Jorge González Camarena
Encyclopedia
Jorge González Camarena (24 March 1908 – 24 May 1980) was a prominent Mexican
painter, muralist and sculptor who received the Mexican National Prize for Arts and Sciences (Fine Arts, 1970). For his portrait of Michelangelo Buonarotti, which hangs at his birthplace at Caprese
, he was awarded the Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana in 1967.
, into a family composed by Arturo González and Sara Camarena, originally from Arandas, Jalisco. His younger brother, Guillermo
, would later be known for inventing a chromoscopic adapter for television equipment and becoming one of the best known television pioneers in the country.
After being encouraged by a local instructor, he enrolled the National School of Plastic Arts at San Carlos Academy and became an apprentice of Dr. Atl
. In 1929 he started to contribute and illustrate for Revista de Revistas and Nuestro México. Three years later he was commissioned to restore the 16th century Franciscan
frescos at the Convent of Huejotzingo, Puebla
, where he allegedly discovered contributions by Marcos Cipactli, one of the last Aztec
painters and, controversially, attributed him the authorship of Our Lady of Guadalupe
.
He died of a brain hemorrhage on 24 May 1980. After being mourned at the Palace of Fine Arts, he was buried at the Dolores Cemetery
in Mexico City
. In 2008, on the 100th anniversary of his birth, he was honored by the Mexican Academy of Arts
, the Mexican Institute of Social Security and the Soumaya Museum, among others.
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
painter, muralist and sculptor who received the Mexican National Prize for Arts and Sciences (Fine Arts, 1970). For his portrait of Michelangelo Buonarotti, which hangs at his birthplace at Caprese
Caprese Michelangelo
Caprese Michelangelo is a village and comune in the province of Arezzo, Tuscany, Italy. It is the birthplace of the renowned Renaissance artist Michelangelo. The village is roughly 100 km east of Florence....
, he was awarded the Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana in 1967.
Biography
González Camarena was born in GuadalajaraGuadalajara, Jalisco
Guadalajara is the capital of the Mexican state of Jalisco, and the seat of the municipality of Guadalajara. The city is located in the central region of Jalisco in the western-pacific area of Mexico. With a population of 1,564,514 it is Mexico's second most populous municipality...
, into a family composed by Arturo González and Sara Camarena, originally from Arandas, Jalisco. His younger brother, Guillermo
Guillermo González Camarena
Guillermo González Camarena , was a Mexican engineer who was the inventor of a color-wheel type of color television, and who also introduced color television to Mexico....
, would later be known for inventing a chromoscopic adapter for television equipment and becoming one of the best known television pioneers in the country.
After being encouraged by a local instructor, he enrolled the National School of Plastic Arts at San Carlos Academy and became an apprentice of Dr. Atl
Dr. Atl
Gerardo Murillo was a Mexican painter and writer who signed his works "Dr. Atl". He was born in Guadalajara, Jalisco, where he began the study of painting at an early age, under Felipe Castro...
. In 1929 he started to contribute and illustrate for Revista de Revistas and Nuestro México. Three years later he was commissioned to restore the 16th century Franciscan
Franciscan
Most Franciscans are members of Roman Catholic religious orders founded by Saint Francis of Assisi. Besides Roman Catholic communities, there are also Old Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, ecumenical and Non-denominational Franciscan communities....
frescos at the Convent of Huejotzingo, Puebla
Puebla
Puebla officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Puebla is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 217 municipalities and its capital city is Puebla....
, where he allegedly discovered contributions by Marcos Cipactli, one of the last Aztec
Aztec
The Aztec people were certain ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those groups who spoke the Nahuatl language and who dominated large parts of Mesoamerica in the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries, a period referred to as the late post-classic period in Mesoamerican chronology.Aztec is the...
painters and, controversially, attributed him the authorship of Our Lady of Guadalupe
Our Lady of Guadalupe
Our Lady of Guadalupe , also known as the Virgin of Guadalupe is a celebrated Catholic icon of the Virgin Mary.According to tradition, on December 9, 1531 Juan Diego, a simple indigenous peasant, had a vision of a young woman while he was on a hill in the Tepeyac desert, near Mexico City. The lady...
.
He died of a brain hemorrhage on 24 May 1980. After being mourned at the Palace of Fine Arts, he was buried at the Dolores Cemetery
Panteón de Dolores
The Panteón Civil de Dolores is the largest cemetery in Mexico and contains the "Rotonda de las Personas Ilustres" . It is located on Constituyentes Avenue in Miguel Hidalgo borough of Mexico City, between sections two and three of Chapultepec Park...
in Mexico City
Mexico City
Mexico City is the Federal District , capital of Mexico and seat of the federal powers of the Mexican Union. It is a federal entity within Mexico which is not part of any one of the 31 Mexican states but belongs to the federation as a whole...
. In 2008, on the 100th anniversary of his birth, he was honored by the Mexican Academy of Arts
Academia de Artes
The Academia de Artes is the Mexican Academy of Arts founded 1967/1968 by CONACULTA for the promotion of Mexican art. Seat of the institution is the Museo Nacional de San Carlos in Mexico City...
, the Mexican Institute of Social Security and the Soumaya Museum, among others.
Selected works
- México (1950): Mexican Institute of Social Security.
- Historia de México (1954): A 7 by 32.4 m (23 by 106.3 ft) polychromatic bas-relief in stone, mosaic and pintura de hule at the Old Library (current Rectorate) of the Monterrey Institute of Technology, depicting the victory of QuetzalcoatlQuetzalcoatlQuetzalcoatl is a Mesoamerican deity whose name comes from the Nahuatl language and has the meaning of "feathered serpent". The worship of a feathered serpent deity is first documented in Teotihuacan in the first century BCE or first century CE...
over TezcatlipocaTezcatlipocaTezcatlipoca was a central deity in Aztec religion. One of the four sons of Ometeotl, he is associated with a wide range of concepts, including the night sky, the night winds, hurricanes, the north, the earth, obsidian, enmity, discord, rulership, divination, temptation, jaguars, sorcery, beauty,...
as an allegorical victory of science and culture over ignorance. - Liberación de la humanidad (1959): Mural at the Palace of Fine Arts of Mexico City.
- Alegoría de la ciencia, la comunicación y la tierra (1960): National Polytechnic InstituteNational Polytechnic InstituteThe National Polytechnic Institute colloquially known as the Polytechnic is one of the largest public universities in Mexico with 153.027 students at the high school, undergraduate and postgraduate levels...
of Mexico. - La conquista (1960): National Museum of History at Chapultepec Castle, in Mexico City.
- La patria (1962): Oil over canvas, 120 by 160 cm (3.9 by 5.2 ft), used in the cover of public textbooks for elementary schools in Mexico during the 1960s.
- Las razas (1964): National Museum of Anthropology, used as the Mexican commemorative postal stamp on the 400th anniversary of ColumbusColumbus DayMany countries in the New World and elsewhere celebrate the anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the Americas, which occurred on October 12, 1492, as an official holiday...
's first landing in the Americas. - Presencia de América LatinaPresencia de América LatinaPresencia de América Latina , also known as Integración de América Latina is a mural painted by Mexican artist Jorge González Camarena between November 1964 and April 1965...
(ChileChileChile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
, 1964–65): Mural at the University of Concepción and used in its commemorative postal stamp on its 75th anniversary. - Michelangelo Buonarotti (ItalyItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, 1966) A portrait of the RenaissanceRenaissanceThe Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...
artist selected by the Italian government to hang at his birth house in CapreseCaprese MichelangeloCaprese Michelangelo is a village and comune in the province of Arezzo, Tuscany, Italy. It is the birthplace of the renowned Renaissance artist Michelangelo. The village is roughly 100 km east of Florence....
.