José García Narezo (November 26, 1922 – July 8, 1994) was a Mexican painter and a founding 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 ...

Life

García Narezo was born in

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the Largest cities of the Europ ...

, Spain. His Mexican mother was Amelia Narezo Dragonné and his father was a Spanish writer, artist and critic, Gabriel García Maroto. José García Narezo went to Mexico in 1928 to study, and later (in 1938) returned to Mexico again to escape from the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebelión, link ...

. After that, García Narezo remained permanently in Mexico and received citizenship there. During 1931 and 1932, he studied at the Escuela de Pintura al Aire Libre in Tlalpan, and studied drawing and watercolor in 1935 in Spain. José García Narezo died at age 70 in his home in the

Xochimilco Xochimilco (; nci, Xōchimīlco, ) is a borough (''demarcación territorial'') of Mexico City. The borough is centered on the formerly independent city of Xochimilco, which was established on what was the southern shore of Lake Xochimilco in th ...

borough of Mexico City.

Career

García Narezo made oil paintings, watercolors and drawings, but is known especially for his murals. These include ''La electricidad al servicio de Sonora'' in Ciudad Obregón, Sonora and an Italian mosaic at the Plaza Cívica in Lomas de Cuernavaca, Morelos named ''Juego con luna'' (1958). One of his murals from 1938, ''Un niño y la Guerra'', is located in the Ministerio de Instrucción in Madrid. García Narezo participated in a large number of collective exhibitions, the most important ones were held at the Arden Gallery in New York (1938), the

Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MOCA) is a contemporary art museum with two locations in greater Los Angeles, California. The main branch is located on Grand Avenue in Downtown Los Angeles, near the Walt Disney Concert Hall. MOCA's ...

(1939), the Institute of Modern Art in Boston (1951) and the Salón de la Plástica Mexicana (1951, 1970, 1971). The artist also had numerous individual exhibitions of his work, including those held at the Spanish embassy in Washington DC (1937), the Gallaudet College Gallery (1937), the Casa de la Cultura in

Havana Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.

(1938), the Arden Gallery, New York (1938), the

Palacio de Bellas Artes The Palacio de Bellas Artes (Palace of Fine Arts) is a prominent cultural center in Mexico City. It has hosted notable events in music, dance, theatre, opera and literature in Mexico and has held important exhibitions of painting, sculpture and p ...

(1938), the Stendhal Gallery, Los Angeles (1939), the Los Angeles Museum of Art (1939), the Modern Art Institute in Boston (1940), the Young Memorial Museum in San Francisco (1944), the Fine Arts Gallery in San Francisco (1945), the Pan American Union Gallery in Washington (1949), the ARS Gallery in Mexico City (1953), the Galería de Arte Moderno and the Galería ECO in Mexico City (1956), the Galería Proteo and Galerái ACA in Mexico City (1960), the Galería Diana in Mexico City (1963), the Librería Cristal in Mexico City (1965) and the Salón de la Plástica Mexicana (1970 and 1975). His work was also featured in exhibitions held in Mexico, Europe, Canada and the United States. In 1945 García Narezo illustrated a reprinted version of the "Book of the People" or

Popol Vuh ''Popol Vuh'' (also ''Popol Wuj'' or ''Popul Vuh'' or ''Pop Vuj'') is a text recounting the mythology and history of the Kʼicheʼ people, one of the Maya peoples, who inhabit Guatemala and the Mexican states of Chiapas, Campeche, Yucatan and ...

(edited by Ermilio Abreu Gómez) with a series of fourteen watercolors and thirteen drawings.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Garcia Narezo, Jose Mexican artists 1922 births 1994 deaths Spanish emigrants to Mexico