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José Raúl Anguiano Valadez (February 26, 1915 – January 13, 2006) was a notable Mexican painter of the 20th century, part of the “second generation” of Mexican muralists which continued the tradition of
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 ...
,
José Clemente Orozco José Clemente Orozco (November 23, 1883 – September 7, 1949) was a Mexican caricaturist and painter, who specialized in political murals that established the Mexican Mural Renaissance together with murals by Diego Rivera, David Alfaro Siquei ...
and
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 ...
but experimented with it as well. Anguiano was born during the height 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 ...
, which would inspire a majority of his mural painting. He studied painting in his hometown of
Guadalajara Guadalajara ( ; ) is the capital and the most populous city in the western Mexican List of states of Mexico, state of Jalisco, as well as the most densely populated municipality in Jalisco. According to the 2020 census, the city has a population ...
before moving 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 ...
to begin his career. His first major exhibition was held at the
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 ...
, at age 20. His works include over 100 individual and collective exhibitions with 50 murals, mostly in Mexico and the United States. As he continued his artistry with aspects of the Mexican muralism movement, he also experimented with other styles such as
Cubism 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 ...
,
Surrealism Surrealism is an art movement, art and cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists aimed to allow the unconscious mind to express itself, often resulting in the depiction of illogical or dreamlike s ...
and
Expressionism Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it rad ...
, with themes such as clowns and prostitutes. However, his most famous painting is “La espina” (The thorn) which depicts a Mayan woman digging a thorn out of her foot with a knife. His later works concentrated on depicting Mexico in vivid colors and traditional imagery.


Life

Raúl Anguiano was born in
Guadalajara Guadalajara ( ; ) is the capital and the most populous city in the western Mexican List of states of Mexico, state of Jalisco, as well as the most densely populated municipality in Jalisco. According to the 2020 census, the city has a population ...
,
Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...
, on February 26, 1915, at the height 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 ...
. He was the eldest of ten children, whose father was a
cobbler Cobbler(s) may refer to: *A person who repairs shoes * Cobbler (food), a type of pie Places * The Cobbler, a mountain located near the head of Loch Long in Scotland * Mount Cobbler, Australia Art, entertainment and media * ''The Cobbler' ...
. He began drawing at age five using images of movie stars and other famous people as
models 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 int ...
, including
Mary Pickford Gladys Louise Smith (April 8, 1892 – May 29, 1979), known professionally as Mary Pickford, was a Canadian-American film actress and producer. A Canadian pioneers in early Hollywood, pioneer in the American film industry with a Hollywood care ...
,
Pola Negri Pola Negri (; born Barbara Apolonia Chałupiec ; 3 January 1897 – 1 August 1987) was a Polish stage and film actress and singer. She achieved worldwide fame during the silent and golden eras of Hollywood and European film for her tragedienn ...
,
Charlie Chaplin Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin (16 April 188925 December 1977) was an English comic actor, filmmaker, and composer who rose to fame in the era of silent film. He became a worldwide icon through his screen persona, the Tramp, and is considered o ...
,
Álvaro Obregón Álvaro Obregón Salido (; 19 February 1880 – 17 July 1928) was a Mexican general, inventor and politician who served as the 46th President of Mexico from 1920 to 1924. Obregón was re-elected to the presidency in 1928 but was assassinated b ...
,
Venustiano Carranza José Venustiano Carranza de la Garza (; 29 December 1859 – 21 May 1920), known as Venustiano Carranza, was a Mexican land owner and politician who served as President of Mexico from 1917 until his assassination in 1920, during the Mexican Re ...
and bullfighter Rodolfo Gaona. Anguiano states that one of his very early artistic influences was a painting of the Holy Family by Rafael Sanzio. At age 12, he left his school to attend Guadalajara’s former Escuela Libre de Pintura, where he learned basic artistic techniques and became interested in pre-Hispanic and popular art. He studied with Ixca Farias, José Vizcarar and José Salomé Piña before leaving the school in 1933 to organize a group of painters called Jóvenes Pintores Jaliscienses. During his studies and early career, Anguiano worked with various models such as workmen, laborers and a few notable people such as Pita Amor. In 1934, he moved to Mexico City, where he met Diego Rivera and José Clemente Orozco and studied their work. He painted his first mural in the same year while in a school and joined the Liga de Escritores y Artistas Revolucionarios. During Anguiano’s long career, almost eight decades, his main studio was 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 but he had a second home in
Huntington Beach, California Huntington Beach is a seaside city in Orange County, California, United States. The city was originally called Pacific City, but it was changed in 1903 to be named after American businessman Henry E. Huntington. The population was 198,711 as of ...
. Anguiano died on January 13, 2006, at the Hospital Central Militar in Mexico City after becoming ill with heart problems while in Los Angeles. He was buried at the family crypt at the Panteón Jardín.


Career

His first major show was in 1935, when he was only twenty. He was the youngest painter to be featured at an exhibition at the Palacio de Bellas Artes. The work at this exhibition was featured with Máximo Pacheco, with themes of industry, factories, smelting and the workers’ movement. Since then he has exhibited individually and collectively over one hundred times in museums, galleries and other institutions in countries such as
Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...
,
Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...
,
Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...
,
Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...
, United States, France, Italy, the former
Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
, Israel, Germany and Japan. Some of his exhibitions before he died included a retrospective in Los Angeles for the 1984 Olympic Arts Festival, a presentation of a series of four color lithographs, held at the Hall of Graphic Arts SAGA 88, from 1989 to 1990, in Paris; and the retrospective look at Anguiano's work in graphics (1938-1940), held at the Museo de la Estampa in Mexico City in 1990. His creations remain in permanent collections in the San Francisco Museum of Art, the
Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums, Education center, education and Research institute, research centers, created by the Federal government of the United States, U.S. government "for the increase a ...
in Washington, D.C., the
Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...
in New York, the
Royal Museums of Art and History The Royal Museums of Art and History (RMAH) (; ) are a group of museums in Brussels, Belgium. They are part of the institutions of the Belgian Federal Science Policy Office (BELSPO) and consist of five museums: the Art & History Museum, the ...
in
Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...
, as well as museums in Mexico City,
Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...
and the
Vatican Vatican may refer to: Geography * Vatican City, an independent city-state surrounded by Rome, Italy * Vatican Hill, in Rome, namesake of Vatican City * Ager Vaticanus, an alluvial plain in Rome * Vatican, an unincorporated community in the ...
. In 1936, when he was only twenty one, he was commissioned to paint his first mural called La educación socialista, a seventy meter wide piece at the Carlos A. Carrillo School in Mexico City. During this career, he painted about fifty murals mostly in Mexico and the United States but murals can also be found in Jamaica and even the Vatican, which houses his mural La Crucifixión. Some of his more noted murals include ''Rituales Mayas'' for the Museo Nacional de la Antropología and ''Trilogía de Nacionalidad'' for the Procuraduría General de la República. Other murals in Mexico include those at the
Secretaría de Educación Pública In Mexico, the Secretariat of Public Education ( in Spanish ''Secretaría de Educación Pública'', ''SEP'') is a federal government authority with cabinet representation and the responsibility for overseeing the development and implementation o ...
, Medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturales and Cámara Nacional de Comercio, all in Mexico City as well as murals in the states of
Jalisco Jalisco, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Jalisco, is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the 32 Political divisions of Mexico, Federal Entities of Mexico. It is located in western Mexico and is bordered by s ...
and
Guanajuato Guanajuato, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Guanajuato, is one of the 32 states that make up the Political divisions of Mexico, Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into Municipalities of Guanajuato, 46 municipalities and its cap ...
. Most of the U.S. murals are located in California such as ''The Mayas: Magic, Science and the History of the Maya'', in the
Bowers Museum The Bowers Museum is an art museum located in Santa Ana, California, Santa Ana, California. The museum's permanent collection includes more than 100,000 objects, and features notable strengths in the areas of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica, Native Ame ...
in Santa Ana (1999) and his last mural, at the
East Los Angeles College East Los Angeles College (ELAC) is a public community college in Monterey Park, California, a suburb of Los Angeles. It is part of the California Community Colleges System and the Los Angeles Community College District. With fourteen communiti ...
, which was also his largest, measuring sixty eight by thirteen feet at the Performing Arts Auditorium. It is an autobiographical work which depicts the history of 20th-century Mexican art and depicts his fellow muralists Rivera, Orozco and David Siqueiros. From the time he moved to Mexico City in 1934 until close to his death, he was also an art teacher. He began by teaching in the primary schools but most of his teaching was done at the university level. He taught at Escuela de Artes Plásticas at the
Universidad Autónoma de México Universidad (Spanish for "university") may refer to: Places * Universidad, San Juan, Puerto Rico * Universidad (Madrid) Football clubs * Universidad SC, a Guatemalan football club that represents the Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala ...
, the La Esmeralda academy and the
Universidad Autónoma de la Ciudad de México The Universidad Autónoma de la Ciudad de México (UACM) (Autonomous University of Mexico City) is a public university from México City founded in 2001. Before, the Federal District was the only federal entity without a state university. Histo ...
. His first teaching work in the United States was for a brief time in 1941 and he agreed to teach primary school again in the summer of 2000 at the
Santa Ana Unified School District The Santa Ana Unified School District (SAUSD) is a school district in Orange County, California, United States, that serves most of the city of Santa Ana and small portions of the cities of Irvine, Tustin, Costa Mesa and Newport Beach. Altho ...
. Anguiano illustrated several books and about fifty catalogs of his work. He lectured throughout Mexico, the United States and Europe. During an expedition to the Bonampak archeological site, he sketched figures on the murals there, later using them to write a book about the experience called 'Expedicion a Bonampak'' first published in 1959. His art career was also linked to a number of organizations that he joined or created. In 1937, he joined the Liga de Escritores y Artistas Revolucionarios. He was one of the founders of the
Taller de Gráfica Popular The ''Taller de Gráfica Popular'' (Spanish: "People's Graphic Workshop") is an artists' print collective founded in Mexico in 1937 by artists Leopoldo Méndez, Pablo O'Higgins, and Luis Arenal. The collective was primarily concerned with using ...
along with
Leopoldo Méndez Leopoldo Méndez (June 30, 1902 – February 8, 1969) was one of Mexico's most important graphic artists and one of that country's most important artists from the 20th century. Méndez's work mostly focused on engraving for illustrations and othe ...
, Alfredo Zalcoe and Pablo O'Higgins, which produced etchings and lithographs with political themes. He was a founder of the La Esmeralda Academy, Instituto Nacional de Bellas Arts a Bonampak and the
Salón de la Plástica Mexicana Salón de la Plástica Mexicana (SPM; Hall of Mexican Fine Art) 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 of t ...
. By the time of his death, Anguiano's paintings were selling for over 100,000USD. He was one of the first artists, along with Siqueiros, to take advantage of the
Secretaría de Hacienda y Crédito Público The Secretariat of the Treasury and Public Credit (, SHCP) is the finance ministry of Mexico. The Secretary of the Treasury is the head of the department, and is a member of the federal executive cabinet, appointed to the post by the President ...
’s program that allowed artists to pay taxes with artworks. During his life he donated works to charities such as the
Red Cross The organized International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a Humanitarianism, humanitarian movement with approximately 16million volunteering, volunteers, members, and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ...
,
UNICEF UNICEF ( ), originally the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund, officially United Nations Children's Fund since 1953, is an agency of the United Nations responsible for providing Humanitarianism, humanitarian and Development a ...
, the
Rotary Club Rotary International is one of the largest Service club, service organizations in the world. The self-declared mission of Rotary, as stated on its website, is to "provide service to others, promote integrity, and advance world understanding, go ...
, hospitals, and more. Near the end of his life He bequeathed most of his movable works to Mexico City and to a museum named after him in Guadalajara. Recognitions include the José Clemente Orozco Insignia from the state of Jalisco in 1956, the Medalla de Oro del Salón Panamericano de Arte in Porto Alegre, Brazil, membership in Mexico City’s Academy of Arts since 1982 and named Creator Emeritus of the National System to the Creators of Art in 1993.


Artistry

Anguiano is an important artist of the 20th century, known nationally and best known internationally for his oil paintings depicting the indigenous peoples of Mexico. In addition to oils, he produced etchings, pencil and ink drawings, lithographs, illustrations, sculpture and ceramics. He is considered to be part of the
Mexican muralism Mexican muralism refers to the art project initially funded by the Mexican government in the immediate wake of the Mexican Revolution (1910–1920) to depict visions of Mexico's past, present, and future, transforming the walls of many public buil ...
movement, although younger than the three most important figures (Rivera, Orozco and Siqueiros) and he was one of the last to work with Diego Rivera. He was part of the continuance of their tradition, called the “second generation” along with
Juan O'Gorman Juan O'Gorman (6 July 1905 – 17 January 1982) was a Mexican painter and architect. Early life and family Juan O'Gorman was born on 6 July 1905 in Coyoacán, then a village to the south of Mexico City and now a borough A borough is an admini ...
, Jorge González Camarena,
José Chávez Morado José Chávez Morado (4 January 1909 – 1 December 2002) was a Mexican artist who was associated with the Mexican muralism movement of the 20th century. His generation followed that of Diego Rivera, José Clemente Orozco and David Alfaro Siq ...
, Alfredo Zalce, Jesús Guerrero Galván and Julio Castellanos. They challenged the political and status quo and experimented with muralism but kept certain traditional artistic canons. He stated "My forms of expression are based on realism, but not on naturalistic realism." Most of Anguiano’s work focuses on indigenous and rural Mexico, its festivals, history traditions and religion, which for him was Mexico. Anguiano’s mural work is mostly inspired by 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 efforts of those related to
Álvaro Obregón Álvaro Obregón Salido (; 19 February 1880 – 17 July 1928) was a Mexican general, inventor and politician who served as the 46th President of Mexico from 1920 to 1924. Obregón was re-elected to the presidency in 1928 but was assassinated b ...
afterwards. Oils and other works had themes from pre Hispanic ruins, especially Mayan stele, landscapes and the life and customs of the
Lacandon Jungle The Lacandon Jungle ( Spanish: ''Selva Lacandona'') is an area of rainforest which stretches from Chiapas, Mexico, into Guatemala. The heart of this rainforest is located in the Montes Azules Biosphere Reserve in Chiapas near the border with Gu ...
. Work such as ''La Espina'', ''Lacandonas asando monos zarahuatos'' and ''Nákin de perfil'', depicted indigenous as contemporary people, rather than historical. He also depicted the problems facing them such as the destruction of the environment. His work is credited with helping to educate many about rural life in Mexico as well as discrimination against the indigenous. He said that in his work he "sought to glimpse the soul of the Mexican people". He masterpiece is considered to be ''La Espina'', which was used for many years to illustrate public school textbooks. It depicts a Lacandon Maya woman seated and digging a spine out of her foot with a knife. The work sold for $156,000 USD at
Christie's Christie's is a British auction house founded in 1766 by James Christie (auctioneer), James Christie. Its main premises are on King Street, St James's in London, and it has additional salerooms in New York, Paris, Hong Kong, Milan, Geneva, Shan ...
Latin American auction in New York on 25 May 2004. Although firmly a member of the Mexican muralism movement, Anguiano experimented with a number of artistic styles over his career, with his most important influences being
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 ...
and José Clemente Orozco. Anguiano’s earliest works are similar to
Cubism 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 ...
, with clear influence from Picasso. He had an important surrealist period from 1936 to about 1946, recreating images from his dreams and his worries about the events of his time. Works from this period include La Llamada del Instanto, Caín, Volviendo a la Tierra and El Sueño Marino, with themes including on circus performers and prostitutes. Also during this period, Anguiano produced a series of drawings based on his dreams, with cold tones and silver-greys predominating. In the 1940s, he painted mostly realistic works, focusing on portraying native Mayan women, after visiting the Lacandon Jungle in
Chiapas Chiapas, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Chiapas, is one of the states that make up the Political divisions of Mexico, 32 federal entities of Mexico. It comprises Municipalities of Chiapas, 124 municipalities and its capital and large ...
. From 1957 to 1966 he painted
Expressionist Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it rad ...
works. From 1952 to 1969 he works focused on cinema and returned to Realism in 1970, and from then on, his works feature traditional figurative imagery with vivid color and clear references to Mexico. In addition to his notable work portraying Mexico, one important aspect of his work was the creation of portraits. His notable portraits include those of Alfa Henestrosa, María Asunsolo, Pita Amor, his wife Brigita Anguiano, ''La Abuela'', ''Cabeza de Viejo'' and ''La Muchacha del Abrigo Verde''. He also did portraits of many of Mexico’s heroes for textbooks for public schools. He also created
lithograph Lithography () is a planographic method of printing originally based on the miscibility, immiscibility of oil and water. The printing is from a stone (lithographic limestone) or a metal plate with a smooth surface. It was invented in 1796 by ...
s based on popular sayings.


Raúl Anguiano Museum

There are two museums in Mexico dedicated to Anguiano’s work in Mexico City and Guadalajara, but the latter is the more important. The Raúl Anguiano Museum was inaugurated in 2003 to provide a space to store and exhibit over one hundred works the artist donated to the state before his death. The museum has a mission of researching and promoting the aesthetic values related to Anguiano’s work. It is the newest and most modern of Guadalajara’s art museums. It has three exhibition halls on two floors, a multipurpose room and a room for children called Niño Anguiano. There are also workshops, study areas, a patio area with sculptures and twelve murals by various artists in various areas of the museum.


Museum collections

*
Art Museum of Southeast Texas The Art Museum of Southeast Texas (AMSET) is an art museum in Beaumont, Texas, United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a fe ...
, Beaumont, Texas


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Anguiano, Raul 1915 births 2006 deaths Art Students League of New York alumni 20th-century Mexican painters 20th-century Mexican male artists Mexican male painters 21st-century Mexican painters 21st-century Mexican male artists Mexican muralists Artists from Guadalajara, Jalisco Academic staff of Escuela Nacional de Pintura, Escultura y Grabado "La Esmeralda" Members of the Academia de Artes