José Luis Cuevas
| José Luis Cuevas | |
|---|---|
| Born | February 26, 1934 Mexico City, Mexico |
| Nationality | Mexican |
| Field | Painting, Drawing, Illustrating, Printmaking, Sculpting, Writing |
| Movement | Modernism, Neo-figurativism, Mexican Muralism |
| Awards | National Prize for Arts and Sciences of Fine Arts (1981) |
| Website | Official website of José Luis Cuevas |
José Luis Cuevas (born February 26, 1934, Mexico City, Mexico) is a modernist painter, printmaker, sculptor, and writer.
Cuevas' artistic training is practically self-taught. Known for Mexican muralism and Neo-figurative art, he is considered to be one of the principal artists from the Rupture Generation in the 1950s that departed from the politicized and stylized mural school of Orozco and Diego Rivera.
More introspective and morose, his style recalls a linerazed and antichromatic Francis Bacon. (Also see Rafael Coronel.) Through his work with lines of great ferocity of expressive nudity, the spirit of his subjects portrays the enormity of human degeneration in prostitution and despotism.
His initial intention was to show the anguish and loneliness of man, and he chose scenes he found in hospitals and brothels to express that; his models were and still are the prostitute, the beggar, the madman, and the sick patient. In spite of the recurrence of these themes, there are variations focusing on deformed beings, beautiful images of characters that are almost monstrous.
Among his numerous individual expositions and collections, the most prominent were in Washington, D.C. (1954), Paris (1955), and New York (1957). He wrote a weekly column in Excélsior, one of the main Mexico City newspapers. The José Luis Cuevas Museum in Mexico City is named after him.
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[edit] Career
[edit] Artistic career
Before turning 10 years old, Cuevas was registered as a special student in the Escuela de la Esmeralda. He continued his artistic training in Mexico City College, taking engraving classes with Lola Cueto.
He was known as the "enfant terrible" (Translated from French, the expression would be "terrible child".) from a generation of artists that protested against the expression of art rooted in political propaganda focused on fueling nationalist beliefs. His work "La cortina del nopal" was famous for adopting that stance, a story in which he criticizes the idea of using art as the medium for education in villages for failing to achieve its goal. His position was not only an attack against the culture of the authorities but also against the academic instruction of art - motivated by his self-training - and against muralism, especially David Alfaro Siqueiros, who made famous the phrase no hay más ruta que la nuestra (There is no other path except our own.)
In the mid-1950s, collectors and art critics started to appreciate his work, including José Gómez Sucre, who invited him to exhibit his work in the Pan American Union (now the Organization of American States) in Washington, D.C. Luis Cuevas gained fame for his constant exhibitions, as much in the United States as in Mexico, the rest of Latin America, and Europe. In the Gallery Edouard Loeb, notable artist Pablo Picasso bought Cuervas' pieces.
He was attributed to having "baptized" the Zona Rosa of Mexico City as a homage to and for his great admiration for the Cuban-Mexican artist Rosa Carmina. At that time, the Zona Rosa was an important area for culture, research, and fashion in Mexico City.
In the Zona Rosa, he exhibited the work he titled "Mural Efímero" (Ephemeral Mural) in 1967. The next year, he returned to the Ciudad Universitaria to exhibit works, as he showed support to the student movements that developed that year in Mexico City. Two years later he protested in San Francisco, California against the Vietnam War, organizing Happenings (shows that stimulate active participation of the audience) and working on posters.
[edit] Theatre and film
In theater, he created the set design for the play "La noche de los asesinos" (The Night of the Assassins) - which in Mexico earned awards from the critics - likewise for "The American Ballet Company" in the United States. In 1965, he staged the show "El Quid" together with Sergio Arau and the writer Carlos Monsiváis. In film, he performed as himself in the Mexican movie "Los amigos".
[edit] Awards
The awards and recognition that Cuevas has received throughout his career have been different; for example, in 1967 the exposition "Rosk 67" presented Cuevas as one of the 50 most important painters at the time. That same year, the New York Times ranked him among the greatest drawers of the 20th century.
He has obtained, among others, the following awards:
- First International Prize for Drawing, Fifth Biennial of São Paulo (1959)
- First International Prize for Printmaking, First Triennial of Graphic Arts, New Delhi (1968)
- National Prize for Arts and Sciences of Fine Arts (1981) [1](Spanish)
- Honorary degree awarded by the Autonomous University of Sinaloa (1984) [2](Spanish)
- International Prize from the World Council of Engraving, San Francisco (1984).
- Recibió la Orden de Caballero de las Artes y de las Letras de la República Francesa (1991).
- Lorenzo il Magnifico Lifetime Achievement Award, Eighth International Florence Biennial of Contemporary Art (2011). [3]
He was named Artist of the City by Mexico City, an occasion in which the José Luis Cuevas Museum was also inaugurated in 1992.
[edit] Books written by José Luis Cuevas
- Cuevas por Cuevas, Ediciones Era, México, D.F., 1965.
- Cuevario, Editorial Grijalbo, México, D.F., 1973.
- Cuevas contra Cuevas
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Consejo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes. "Premio Nacional de Ciencias y Artes". Secretaría de Educación Pública. http://www.ecultura.gob.mx/artistas_y_grupos_artisticos/pnca/indiceac/pnca_anoycampo.pdf.
- ^ "Doctor honoris causa otorgados". Autonomous University of Sinaloa. http://sriagral.uasnet.mx/?op=1&ids=9.
- ^ "Florence Biennale 2011". Florence Biennale. http://www.florencebiennale.org/en/ebiennale11.php.
[edit] External links
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