Luz Jiménez or Luciana (born Julia Jiménez González; 1897–1965) was an indigenous Mexican

model A model is an informative representation of an object, person, or system. The term originally denoted the plans of a building in late 16th-century English, and derived via French and Italian ultimately from Latin , . Models can be divided in ...

and

Nahuatl Nahuatl ( ; ), Aztec, or Mexicano is a language or, by some definitions, a group of languages of the Uto-Aztecan language family. Varieties of Nahuatl are spoken by about Nahuas, most of whom live mainly in Central Mexico and have smaller popul ...

-language storyteller and linguistic informant from

Milpa Alta Milpa Alta is a Boroughs of Mexico City, borough (''demarcación territorial'') in Mexico City. It lies in the southeast corner of the nation's capital, bordering the State of Mexico and Morelos. It is the least populated, second largest and most ...

, D.F. As a young woman she witnessed 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 was present when

Emiliano Zapata Emiliano Zapata Salazar (; 8 August 1879 – 10 April 1919) was a Mexican revolutionary. He was a leading figure in the Mexican Revolution of 1910–1920, the main leader of the people's revolution in the Mexican state of Morelos, and the insp ...

and his revolutionary army entered Milpa Alta in 1911. Her eyewitness account is one of the only testimonies of Emiliano Zapata speaking

. In 1916, most of her male relatives were killed in a massacre by the Carrancistas. In the 1930s, she served as a linguistic informant to linguists working to document the Nahuatl language. Among others she worked with

Benjamin Lee Whorf Benjamin Atwood Lee Whorf (; April 24, 1897 – July 26, 1941) was an American linguist and fire prevention engineer best known for proposing the Sapir–Whorf hypothesis. He believed that the structures of different languages shape how the ...

who credits her in his description of Milpa Alta Nahuatl. She also worked as a model for artists Fernando Leal and

Diego Rivera Diego Rivera (; December 8, 1886 – November 24, 1957) was a Mexican painter. His large frescoes helped establish the Mexican muralism, mural movement in Mexican art, Mexican and international art. Between 1922 and 1953, Rivera painted mural ...

and her portrait can be seen in at least three of his murals, one of them the Tlatelolco market scene, In 1942, she started work as a model at the Escuela Nacional de Pintura, Escultura y Grabado "La Esmeralda" (National School of Painting, Sculpture and Printmaking) in

Frida Kahlo Magdalena Carmen Frida Kahlo y Calderón (; 6 July 1907 – 13 July 1954) was a Mexican painter known for her many portraits, self-portraits, and works inspired by the nature and artifacts of Mexico. Inspired by Culture of Mexico, the country' ...

's classes."Aspectos de la carrera de Luz Jiménez como modelo", ''El Universal'', 1999-11-23
/ref> In her old age she told her life's story to anthropologist Fernando Horcasitas who published it with the title
Life and Death in Milpa Alta
. As the

godparent Within Christianity, a godparent or sponsor is someone who bears witness to a child's baptism (christening) and later is willing to help in their catechesis, as well as their lifelong spiritual formation. In both religious and civil views, ...

s of her daughter Concha, Jean Charlot and Anita Brenner were her '' compadres''. Luz died in 1965 after being hit by a motorist in

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 ...

Works in which Jiménez appears

Jiménez as a model appears ''inter alia'' in the following works: * Fuente de los Cántaros ("Fountain of the Jugs", by José María Fernández Urbina) in Parque México, Condesa,

: **''La Creación'', (1922),

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 gain ...

, then the National Preparatory School **''La molendera'' (1926) ** ''Weaving'' (1936
The Art Institute of Chicago
* Portrait by photographers

Edward Weston Edward Henry Weston (March 24, 1886 – January 1, 1958) was an American photographer. He has been called "one of the most innovative and influential American photographers" and "one of the masters of 20th century photography." Over the course ...

and Tina Modotti (1940) * Drawing of Luz Jiménez (April 1924) by Jean Charlot

References

Sources

* English original. Published in Spanish as: * * * * * https://www.artic.edu/artworks/151363/weaving

External links

Itzcuintli blog with photos of Luz Jimenez Meet Doña Luz Jiménez, the forgotten indigenous woman at the heart of Mexico’s cultural revolution
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jimenez, Luz 1897 births 1965 deaths Road incident deaths in Mexico Indigenous Mexicans Nahua people Mexican artists' models Mexican Mesoamericanists Women Mesoamericanists 20th-century Mesoamericanists 20th-century Mexican translators Pedestrian road incident deaths Indigenous Mexican women Nahuatl-Spanish translators