Jesús Álvarez Amaya
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Jesús Álvarez Amaya (November 19, 1925 – June 21, 2010) was a Mexican painter and graphic artist, mostly known for mural work and his graphic work as head of the
Taller de Gráfica Popular The ''Taller de Gráfica Popular'' (Spanish: "People's Graphic Workshop") is an artist's print collective founded in Mexico in 1937 by artists Leopoldo Méndez, Pablo O'Higgins, and Luis Arenal. The collective was primarily concerned with using ar ...
, which he led from 1967 until his death. His murals can be found in various parts of the country and his art mostly have social and political themes.


Life

Jesús Álvarez Amaya was born on November 19, 1925, in the La Merced neighborhood in Mexico City. He came from modest background, working as a baker in his youth. He studied art at the Escuela de Arte para Trabajadores (Art School for Workers) and later studied with noted artist
Ramón Alva de la Canal Ramón Alva de la Canal (August 29, 1892 – April 4, 1985) was a Mexican painter, illustrator, and educator, one of the pioneers of the Mexican muralism movement. He was born Ramón Pascual Loreto José Alva de la Canal on August 29, 1892 in t ...
. He later worked as an assistant to Diego Rivera for the mural done at the Insurgentes Theater, as well as the Olympic Stadium at the Ciudad Universitaria . He was a lifelong militant
communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...
, involved in activities mostly through the
Taller de Gráfica Popular The ''Taller de Gráfica Popular'' (Spanish: "People's Graphic Workshop") is an artist's print collective founded in Mexico in 1937 by artists Leopoldo Méndez, Pablo O'Higgins, and Luis Arenal. The collective was primarily concerned with using ar ...
, for example printing posters during the student uprising in 1968. He was a heavy reader especially valuing poetry, and that of his friend Jaime Sabines. He was also a fan of
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. ...
. He died on June 21, 2010, in Mexico City of cancer which could not be treated because of his advanced age.


Career

Álvarez was a painter and graphic artist. His first individual exhibition was in 1951 at the Galería Commercial de Arte Moderno. Some of his last exhibitions include those at the Salón de la Plástica Mexicana, of which he was a member. His works can be found in a number of collections including that of the Blaisten Collection and the Fundación Cultural Pascual. Those in the last collection were donated by the artist during the
Pascual Boing Pascual Boing is a Mexican soft drink maker mostly known for its fruit flavored beverages marketed under the Pascual, Boing! and Lulú brands. The enterprise was begun in 1940 and successfully held against the entrance of foreign competitors in t ...
workers 1982 strike which eventually led to the employees taking over the company. His best known painting is mural work, which is mostly has political and social themes. He had his first contact with mural painting at the Mexican Navy headquarters where he painted a portion of the sky on a mural there. Working with Rivera, Alvarez painted the face of Miguel Hidalgo on the Insurgentes Theater mural. His first solo mural was done in 1950 related to the Popol Vuh in the dining room of the Hotel Maya-Land at
Chichen Itza Chichen Itza , es, Chichén Itzá , often with the emphasis reversed in English to ; from yua, Chiʼchʼèen Ìitshaʼ () "at the mouth of the well of the Itza people" was a large pre-Columbian city built by the Maya people of the Terminal ...
. From 1955 on he painted murals such as “Hidalgo en el pretérito, presente y futuro de México”, in Mexicali, “El hombre nuevo”, in Misantla, and “Benito Juárez”, in
Martínez de la Torre, Veracruz Martínez or Martinez may refer to: Places Argentina * Martínez, Buenos Aires * Coronel Martínez de Hoz, Buenos Aires Province France * Hôtel Martinez, in Cannes Mexico * Martínez de la Torre, Veracruz Spain * Martínez, Ávila, a municipa ...
. His last mural was “La comunicación postal” at the Vicente Guerrero Library in Mexico City, which measures eighty m2. It was a recreation done in 2006 of a mural he originally did for the Centro Postal Mecanizado México in 1974, but was destroyed in 2004. His most prolific work was in graphics as a member of the Taller de Gráfica Popular. He became a member in 1955, at a time when many of the older artists were leaving. In the late 1950s into the 1960s, the Taller workshop became abandoned. In 1967, Álvarez and other artists decided to reactivate the organization, obtaining the keys to the facility, rehabilitating it and working to attract young artists. He was general provisional coordinator of the Taller from 1967 to 1987, when he was self-named coordinator for life. During the 1968 student uprising Alvarez led the group in its creation of hundreds of posters. This led to repression of the group, but they were able to reopen in 1969, with the organization including writers and artists such as Jaime Sabines, Rubén Salazar Mallén, Efraín Huerta, Thelma Nava, Roberto López Moreno, Xorge del Campo,
Dionicio Morales Dionicio Morales (1918, Yuma, Arizona – September 24, 2008, Beverly Hospital, Montebello, California) was a Latino civil rights leader and social entrepreneur. Morales was the founder of the Mexican American Opportunity Foundation (MAOF), the ...
, Gerardo de la Torre, René Avilés Fabila and Manuel Blanco. The organization declined again in the 1970s and had to relocate several times. He maintained the Taller’s archives, often with his own money until Mexico City mayor Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas gifted the building where the Taller is found today. In 1955 he founded the Escuela de Artes Plásticas José Clemente Orozco in Mexicali. He won three Acquisition Awards and three scholarships for his work.


Artistry

Álvarez’s arts was mostly tied to social and political causes. He was one of the last muralists in the tradition of
David Alfaro Siqueiros David Alfaro Siqueiros (born José de Jesús Alfaro Siqueiros; December 29, 1896 – January 6, 1974) was a Mexican social realist painter, best known for his large public murals using the latest in equipment, materials and technique. Along with ...
and Diego Rivera, promoting Mexican muralism throughout his life, even after it had fallen out of favor. His graphic work was mostly tied to the Taller de la Gráfica Popular. He painted canvases as well as murals. Among his canvas works, his self-portraits stand out, along with those of Emiliano Zapata.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Alvarez Amaya, Jesus Mexican artists 1925 births 2010 deaths