Fernando García Ponce
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Fernando Garcia Ponce (1933–1987) was a
Mexican Mexican may refer to: Mexico and its culture *Being related to, from, or connected to the country of Mexico, in North America ** People *** Mexicans, inhabitants of the country Mexico and their descendants *** Mexica, ancient indigenous people ...
architect and abstract artist who belonged to the Generación de la Ruptura. García Ponce is best known for his abstract paintings and
collage Collage (, from the , "to glue" or "to stick together") is a technique of art creation, primarily used in the visual arts, but in music too, by which art results from an assembly of different forms, thus creating a new whole. (Compare with pasti ...
s, most of which utilize structured and geometric forms rather than organic shapes.


Life

García Ponce was born in
Mérida, Yucatán Mérida (, ) is the capital of the List of states of Mexico, Mexican state of Yucatán, and the largest city in southeastern Mexico. The city is also the seat of the Mérida Municipality, eponymous municipality. It is located slightly inland fro ...
, Mexico on August 25, 1933, to Juan García Rodes, immigrant from Spain, and María "Monina" Ponce G. Cantón, a member of the so-called " casta divina" of Yucatán. At the age of 11, García Ponce's family moved to
Mexico City Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...
. In 1952, García Ponce enrolled at the
National Autonomous University of Mexico The National Autonomous University of Mexico (, UNAM) is a public university, public research university in Mexico. It has several campuses in Mexico City, and many others in various locations across Mexico, as well as a presence in nine countri ...
to study
architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and construction, constructi ...
. In 1967, García Ponce met the French Canadian actress Denise Brosseau, who had previously been married to
Alejandro Jodorowsky Alejandro Jodorowsky Prullansky (; born 17 February 1929) is a Chilean and French Experimental film, avant-garde filmmaker. Known for his films ''El Topo'' (1970), ''The Holy Mountain (1973 film), The Holy Mountain'' (1973) and ''Santa Sangre'' ...
. Brosseau and García Ponce married and had one child, Esteban García Brosseau. On July 11, 1987, García Ponce died of a heart attack in
Coyoacán Coyoacán ( ; , Otomi: ) is a borough (''demarcación territorial'') in Mexico City. The former village is now the borough's "historic center". The name comes from Nahuatl and most likely means "place of coyotes", when the Aztecs named a pre- ...
,
Mexico City Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...
; García Ponce was 53 at the time. His elder brother,
Juan Garcia Ponce ''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 Philippi ...
, was a well known author and has published works about his brother's art and life.


Works

Garcia Ponce is part of a generation of artist that began to seek new creative option after 1945. In Mexico this desire to create a new tradition was particularly difficult in Mexico, because of the omnipresence of the "three great" muralist: Siqueiros, Rivera and Orozco. Garcia Ponce and other painters of his generation felt the necessity to establish the independence of painting towards any type of social or political program. After traveling to Paris in his youth Garcia Ponce assimilated the philosophical background that characterized Informalism in France and Abstract Expressionism in the U.S. of which he appreciated the freedom. Nonetheless, his formation as an architect undeniably influenced his painting in which geometry and structure are essential components even if treated lyrically. Garcia Ponce first teacher was the Spanish painter Enrique Climent who took him as his only student. García Ponce's artwork was first inspired by the
cubist Cubism is an early-20th-century avant-garde art movement which began in Paris. It revolutionized painting and the visual arts, and sparked artistic innovations in music, ballet, literature, and architecture. Cubist subjects are analyzed, broke ...
experience. The artist chose to work through depersonalization and the search of purity. Later, he became more focused in exploring the balance between form and space. His goal was to push his artwork past its initial appearance to the viewer. García Ponce has allowed for his paintings to speak for themselves. His artworks are living spaces animated by the artist's spirit. "Since his first exhibition, Fernando Garcia Ponce showed that his paintings could be presided over by a sign of rigor. Influenced by cubism, his early works clearly displayed the feeling that had determined the choices of painters before him. Before
Braque Georges Braque ( ; ; 13 May 1882 – 31 August 1963) was a major 20th-century French painter, collagist, draughtsman, printmaker and sculptor. His most notable contributions were in his alliance with Fauvism from 1905, and the role he play ...
or
Picasso Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, Ceramic art, ceramicist, and Scenic ...
, the memory of
Juan Gris José Victoriano González-Pérez (23 March 1887 – 11 May 1927), better known as Juan Gris (; ), was a Spanish painter born in Madrid who lived and worked in France for most of his active period. Closely connected to the innovative artistic g ...
. Facing the temptation to include the complete reality of the object in the closed atmosphere of the painting, facing the creative liberty and the will to transform, the painter would choose depersonalization, the search of final purity of which is capable of formal representation. His cubism was, in the most profound sense, analytic." "His paintings are simple and difficult, empty spaces, spaces made alive through the presence of the creator’s spirit that becomes incarnated in the work." Some of his works are:
Self-portrait
(1951) * Natural Death (1959) * Painting A-63 (1963) * Bottling Peninsula, ca (1966)
Relief and Space
(1970)
Homage to Picasso
(1976)
Glory and Death
(1980)
Horizontal Composition with Red Point
(1986)


References

* Ponce, Juan García. ''Nueve Pintores Mexicanos''. México, D.F.: Universidad Nacional Autónoma De México, 2006. Print. * Vallarino, Roberto. ''Fernando García Ponce: La Atracción Por Poblar El Vacío''. México: Dirección General De Publicaciones, 2002. Print.


External links


Artist's Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ponce, Fernando Garcia 20th-century Mexican painters 1933 births 1987 deaths Mexican abstract painters National Autonomous University of Mexico alumni