Xavier Guerrero (December 3, 1896 San Pedro de las Colonias, Coahuila – June 29, 1974 Mexico City) was one of the pioneers of the
Mexican muralism movement in the early 20th century. He was introduced to painting through working with his father, who worked in masonry and decorating. However, there is evidence that his ability was mostly self-taught. In 1912, he moved to
Guadalajara and began painting murals, then to
Mexico City
Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital city, capital and primate city, largest city of Mexico, and the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North Amer ...
in 1919 just as the muralism movement was about to begin. Most of his work was in collaboration with or subordinate to other painters such as
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
David Alfaro Siqueiros, working at the
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 gai ...
, the
Secretaría de Educación Pública building and the
Universidad Autónoma de Chapingo; however, much of his other work has been lost. While best known for his mural work, his later canvas work is considered to be better.
Life
![DoorwayMuseoLuzDF](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c3/DoorwayMuseoLuzDF.JPG)
Xavier Guerrero was born in 1896 with the name Javier Guerrero Saucedo Francisco, using the variant "Xavier Guerrero" as his professional name.
He was born in
San Pedro de las Colonias, Coahuila to Toalul Guerrero and Marion Saucedo.
His father was a bricklayer, painter and decorator, often finding work at
haciendas. Xavier got involved his father's trade as a child. These early experiences taught him aesthetics and painting techniques.
He learned to mix and create paint as well as make cement and mortar. His ability to paint in
watercolor
Watercolor (American English) or watercolour (British English; see spelling differences), also ''aquarelle'' (; from Italian diminutive of Latin ''aqua'' "water"), is a painting method”Watercolor may be as old as art itself, going back to ...
s was recognized when he was very young.
Already noted for his work in watercolors, he moved to Guadalajara in 1912 where he met painters, musicians, sculptors and journalists at a location called Centro Bohemio, one of the centers of the start of the Mexican muralism movement.
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 ...
was one of his best friends.
In the 1920s, he had a relationship with photographer
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 ...
of whom he did a portrait in 1928.
For a time he lived with
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
Frida Kahlo.
Modotti introduced Guerrero to
Stalinist thought and he became politically active with the
communist movement
The history of communism encompasses a wide variety of ideologies and political movements sharing the core theoretical values of common ownership of wealth, economic enterprise, and property. Most modern forms of communism are grounded at least ...
.
He became a lifelong supporter of socialist and communist politics.
He founded the ''El Machete'', a publication of the
Mexican Communist Party
The Mexican Communist Party ( es, Partido Comunista Mexicano, PCM) was a communist party in Mexico. It was founded in 1917 as the Socialist Workers' Party (, PSO) by Manabendra Nath Roy, a left-wing Indian revolutionary. The PSO changed its name ...
along with
David Alfaro Siqueiros in 1924 and the two also founded the Sindicato de Obreros Técnicos, Pintores y Escultores union.
His work in politics and journalist took him to various parts of the world, including the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
, where he went in 1927 to attend the
Lomonosov University
M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University (MSU; russian: Московский государственный университет имени М. В. Ломоносова) is a public research university in Moscow, Russia and the most prestigious ...
.
In the 1950s he met and married
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 ...
n designer
Clara Porset
Clara Porset (May 25, 1895 – May 17, 1981) was a Cuban-born furniture and interior designer. From 1935 until her death, she lived and worked mainly in Mexico, where she is considered a pioneer in furniture design. She was educated in the United ...
, who had her own professional career working with architects such as
Juan Sordo Madaleno
Juan Sordo Madaleno (October 1916, Mexico City – 12 March 1985, Idem) was a Mexican architect.
Biography
Sordo Madaleno was one of the most important Mexican architects of his era. He worked with other renowned architects, including Lui ...
,
Luis Barragán
Luis Ramiro Barragán Morfín (March 9, 1902 – November 22, 1988) was a Mexican architect and engineer. His work has influenced contemporary architects visually and conceptually. Barragán's buildings are frequently visited by international ...
,
Mario Pani
Mario Pani Darqui (March 29, 1911 – February 23, 1993) was a famous Mexican architect and urbanist. He was one of the most active urbanists under the Mexican Miracle, and gave form to a good part of the urban appearance of Mexico City, with ...
and
Enrique del Moral
Enrique del Moral Dominguez (21 January 1905 – 11 June 1987) was a Mexican architect and an exponent of the functionalism movement, a modernist group that included Mexican artists and architects such as José Villagrán Garcia, Carlos Obreg ...
.
Guerrero's last residence was on Calle del Hipo in the
San Ángel
San Ángel is a colonia or neighborhood of Mexico City, located in the southwest in Álvaro Obregón borough. Historically, it was a rural community, called Tenanitla in the pre-Hispanic period. Its current name is derived from the El Carmen mon ...
neighborhood of Mexico City.
He died in Mexico City on June 29, 1974 at age 77 and was buried at the
Panteón Jardín.
Career
![SmCupolaMuseoLuzDF](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/14/SmCupolaMuseoLuzDF.JPG)
Xavier Guerrero is one of the most important artists from the state of
Coahuila, but he is relatively unknown, even in his home state as he did not achieve the level of fame that a number of his contemporaries did.
However, he was one of the pioneers of the Mexican muralism movement along with Diego Rivera,
José Clemente Orozco and David Alfaro Siqueiros.
In 1919, he signed a petition, along with other artists, requesting that President
Venustiano Carranza
José Venustiano Carranza de la Garza (; 29 December 1859 – 21 May 1920) was a Mexican wealthy land owner and politician who was Governor of Coahuila when the constitutionally elected president Francisco I. Madero was overthrown in a Februa ...
provide facilities for the creation and promotion of Mexican art, just before what is considered to be the official start of the Mexican muralism movement with the efforts of
José Vasconcelos
José Vasconcelos Calderón (28 February 1882 – 30 June 1959), called the "cultural " of the Mexican Revolution, was an important Mexican writer, philosopher, and politician. He is one of the most influential and controversial personalities ...
.
One reason for his obscurity is that much of his mural work has disappeared, with the largest surviving collections found in Guadalajara and the Universidad Autónoma de Chapingo in the
State of Mexico.
He began to paint murals in Guadalajara, generally with biblical topics, rural landscapes, allegories, and decorative perimeters
He created his first mural in 1912 on a building in Jalisco called the Palacio de las Vacas when he was only sixteen years old.
[ From 1913 to 1914 he created a fresco on the ceiling of the Hospital de San Camilo representing the ]resurrection of Christ
The resurrection of Jesus ( grc-x-biblical, ἀνάστασις τοῦ Ἰησοῦ) is the Christian belief that God raised Jesus on the third day after his crucifixion, starting – or restoring – his exalted life as Christ and Lord ...
. In 1919, he moved to Mexico City to painting the cupola
In architecture, a cupola () is a relatively small, most often dome-like, tall structure on top of a building. Often used to provide a lookout or to admit light and air, it usually crowns a larger roof or dome.
The word derives, via Italian, fro ...
of the former Monastery del Carmen and researched pre Hispanic fresco techniques.[
Another reason for his obscurity is that much of his work was done in collaboration with or in subordination to other artists.] He worked with Roberto Montenegro
Roberto Montenegro Nervo (February 19, 1885 in Guadalajara – October 13, 1968 in Mexico City) was a painter, muralist and illustrator, who was one of the first to be involved in the Mexican muralism movement after the Mexican Revolution. His m ...
at the former San Pedro y San Pablo monastery on the ''El arbol de la vida'' mural and the design of the stained glass windows ''El Jarabe Tapatío'' and ''La vendedora de pericos''. He also designed the stained glass window with the seal of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
The National Autonomous University of Mexico ( es, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, UNAM) is a public research university in Mexico. It is consistently ranked as one of the best universities in Latin America, where it's also the bigges ...
in the same building with Jorge Enciso
Jorge is a Spanish and Portuguese given name. It is derived from the Greek name Γεώργιος ('' Georgios'') via Latin ''Georgius''; the former is derived from (''georgos''), meaning "farmer" or "earth-worker".
The Latin form ''Georgius'' ...
. In 1921, Guerrero met Diego Rivera and became one of the artists to paint the 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 gai ...
building, then the Escuela Nacional Preparatoria
The Escuela Nacional Preparatoria ( en, National Preparatory High School) (ENP), the oldest senior High School system in Mexico, belonging to the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), opened its doors on February 1, 1868. It was founded ...
and the Anfiteatro Bolivar, mostly done in encaustics. Under Rivera and Siqueiros, he became one of the painters of the Secretaría de Educación Pública building along with Amado de la Cueva
Amado de la Cueva (b. Guadalajara, Jalisco, May 6, 1891 – d. Guadalajara, Jalisco, April 1, 1926) was a Mexican painter. De la Cueva studied in Rome. After his return to Mexico in September 1922, he painted amongst others together with Diego R ...
and Pablo O'Higgins
Pablo Esteban O'Higgins (born Paul Higgins Stevenson; March 1, 1904 - July 16, 1983) was an American-Mexican artist, muralist and illustrator.
Early life and education
Born in Salt Lake City, Utah, O'Higgins was raised there and in San Diego, C ...
. Despite the subordinate position, he was the one to teach Rivera how to prepare walls for fresco work.[ He assisted on works by 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 ...
, Miguel Covarrubias
Miguel Covarrubias, also known as José Miguel Covarrubias Duclaud (22 November 1904 — 4 February 1957) was a Mexican painter, caricaturist, illustrator, ethnologist and art historian. Along with his American colleague Matthew W. Stirling, h ...
and Adolfo Best Maugard
Adolfo Best Maugard, also known as Fito Best (June 11, 1891 – August 25, 1964),
(Spanish), ' ...
. With Gabriel Fernández Ledesma
Gabriel Fernández Ledesma (May 30, 1900 – August 26, 1983) was a Mexican painter, printmaker, sculptor, graphic artist, writer and teacher. He began his career working with artist Roberto Montenegro then moved into publishing and education ...
he designed the wainscot
Panelling (or paneling in the U.S.) is a millwork wall covering constructed from rigid or semi-rigid components. These are traditionally interlocking wood, but could be plastic or other materials.
Panelling was developed in antiquity to make ro ...
made of Talavera tiles for the mural work titled ''Zodiaco'' in 1921.
Much of his mural work was done at the Universidad Autónoma de Chapingo, an agricultural college from 1923 to 1927. He worked on the six pediment
Pediments are gables, usually of a triangular shape.
Pediments are placed above the horizontal structure of the lintel, or entablature, if supported by columns. Pediments can contain an overdoor and are usually topped by hood moulds.
A pedim ...
s of the Parthenon building at the same time Rivera was painting the interior of the school's former chapel. The pediments were painted with allegories of humanity's relationship to the fruit of the field, which also contain Communist symbols. These murals were restored in 2006. He also did a twenty two panel mural at the old Director's House, which was demolished in the 1960s. These panels were moved beforehand with five on permanent display at the Museo Nacional de Agricultura on the campus and the others in the possible of the Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes
The Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes y Literatura (INBAL, en, National Institute of Fine Arts and Literature), located in the Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City, is the Mexican institution in charge of coordinating artistic and cultural ...
. In total, Chapingo has twenty three fresco panels, one oil portrait, one pencil drawing and sculptured reliefs of his.
From the 1930s on, his career mostly concentrated on canvas work, which he is considered better at but did not bring him the recognition of his mural work. However, from 1940 to 1942, he worked with David Siqueiros on a mural in Chillán, Chile called ''Muerte al invasor'' at the Pedro Aguierre Cerda Library of the Escuela México. He painted the fresco panels called ''De México a Chile'' on the lobby of the same building. They underwent restoration in 2009 but were damaged by an earthquake in 2010. The Chillan murals became a major tourist attraction for the city.
Later murals also include ''Motivos mexicanos'' at the house of José Guadalupe Zuno and ''El día y la noche'' at the Ermita Cinema in Tacubaya
Tacubaya is a working-class area of west-central Mexico City, in the borough of Miguel Hidalgo, consisting of the '' colonia'' Tacubaya proper and adjacent areas in other colonias, with San Miguel Chapultepec sección II, Observatorio, Daniel Ga ...
in the 1950s. He also painted murals at a residence in Guadalajara and at the Club de la Unión de Mecánicos, but only fragments remain.
Recognitions include one major prize, first place at the International Competition of Contemporary Furniture Design sponsored by the Museum of Modern Art
The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues.
It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...
in New York. He was also accepted as a member of the Salón de la Plástica Mexicana
Salón de la Plástica Mexicana (Hall of Mexican Fine Art; ''SPM'') is an institution dedicated to the promotion of Mexican contemporary art. It was established in 1949 to expand the Mexican art market. Its first location was in historic center o ...
. He had a large exhibition at the Museo de Arte Moderno
The Museo de Arte Moderno (Museum of Modern Art) is located in Chapultepec park, Mexico City, Mexico.
The museum is part of the Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes y Literatura and provides exhibitions of national and international contemporary a ...
in Mexico City in 1972. In 2002, the state of Coahuila held a retrospective of his work called "Entre Torreón y San Pedro, homenajo al maestro Xavier Guerrero.
Artistry
During his career, Guerrero did canvas work, graphic art and mural painting. While his mural work is his best known, his canvas work is considered better, and he had more success with it during his lifetime. At the time, his murals were considered to have a "weak" quality, but his later canvas work shows great refinement in his technique. His most significant canvas work is a self-portrait from 1947 in which a blood-red color dominates. Despite this, Rivera considered him a master of al fresco mural techniques, and 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 ...
called him " a master in all that involves climbing and painting houses and walls" as he taught mural and wall preparation techniques to both artists.[
His mural work was first influenced by his childhood experienced with masonry and decoration and has a folk quality to it. His work is considered to blur the distinction between fine art, folk art and handcrafts.] There is evidence that much of his painting ability was self-taught. His work in murals was mostly associated with the Mexican muralism movement, even though his travels allowed him to see other painting styles, he stuck with the Realism that was developing in Mexico. His mural themes include the history, suffering, labor and aspirations of the Mexican people. Like many of the muralists, he thought of art as a means of social transformation to liberate the oppressed classes, but he did find much of the movement's overt political character alienating.
Guerrero's themes tended to be more philosophical. For Guerrero, man and nature identify interact in a magical and poetic way. His subjects mostly consisted of images from nature such as landscapes, flowers and fruit. Even when he did portray the human body, it was generally surrounded by plants and animals. His work has been described as pantheistic and mythical in that humans do not center, especially in his canvas work and elements of nature have anthropomorphic qualities. For this reason, he has been described as the successor to Mexico's pre-Columbian art. This quality distinguishes his work from his contemporaries.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Guerrero, Xavier
Mexican muralists
Artists from Coahuila
People from San Pedro, Coahuila
1896 births
1974 deaths
20th-century Mexican painters
20th-century male artists
Mexican male painters
Pantheists