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Autobiografia (Cronicas/Chronicles)
Orozco es la figura ejemplar del artista que logra imponer una concepcion lirica y combativa de la pintura, intensamente personal, sobre cualquier imperativo de doctrina o escuela. En 1942 escribe su Autobiografia (publicada como libro en 1945), donde traza a grandes rasgos su vida y deja sentada su posicion como creador. Este libro significa un claro deslinde frente a la llamada Escuela Mexicana del muralismo. Al mismo tiempo, este retrato de Orozco por si mismo es una memoria de toda una etapa del arte de nuestro pais.
128 pages, Paperback
First published June 30, 1996
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
March 2, 2023
Mexico #4
José Clemente Orozco has always been a bit of an enigma to me. I first saw his murals in Mexico City in 2018. Unlike Diego Rivera and David Alfaro Siqueiros, I felt he had a highly structured and powerful element of design along with a darker colour palette. I was impressed.
So I was very pleased to find this book, an autobiography. It was an article first published in Occidente in 1945, later republished in the book in 1970.
Orozco modestly tells his own life story which is far from low key. As a lad there was printer’s workshop near his school and just down the street. José Guadalupe Posada (of the Catrina fame) worked there. His parents wanted him to study agriculture; he liked art.
In 1897 he started at La Academia de Bellas Artes and studied under Antonio Fabrés. He gave night classes which included Saturnino Herrán and Diego Rivera, his fellow students.
This led to meeting Dr. Atl, who opened young Orozco’s eyes to the romantics and the modernists. His world was changing. As was Mexico. The Mexican Revolution started in 1910. Orozco tried to stay neutral. He just wanted to make art but his world changed around him.
In 1917 he made a trip to San Francisco and then to New York. He stopped at Niagara Falls, crossing over to Canada to see Horseshoe Falls. A border officer forced him back to the U.S. side since Mexicans had a bad reputation from the Mexican Revolution!
Then in 1922, mural painting took off in Mexico. This was a strange connection of public art on a massive scale blending in socialism using a technique that had fallen out of favour in Europe. The artists were workers working for the worker, all for the glory of the state. They wrote a manifesto and formed a union of artists and sculptors. Art of the proletariat!
This was a boon for Orozco. He developed images based on the long history of the Mexican people, before the arrival of Cortes. In his own words, “treat the indigenous people (indio) like all people and equal to all people.” Add in the secretary of education, Vasconcelos and his life changed.
However, not all appreciated the murals in Mexico and he began a bumpy ride. The problem was that some artists became more famous and their egos got in the way.
In 1927 he returned to New York and was introduced to Alma Reed. Now this is where this book got personal for me. Alma Reed traveled through the Yucatán, met and fell in love with Felipe Carrillo Puerto. They were going to get married when he was murdered.
Back in 2008 I traveled to a sleepy town called Felipe Carrillo Puerto, and first heard of this tragic love story. There is a “talking cross” story here but I digress.
Back in NY, at one of Alma Reed’s parties, Orozco is introduced Eva Sikelianos, the widow of the Greek poet Angelo Siklianos. After Carrillo Puerta’s death, while in mourning, Alma traveled to Italy and Greece, she met Eva and arranged to translate Angelo’s poetry.
During grad school, I was fascinated by the modern Greek poets and even created an art piece, a Shrine for Siklianos (now long gone). Sorry another digression.
While Orozco mingled with Eva, he was introduced to Sarojini Naidu, who collaborated with Mahatma Gandhi. The three women helped to promote his work in New York. And then in October 1928, the Stock Market collapsed and Orozco looked for other patrons.
In 1932, Orozco spent three months seeing the art of Europe. He loved the art, and Picasso was the darling of the art world, Orozco was less keen on England and France. He felt the aftermath of the First World War still haunted Europe so he returned to the United States.
At Dartmouth College in Hannover, New Hampshire, he received one of his biggest mural commissions. Sadly, some Americans were not happy with a foreigner got this commission. He was back in Mexico City to paint a mural in Palacio de Bellas Artes (saw this one, magnificent) and then to Guadalajara in 1936 to paint one of his most famous pieces.
A great yarn spun by a master yarn spinner. After this book, I know so much more and Orozco is less of an enigma.
3.5 rating
José Clemente Orozco has always been a bit of an enigma to me. I first saw his murals in Mexico City in 2018. Unlike Diego Rivera and David Alfaro Siqueiros, I felt he had a highly structured and powerful element of design along with a darker colour palette. I was impressed.
So I was very pleased to find this book, an autobiography. It was an article first published in Occidente in 1945, later republished in the book in 1970.
Orozco modestly tells his own life story which is far from low key. As a lad there was printer’s workshop near his school and just down the street. José Guadalupe Posada (of the Catrina fame) worked there. His parents wanted him to study agriculture; he liked art.
In 1897 he started at La Academia de Bellas Artes and studied under Antonio Fabrés. He gave night classes which included Saturnino Herrán and Diego Rivera, his fellow students.
This led to meeting Dr. Atl, who opened young Orozco’s eyes to the romantics and the modernists. His world was changing. As was Mexico. The Mexican Revolution started in 1910. Orozco tried to stay neutral. He just wanted to make art but his world changed around him.
In 1917 he made a trip to San Francisco and then to New York. He stopped at Niagara Falls, crossing over to Canada to see Horseshoe Falls. A border officer forced him back to the U.S. side since Mexicans had a bad reputation from the Mexican Revolution!
Then in 1922, mural painting took off in Mexico. This was a strange connection of public art on a massive scale blending in socialism using a technique that had fallen out of favour in Europe. The artists were workers working for the worker, all for the glory of the state. They wrote a manifesto and formed a union of artists and sculptors. Art of the proletariat!
This was a boon for Orozco. He developed images based on the long history of the Mexican people, before the arrival of Cortes. In his own words, “treat the indigenous people (indio) like all people and equal to all people.” Add in the secretary of education, Vasconcelos and his life changed.
However, not all appreciated the murals in Mexico and he began a bumpy ride. The problem was that some artists became more famous and their egos got in the way.
In 1927 he returned to New York and was introduced to Alma Reed. Now this is where this book got personal for me. Alma Reed traveled through the Yucatán, met and fell in love with Felipe Carrillo Puerto. They were going to get married when he was murdered.
Back in 2008 I traveled to a sleepy town called Felipe Carrillo Puerto, and first heard of this tragic love story. There is a “talking cross” story here but I digress.
Back in NY, at one of Alma Reed’s parties, Orozco is introduced Eva Sikelianos, the widow of the Greek poet Angelo Siklianos. After Carrillo Puerta’s death, while in mourning, Alma traveled to Italy and Greece, she met Eva and arranged to translate Angelo’s poetry.
During grad school, I was fascinated by the modern Greek poets and even created an art piece, a Shrine for Siklianos (now long gone). Sorry another digression.
While Orozco mingled with Eva, he was introduced to Sarojini Naidu, who collaborated with Mahatma Gandhi. The three women helped to promote his work in New York. And then in October 1928, the Stock Market collapsed and Orozco looked for other patrons.
In 1932, Orozco spent three months seeing the art of Europe. He loved the art, and Picasso was the darling of the art world, Orozco was less keen on England and France. He felt the aftermath of the First World War still haunted Europe so he returned to the United States.
At Dartmouth College in Hannover, New Hampshire, he received one of his biggest mural commissions. Sadly, some Americans were not happy with a foreigner got this commission. He was back in Mexico City to paint a mural in Palacio de Bellas Artes (saw this one, magnificent) and then to Guadalajara in 1936 to paint one of his most famous pieces.
A great yarn spun by a master yarn spinner. After this book, I know so much more and Orozco is less of an enigma.
3.5 rating
June 6, 2023
Me gustó mucho poder adentrarme en la mente de Orozco. A pesar de que sus opiniones personales no son tan abundantes en este escrito, lo poco que dejó plasmado me hace querer seguir conociendo más de la vida de este ilustre hombre.
February 22, 2011
Un libro en verdad muy interesante, no lo califico mejor a falta de contenido y del tan abrupto final, supongo que es difícil terminar de escribir una autobiografía.
Las cosas que relata el autor son todas muy entretenidas, pero demasiado cortas, tendré que leer más libros sobre muchos de los temas que trata superficialmente y que me llamaron la atención.
Las cosas que relata el autor son todas muy entretenidas, pero demasiado cortas, tendré que leer más libros sobre muchos de los temas que trata superficialmente y que me llamaron la atención.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews