Artists and Galleries in Guanajuato

Gorky Gonzales has his studio and gallery not to far from where my wife and I live in the Pastita Barrio. It is not hard to find and once you make your way to the Embajadoras Park then you can ask anyone and they can direct you to his studio. If Gonzales is there, he will invite you in to look at his work. You will have to ring the buzzer on his door.

Artists

·Capelo -- One of Guanajuato’s most prominent artists is ceramist Javier de Jesus Hernandez, also known as Capelo. This master of majolica shows in his work a reverence for Spanish colonial ceramic forms and designs. His design roots are in the 13th century and his style is the blending of a painter’s approach to art and an architect’s respect for function. Capelo studied majolica techniques in Portugal, Spain and Italy. His paintings and ceramic pieces can be found in collections around the world.

·Gorky González -- Gorky González is credited with the revitalization of the traditional potteries of Guanajuato. As the forms of Majolica were gradually disappearing in the first half of the twentieth century, he devoted himself to restoring them. The best known potter of Guanajuato, he can be partially credited for the booming industries in the city and its surrounding towns, especially Dolores de Hidalgo.

·Olga Costa , 1913-1993 -- Daughter of Ana and Jakob Kostakowsky, she was born in Leipzig, Germany, in 1913 and spent her childhood in Berlin. She arrived in Mexico at the age of twelve in 1925, disembarking in Veracruz. After a month the family settled in Mexico City. She studied in the National School of Plastic Arts together with Carlos Mérida after meeting Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo and Rufino Tamayo. In 1935 she married the painter José Chávez Morado, and together they fought for social equality. They lived in the state of Guanajuato for many years and donated a rich collection of pre-Hispanic, colonial and popular art to Mexico. During this period she returned to her painting activities, producing small works in gouache and oils. On returning to Mexico City she took part in founding the Galería Espiral. In 1945 she held her first individual exhibition in the Galería de Arte Mexicano and in 1946 traveled to Japan, where she was fascinated by Oriental art, whose technique and style she incorporated into her painting. Olga Costa died in the city of Guanajuato in 1993.

·Jose Mulberry Chávez (Painter) -- He was born in Silao and he died in Guanajuato, Gto. (1909-2002). Painter, sculptor and recorder. Of Arts made studies in the Chouinard School of Los Angeles and in San Carlos. He was professor and head of the Section of Plastic Education of the INBA, where it directed to the Factory of Plastic Integration and the School of Design and Crafts. Member of the PCM, of the PSUM, the PMS and the PRD. It was member of LEAR, that sent it to Spain during the Civil War (1937). Entrance in 1939 to the Factory of Popular Graph. Secretary General of the Union of Plastic Professors of Arts (1948) and of the Plastic Hall the Mexican (1949). In 1962 he was of the artists who refused to participate in III the Biennial of Beautiful Arts like protest by the imprisonment of Siqueiros. Between its murals they count the one of the stairs of the Alhóndiga and Granaditas, the work in mosaic of the Faculty of Sciences of the University City (the return of Quetzalcóatl and the conquest of the energy), the mosaics in outer walls and the SCOP (the Aztec world, the nationality, the Mayan world and Maps of transports), the murals in the laboratories Ciba Geigy of the road of Tlalpan (the medical magic and sciences and the pre-Hispanic medicine), the door of the museum the Caracol and the relief, both executed by its brother Takings, of the central column of the Museum of Anthropology (Image of Mexico); the relief’s, incisions and statures executed in center Doctor (seriously affected by the 1985 earthquake), the relief of the facade of the Legislative Palace (1982), a wall of the General Office of the judge advocate general of the Republic (1988) and a mural on the 1985 earthquakes that are National Doctor in center Century XXI. Vice-president for Latin America of the World-wide Council of the Crafts of UNESCO. National prize of Sciences and Arts (1974) and member of the Academy of Arts (1985) Doctor honors cause by the UNAM (1985).

Diego Rivera

·Diego Rivera was born December 8, 1886, in Guanajuato in Mexico, to Diego and Maria Barrientos Rivera. Being a family of rather modest means, they lived in Guanajuato until 1892, when they moved to Mexico City. At the age of ten Diego Rivera was doing well in school, and, passionately fond of drawing from an early age, started taking evening painting classes at the San Carlos Academy. In 1898 he enrolled there as a full time student, and in 1906, at the annual show, he exhibited for the first time, with 26 works. Thus at age twenty Diego Rivera was established as a painter. Diego's father was a municipal counselor in Guanajuato, and was a liberal and anticlerical man. Diego’s two aunts, who lived with the family, were rather religious. Diego was interested in military issues, and he was especially fascinated by the Russian army and the conflict it was facing; the Tsar and the Orthodox Church versus Marxist Revolutionaries.

Diego's father was a municipal counselor in Guanajuato, and was a liberal and anticlerical man. Diego's two aunts, who lived with the family, were rather religious. Diego was interested in military issues, and he was especially fascinated by the Russian army and the conflict it was facing; the Tsar and the Orthodox Church versus Marxist Revolutionaries.

In 1907 Diego got a travel grant, and went to Spain. There he travelled around, and he also went to France, Belgium, and England. In Brussels in 1909 he met Angelina Belhoff, a slender, blond young Russian painter, a kind, sensitive, almost unbelievably decent person, and she became Diego's partner for the next twelve years.

They travelled together, mostly in Europe, and spent much time in Paris, where Diego Rivera participated in several exhibitions. During this time they had many friends, and several of these were Russians. The First World War broke out in Europe, and in Mexico the revolutionary folk hero Emiliano Zapata promoted returning the land to the people. It was in these years Diego Rivera became a revolutionary himself, and felt the call of his country. His friend, David Sternberg, the Soviet People's Commissar of Fine Arts had invited him to Russia, and Diego was tempted to go, but in 1921 he returned to Mexico instead.

In addition to his painting activities, which by now was focused increasingly on murals, Diego Rivera participated in the founding of the Revolutionary Union of Technical Workers, Painters and Sculptors in the autumn of 1922, and later that year he joined the Mexican Communist Party.

The Galleries in Guanajuato

The best galleries will be found in San Miguel de Allende. That is due to the simple reason it is an art colony. The prices are out-of-this-world because of the out-of-this-world artists and customers. But to be fair, if you have the money and want to spend small fortunes on works of art from San Miguel then who am I to argue?

1. Galería Carlos MuRo --Address: Zacateros 81A (near Instituto Allende) Telephone: + 52 (415) 154-8531 Fax: + 52 (415) 154-8920 www.artesmex.com E-mail: CarlosMu_Ro@hotmail.com

2. Casa de la Cuesta Folk Art Gallery --www.casadelacuesta.com/gallery.html By Appointment Only: Email: info@casadelacuesta.com Tel:+ 52 415 154-4324Fax: + 52 415 154-5032

3. The Christina Sol Studio/Gallery --Joe DelPriore, Agent Phone: (440) 964-7037Email: sales@christinasol.com Studio Tours in San Miguel de Allende If you are visiting San Miguel de Allende and would like to schedule a tour of the artist's studio. Email: tours@christinasol.com website: www.christinasol.com