Cecil Crawford O'Gorman (1874 – 1943) was an Irish mining engineer, chemist and painter.

Life

Cecil Crawford O'Gorman was born in Ireland in 1874. He was the son of John O'Gorman, and the grandson of Charles O'Gorman, the first British consul to Mexico in 1823. O'Gorman studied engineering in

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

. O'Gorman moved to Mexico to work for a British mining company in 1895. Following ill-health from working in mining areas, O'Gorman became a chemist. He met and married his distant cousin in Mexico, Encarnación O'Gorman. They had four children, architect

Juan ''Juan'' is a given name, the Spanish and Manx versions of '' John''. The name is of Hebrew origin and has the meaning "God has been gracious." It is very common in Spain and in other Spanish-speaking countries around the world and in the Philip ...

, historian

Edmundo Edmundo is variation of the English name Edmund, meaning “protector of prosperity or riches.” It is common in Spanish and Portuguese-speaking countries. Some individuals include: * Edmundo Alves de Souza Neto (born 1971), former Brazilian foot ...

, Margarita, and Tomás. In his 1973 autobiography, his son Juan recounted the family's experience of the

Mexican revolution The Mexican Revolution () was an extended sequence of armed regional conflicts in Mexico from 20 November 1910 to 1 December 1920. It has been called "the defining event of modern Mexican history". It saw the destruction of the Federal Army, its ...

and the bravery and piety of O'Gorman in protecting his family. FridaDiegoSanAngel049

He commissioned his son Juan to design and build a house for him and his wife in 1928, which would become the first

modernist Modernism was an early 20th-century movement in literature, visual arts, and music that emphasized experimentation, abstraction, and Subjectivity and objectivity (philosophy), subjective experience. Philosophy, politics, architecture, and soc ...

house in Mexico. The house, known as the "Cecil O'Gorman House", is in San Ángel Colonia and is beside the

Rivera Rivera () is the capital of Rivera Department of Uruguay. The border with Brazil joins it with the Brazilian city of Santana do Livramento, which is only a block away from it, at the north end of Route 5 (Uruguay), Route 5. Together, they form an ...

- Kahlo house which was completed in 1932. In 2012, the National Institute of Fine Arts purchased the house. O'Gorman attended classes given by

Saturnino Herrán Saturnino Herrán Guinchard (9 July 1887 – 8 October 1918) was a Mexican Painting, painter influential to Latin culture in the late 19th and early 20th century. Biography Saturnino Herrán was raised in Aguascalientes, a city in North-Cent ...

and travelled to France to improve his painting. He was among the circle of painters who were central to the "Mexican Renaissance" such as Alfonso Michel, Manuel González Serrano, and Emilio Baz Viaud. He became well known for his portraiture, landscapes, and murals. His work is seen as conventional and representational. A retrospective exhibition was held at

Palacio de Bellas Artes The Palacio de Bellas Artes (Palace of Fine Arts) is a prominent cultural center in Mexico City. It hosts performing arts events, literature events and plastic arts galleries and exhibitions (including important permanent Mexican murals). "Bella ...

after he died in 1943.

References

External links

Self-portrait of O'Gorman, 1936
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ogorman, Cecil Crawford 1874 births 1943 deaths 20th-century Irish painters Irish male painters 20th-century Irish male artists Irish emigrants to Mexico