ''Salón de Invierno'', and in 1957 he received the ''
José Clemente Orozco José Clemente Orozco (November 23, 1883 – September 7, 1949) was a Mexican caricaturist and painter, who specialized in political murals that established the Mexican Mural Renaissance together with murals by Diego Rivera, David Alfaro Sique ...
Award'' from the government of
Jalisco Jalisco (, , ; Nahuatl: Xalixco), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Jalisco ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Jalisco ; Nahuatl: Tlahtohcayotl Xalixco), is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the 32 Federal En ...
. In 1963 the Casa del Lago Juan José Arreola in Mexico City held a tribute and retrospective of his theater work. In 1976, he received an award from the VII International Painting Festival in
Cagnes-sur-Mer Cagnes-sur-Mer (, literally ''Cagnes on Sea''; oc, Canha de Mar) is a French Riviera town in the Alpes-Maritimes department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France. Geography Cagnes-sur-Mer is a town in south-eastern ...
, France. In 1984 he received the Gold Medal from the Instituto Cultural Cabañas . In 1985, for his 50th year of artistic production, the ''Instituto Cultural Cabañas'' and the Palacio de Bellas Artes held retrospectives. In 1987 he received the ''Premio Nacional de Art''e, France named him as a member of the ''Chevalier des Arts et Lettres'' and he received the Jalisco Art Prize. In 1990 a tribute was held for him at the National Museum of Mexican Art, and from 1995-1996 a retrospective of his graphic work toured the United States. In 1997 the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia in Madrid held a retrospective. In 1998 Elena Poniatowska published “Juan Soriano, niño de mil años.” In 1999 the Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana held a retrospective and in 2000, a collection of his monumental sculptures were placed on display at the Zócalo in Mexico City for his 80th birthday In 2001, Arturo Ripstein filmed a biography of Soriano called “Fecit-Dixit.” In 2004, he was made an officer in France's Legion of Honour, and in 2005 he received the ''Premio de Excelencia Universal'', the ''Premio Velázquez de Artes Plásticas'' from the government of Spain, a gold medal from the Palacio de Bellas Artes and an honorary doctorate from the
Universidad de Colima The University of Colima (in Spanish: ''Universidad de Colima'') is a Mexican public university with several campuses across the state of Colima, bordering the Pacific Ocean. It was created on September 16, 1940 by the President Lázaro Cárdenas ...
. His last award while alive was the Order of Merit from the Polish government. Since then, his work has been remembered in events such as a retrospective at the Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana in 2012 and a tribute sponsored by CONACULTA in 2013. In 2004, shortly before his death, he founded with his partner the Fundación Juan Soriano and Marek Keller. Other institutions have been named after the artist such as the ''Galería Juan Soriano of Centro Nacional de las Artes'' and in 2012, the Juan Soriano Sculpting Prize was established.


Artistry

Classified as part of the second wave of the Mexican muralism movement, Soriano's work include painting, sculpture, ceramics, graphic works, illustrations, tapestries and set and costume design for works such as those by
Eugène Ionesco Eugène Ionesco (; born Eugen Ionescu, ; 26 November 1909 – 28 March 1994) was a Romanian-French playwright who wrote mostly in French, and was one of the foremost figures of the French avant-garde theatre in the 20th century. Ionesco inst ...
, Pedro Calderón de la Barca, Francisco de Quevedo, Juan Ibáñez and others. His work was highly prized by various writers including Octavio Paz, Carlos Pellicer and Elena Ponatowska, with art critic Luis Cardoza y Aragón quoted as saying he was “a poet, profound painter of visual parables.” Soriano did not believe that art should be political or solemn and Jesús Reyes Ferreira was an early influence on his work. His painting style did change almost abruptly in the mid 1950s, marked by works such as ''La Carrera de bicicletas'', ''Apolo y las muas'' and ''Peces luminosos'', along with a portrait of María Zambrano, showing probably influence from painter Roberto Matta. In the 1960s, he experimented briefly with abstract painting. He was a noted portrait painter with a style that Teresa del Conde called “always legible and at the same time strangely problematic.” Much of his very early work was portraits either by choice or by commission and similar to that of
Julio Castellanos Julio Castellanos González (b. Mexico City, 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 Saturni ...
and
Federico Cantú Federico (; ) is a given name and surname. It is a form of Frederick, most commonly found in Spanish, Portuguese and Italian. People with the given name Federico Artists * Federico Ágreda, Venezuelan composer and DJ. * Federico Aguilar Alcuaz, ...
. One notable series of portraits were those of model and novelist Lupe Marín in the 1960s. Soriano stated that he did not believe that painting was an exact reflection of time or the artists, but rather a “form of intuition that goes beyond conscious life.” From 1951 to 1953 he was in Rome where he worked on ceramics with Chileans Piero and Andrea Cacella and in the 1960s began to create works in bronze as well. His graphic work is less known but he began creating them in 1944 and continued until 2001. In 1975, he received a commission to do graphic work at the ''Bramsen et Colt'' workshop in Paris, which caused him to divide his time between Paris and Mexico City. One notable series are interpretations of works by Juan Rulfo. In 2003, he worked on tapestry design with a death theme for the ''Gobelinos'' Workshop in Guadalajara.


Juan Soriano Museum

Th
Museo Morelense de Arte Contemporáneo
(MMAC) Juan Soriano opened on June 8, 2018, in Cuernavaca,
Morelos Morelos (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Morelos ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Morelos), is one of the 32 states which comprise the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 36 municipalities and its capital city is Cuer ...
. The MMAC is a project by ''JSa Arquitectura'' led by the architect Javier Sánchez Corral. Its location links ''Amatitlán'', an emblematic town of Cuernavaca whose origins date back 1500 years, to the Historic Center of Cuernavaca, enriching the urban experience. It is the largest exhibition space in the state of Morelos, distributed in two galleries for temporary exhibitions: Central Gallery and Cube, in addition to an Open Forum, a multidisciplinary space. The museum includes a library, a sculptural garden, and workshops for public programs. The museum covers and was built at a cost of MXN $300 million (). It houses 1,200 works by Soriano, including sculptures, paintings, drawing, and photographs. The museum has not been without controversy. Before it opened, a group called ''Coordinadora Morelense de Movimientos Ciudadanos'' (Morelense Coordinator of Citizen Movements) sued, claiming the projected cost of $195,000,000 pesos had increased to $300 million pesos. Also, they complained because the museum is designed to highlight the work of an artist from the western part of the country while ignoring local artists. Then after the museum opened, members of the local artistic community complained that the new governor's choice of curator for the museum was based on politics (she had been the local animal control officer) rather than on qualifications.


Selected works

* ''The moon'', sculpture outside the National Auditorium in Mexico City * ''La Paloma'', in Colima and
Monterrey Monterrey ( , ) is the capital and largest city of the northeastern state of Nuevo León, Mexico, and the third largest city in Mexico behind Guadalajara and Mexico City. Located at the foothills of the Sierra Madre Oriental, the city is anchor ...
* La Capilla del Rosario () in Mexico City


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Soriano, Juan Mexican potters 1920 births 2006 deaths Modern painters Modern sculptors Artists from Guadalajara, Jalisco Escuela Nacional de Pintura, Escultura y Grabado "La Esmeralda" faculty 20th-century Mexican painters Mexican male painters 21st-century Mexican painters 20th-century Mexican sculptors 20th-century ceramists 21st-century ceramists 20th-century Mexican male artists 21st-century Mexican male artists