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

model A model is an informative representation of an object, person or system. The term originally denoted the plans of a building in late 16th-century English, and derived via French and Italian ultimately from Latin ''modulus'', a measure. Models c ...

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 small ...

-language storyteller and linguistic informant from

Milpa Alta Milpa Alta is a borough (''demarcación territorial'') in Mexico City. It lies in the southeast corner of the nation's capital, bordering the State of Mexico and Morelos. It is the least populated, second largest and most rural of all the boroughs ...

, 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 Emiliano Zapata Salazar (; August 8, 1879 – April 10, 1919) was a Mexican revolutionary. He was a leading figure in the Mexican Revolution of 1910–1920, the main leader of the people's revolution in the Mexican state of Morelos, and the ins ...

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 Benjamin Lee Whorf (; April 24, 1897 – July 26, 1941) was an American linguist and fire prevention engineer. He is known for " Sapir–Whorf hypothesis," the idea that differences between the structures of different languages shape how the ...

who credits her in his description of Milpa Alta Nahuatl. She also worked as a model for artist

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 ...

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

godparent In infant baptism and denominations of Christianity, a godparent (also known as a sponsor, or '' gossiprede'') is someone who bears witness to a child's christening and later is willing to help in their catechesis, as well as their lifelo ...

s of her daughter Concha,

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 ...

and

Anita Brenner Anita Brenner (born Hanna Brenner; 13 August 1905 – 1 December 1974) was a transnational Jewish scholar and intellectual, who wrote extensively in English about the art, culture, and history of Mexico. She was born in Mexico, raised and educa ...

were her '' compadres''. Luz died in 1965 after being hit by a car in

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 ...

Works in which Jiménez appears

Jiménez as a model appears ''inter alia'' in the following works: * Fuente de los Cántaros ("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 ...

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 a ...

: **''La Creación'', (1922), San Ildefonso College, then the National Preparatory School **''La molendera'' (1926) * Portrait by photographers

Edward Weston Edward Henry Weston (March 24, 1886 – January 1, 1958) was a 20th-century American photographer. He has been called "one of the most innovative and influential American photographers..." and "one of the masters of 20th century photography." ...

and

Tina Modotti Tina Modotti (born Assunta Adelaide Luigia Modotti Mondini, August 16/17, 1896 – January 5, 1942) was an Italian American photographer, model, actor, and revolutionary political activist for the Comintern. She left Italy in 1913 and moved to ...

(1940) * Drawing of Luz Jiménez (April 1924) by

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