Luz Jiménez or Luciana (born Julia Jiménez González; 1897–1965) was an

indigenous Mexican Indigenous peoples of Mexico ( es, gente indígena de México, pueblos indígenas de México), Native Mexicans ( es, nativos mexicanos) or Mexican Native Americans ( es, pueblos originarios de México, lit=Original peoples of Mexico), are those ...

model and

Nahuatl Nahuatl (; ), Aztec, or Mexicano is a language or, by some definitions, a group of languages of the Uto-Aztecan language family. Varieties of Nahuatl are spoken by about Nahua peoples, most of whom live mainly in Central Mexico and have smaller ...

-language storyteller and linguistic informant from Milpa Alta, D.F. As a young woman she witnessed the

Mexican Revolution The Mexican Revolution ( es, Revolución Mexicana) was an extended sequence of armed regional conflicts in Mexico from approximately 1910 to 1920. It has been called "the defining event of modern Mexican history". It resulted in the destruction ...

, and was present when Emiliano Zapata and his revolutionary army entered Milpa Alta in 1911. Her eyewitness account is one of the only testimonies of Emiliano Zapata speaking

. In 1916 most of her male relatives were killed in a massacre by the

Carrancistas This is a list of factions in the Mexican Revolution. Carrancistas Revolutionary followers of Venustiano Carranza from 1913 to 1914, and thereafter the Government army from 1914 until his death in 1920. In 1915, an insurgent group known as th ...

. In the 1930s she served as a linguistic informant to linguists working to document the Nahuatl language. Among others she worked with Benjamin Lee Whorf who credits her in his description of Milpa Alta Nahuatl. She also worked as a model for artist Diego Rivera and her portrait can be seen in at least three of his murals, one of them the famous Tlatelolco market scene. In 1942 she started work as a model at the

Escuela Nacional de Pintura, Escultura y Grabado "La Esmeralda" La Esmeralda or Escuela Nacional de Pintura, Escultura y Grabado (ENPEG) (English: National School of Painting, Sculpture and Printmaking) is a Mexican art school founded in 1927 and located in Mexico City. History The history of the ENPEG start ...

(National School of Painting, Sculpture and Printmaking) in

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, ...

's classes."Aspectos de la carrera de Luz Jiménez como modelo", ''El Universal'', 1999-11-23
/ref> In her old age she told her life's story to anthropologist Fernando Horcasitas who published it with the title "Life and Death in Milpa Alta". As the godparents of her daughter Concha, Jean Charlot and Anita Brenner were her '' compadres''. Luz died in 1965 after being hit by a car in Mexico City.

Works in which Jiménez appears

Jiménez as a model appears ''inter alia'' in the following works: *

Fuente de los Cántaros ''Fuente de los Cántaros'' is an outdoor fountain and sculpture of an indigenous Mexican, indigenous woman in Mexico City's Parque México, in Mexico, created by José María Hernández Urbina in 1927, and restored in 2008. Description and hi ...

("Fountain of the Jugs", by José María Fernández Urbina) in

Parque México The Parque México ( en, lit. "Mexico Park"), officially Parque San Martín, is a large urban park located in Colonia Hipódromo in the Condesa area of Mexico City. It is recognized by its Art Deco architecture and decor as well as being one of t ...

Condesa Condesa or La Condesa is an area in the Cuauhtémoc Borough of Mexico City, south of Zona Rosa and 4 to 5 km west of the Zócalo, the city's main square. It is immediately west of Colonia Roma, together with which it is designated as ...

, Mexico City * Diego Rivera: **''La Creación'', (1922),

San Ildefonso College Colegio de San Ildefonso, currently is a museum and cultural center in Mexico City, considered to be the birthplace of the Mexican muralism movement. San Ildefonso began as a prestigious Jesuit boarding school, and after the Reform War it gain ...

, then the National Preparatory School **''La molendera'' (1926) * Portrait by photographers Edward Weston and Tina Modotti (1940) * Drawing of Luz Jiménez (April 1924) by Jean Charlot

Tribute

On 28 January 2023, Google Doodle celebrated Luz Jiménez’s 126th Birthday.

References

Sources

* English original. Published in Spanish as: * * * * *

External links

Itzcuintli blog with photos of Luz Jimenez Meet Doña Luz Jiménez, the forgotten indigenous woman at the heart of Mexico’s cultural revolution
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jimenez, Luz 1897 births 1965 deaths Road incident deaths in Mexico Indigenous Mexicans Nahua people Translators from Nahuatl Mexican artists' models Mexican Mesoamericanists Women Mesoamericanists 20th-century Mesoamericanists 20th-century translators Pedestrian road incident deaths Indigenous Mexican women