Mathias Goeritz
Encyclopedia
Mathias Goeritz (April 4, 1915 in Danzig (Gdańsk
), Germany
(now in Poland
)) - August 4, 1990 in Mexico City
) was a well-known Mexican
painter
and sculptor
of German origin. After spending much of the 1940s in North Africa
and Spain
, Goeritz and his wife, photographer Marianne Gast, immigrated to Mexico
in 1949.
Mathias Goeritz spent his childhood in Berlin
. He began studying philosophy and the history of art at Berlin's Friedrich-Wilhelm-Universität, now known as the Humboldt University of Berlin
, in 1934. Goeritz received a doctorate
in art history
from this institution in 1940. His doctoral dissertation on the nineteenth-century German painter Ferdinand von Rayski
was published as Ferdinand Von Rayski und die Kunst des Neunzehnten Jahrhunderts. During the course of his studies, Goeritz also trained as an artist at the Kunstgewerbe- und Handwerkerschule Berlin-Charlottenberg (Berlin-Charlottenberg School of Arts and Crafts), where he studied drawing with German artists Max Kaus and Hans Orlowski. Upon completion of his doctorate, Goeritz worked at Berlin’s Nationalgalerie (National Gallery), now the Alte Nationalgalerie
, under the supervision of nineteenth-century art specialist Paul Ortwin Rave. In early 1941, in the midst of the Second World War, Goeritz left Germany, settling first in Tetuan, Morocco
. He and photographer Marianne Gast married in 1942, and the couple settled in Granada
, Spain
just after the war ended in 1945.
Goeritz's career as a professional artist began with his first solo exhibition at the Librería-Galería Clan in Madrid
in June 1946 under the pseudonym "Ma-Gó". The Goeritzs relocated to Madrid in 1947. There, Goeritz developed a close friendship with Spanish sculptor Ángel Ferrant.
In the summer of 1948, Goeritz and Ferrant traveled to visit the prehistoric paintings of the Cave of Altamira in the north of Spain, along with writer Ricardo Gullón and others. It was then that Goeritz proposed the founding of an Escuela de Altamira (Altamira School), an association of artists and writers who would meet annually near the Cave, in 1948. The Escuela de Altamira would ultimately hold two meetings, in 1949 and 1950.
Through the intervention of Mexican architect Ignacio Díaz Morales, Goeritz was offered a job teaching art history to the students of the newly founded Escuela de Arquitectura in Guadalajara, Mexico in 1949. In 1953 he first presented his "Manifiesto de la Arquitectura Emocional" (Emotional Architecture Manifesto) at the pre-inauguration of the Museo Experimental El Eco in Mexico City
, which he designed in 1952-53. Goeritz also collaborated with Luis Barragán
to make monumental abstract sculptures in reinforced concrete during the 1950s, including El animal del Pedregal(The Animal of the Pedregal, 1951) and the Torres de la Ciudad Satélite
(Towers of Satellite City, 1957).
Mathias Goeritz exhibited widely in Mexico and beyond throughout his life, and had a significant influence on younger Mexican artists such as Helen Escobedo
and Pedro Friedeberg
. He died in Mexico City on August 4, 1990.
Gdansk
Gdańsk is a Polish city on the Baltic coast, at the centre of the country's fourth-largest metropolitan area.The city lies on the southern edge of Gdańsk Bay , in a conurbation with the city of Gdynia, spa town of Sopot, and suburban communities, which together form a metropolitan area called the...
), Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
(now in Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
)) - August 4, 1990 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...
) was a well-known Mexican
Mexican people
Mexican people refers to all persons from Mexico, a multiethnic country in North America, and/or who identify with the Mexican cultural and/or national identity....
painter
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
and sculptor
Sculpture
Sculpture is three-dimensional artwork created by shaping or combining hard materials—typically stone such as marble—or metal, glass, or wood. Softer materials can also be used, such as clay, textiles, plastics, polymers and softer metals...
of German origin. After spending much of the 1940s in North Africa
North Africa
North Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, linked by the Sahara to Sub-Saharan Africa. Geopolitically, the United Nations definition of Northern Africa includes eight countries or territories; Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, South Sudan, Sudan, Tunisia, and...
and Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
, Goeritz and his wife, photographer Marianne Gast, immigrated to Mexico
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...
in 1949.
Mathias Goeritz spent his childhood in Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
. He began studying philosophy and the history of art at Berlin's Friedrich-Wilhelm-Universität, now known as the Humboldt University of Berlin
Humboldt University of Berlin
The Humboldt University of Berlin is Berlin's oldest university, founded in 1810 as the University of Berlin by the liberal Prussian educational reformer and linguist Wilhelm von Humboldt, whose university model has strongly influenced other European and Western universities...
, in 1934. Goeritz received a doctorate
Doctorate
A doctorate is an academic degree or professional degree that in most countries refers to a class of degrees which qualify the holder to teach in a specific field, A doctorate is an academic degree or professional degree that in most countries refers to a class of degrees which qualify the holder...
in art history
Art history
Art history has historically been understood as the academic study of objects of art in their historical development and stylistic contexts, i.e. genre, design, format, and style...
from this institution in 1940. His doctoral dissertation on the nineteenth-century German painter Ferdinand von Rayski
Ferdinand von Rayski
Ferdinand von Rayski was a German painter noted for his portraits.Rayski was born in 1806 in Pegau. From 1816 to 1821 he studied drawing under Traugott Faber at the Freimaurerinstitut in Dresden and from 1823 to 1825 studied at Kunstakademie in Düsseldorf...
was published as Ferdinand Von Rayski und die Kunst des Neunzehnten Jahrhunderts. During the course of his studies, Goeritz also trained as an artist at the Kunstgewerbe- und Handwerkerschule Berlin-Charlottenberg (Berlin-Charlottenberg School of Arts and Crafts), where he studied drawing with German artists Max Kaus and Hans Orlowski. Upon completion of his doctorate, Goeritz worked at Berlin’s Nationalgalerie (National Gallery), now the Alte Nationalgalerie
Alte Nationalgalerie
The Alte Nationalgalerie in Berlin is a gallery showing a collection of Classical, Romantic, Biedermeier, Impressionist and early Modernist artwork, all of which belong to the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin. The museum is situated on Museum Island, a UNESCO-designated World Heritage Site.- Founding...
, under the supervision of nineteenth-century art specialist Paul Ortwin Rave. In early 1941, in the midst of the Second World War, Goeritz left Germany, settling first in Tetuan, Morocco
Morocco
Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...
. He and photographer Marianne Gast married in 1942, and the couple settled in Granada
Granada
Granada is a city and the capital of the province of Granada, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada mountains, at the confluence of three rivers, the Beiro, the Darro and the Genil. It sits at an elevation of 738 metres above sea...
, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
just after the war ended in 1945.
Goeritz's career as a professional artist began with his first solo exhibition at the Librería-Galería Clan in Madrid
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
in June 1946 under the pseudonym "Ma-Gó". The Goeritzs relocated to Madrid in 1947. There, Goeritz developed a close friendship with Spanish sculptor Ángel Ferrant.
In the summer of 1948, Goeritz and Ferrant traveled to visit the prehistoric paintings of the Cave of Altamira in the north of Spain, along with writer Ricardo Gullón and others. It was then that Goeritz proposed the founding of an Escuela de Altamira (Altamira School), an association of artists and writers who would meet annually near the Cave, in 1948. The Escuela de Altamira would ultimately hold two meetings, in 1949 and 1950.
Through the intervention of Mexican architect Ignacio Díaz Morales, Goeritz was offered a job teaching art history to the students of the newly founded Escuela de Arquitectura in Guadalajara, Mexico in 1949. In 1953 he first presented his "Manifiesto de la Arquitectura Emocional" (Emotional Architecture Manifesto) at the pre-inauguration of the Museo Experimental El Eco 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...
, which he designed in 1952-53. Goeritz also collaborated with Luis Barragán
Luis Barragán
Luis Barragán Morfin was a Mexican architect. He was self-trained.-Early life:Educated as an engineer, he graduated from the Escuela Libre de Ingenieros in Guadalajara in 1923 and was self-trained as an architect.After graduation, he travelled through Spain, France , and...
to make monumental abstract sculptures in reinforced concrete during the 1950s, including El animal del Pedregal(The Animal of the Pedregal, 1951) and the Torres de la Ciudad Satélite
Ciudad Satélite
Satélite is a Greater Mexico City high-class suburban area located in Naucalpan, State of Mexico. Officially the name corresponds only to the homonym neighbourhood, Ciudad Satélite, founded circa 1957...
(Towers of Satellite City, 1957).
Mathias Goeritz exhibited widely in Mexico and beyond throughout his life, and had a significant influence on younger Mexican artists such as Helen Escobedo
Helen Escobedo
Helen "Elena" Escobedo was a Mexican sculptor and installation artist. Her career as an artist spanned more than fifty years...
and Pedro Friedeberg
Pedro Friedeberg
Pedro Friedeberg is a Mexican painter.-External Links:*...
. He died in Mexico City on August 4, 1990.
Works
- El animal del Pedregal (The Animal of Pedregal, 1951), sculpture in reinforced concrete, Jardines de Pedregal de San Ángel, Mexico City.
- Los amantes (The Lovers), sculpture at the Hotel Presidente, Acapulco.
- El bailarín (The Dancer).
- La mano divina (The Divine Hand) and La mano codiciosa (The Covetous Hand), reliefs in the Iglesia de San Lorenzo, Mexico City.
- El Eco Museo Experimental ("El Eco" Experimental Museum, 1953), Mexico City.
- El Parajo Amarillo (The Yellow Bird, 1957) Colonia Jardines del BosqueJardines del BosqueThe colonia of Jardines del Bosque is located on the western part of the city of Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico.This colonia was planned by the renowned Modernist architect Luis Barragán in 1955 in the grounds of what used to be the "Santa Edwviges" woods...
, Guadalajara. - Torres de la Ciudad SatéliteCiudad SatéliteSatélite is a Greater Mexico City high-class suburban area located in Naucalpan, State of Mexico. Officially the name corresponds only to the homonym neighbourhood, Ciudad Satélite, founded circa 1957...
(Towers of Satellite City, 1957) with Luis BarragánLuis BarragánLuis Barragán Morfin was a Mexican architect. He was self-trained.-Early life:Educated as an engineer, he graduated from the Escuela Libre de Ingenieros in Guadalajara in 1923 and was self-trained as an architect.After graduation, he travelled through Spain, France , and...
. - Stained Glass windows for the cathedrals of Mexico City and CuernavacaCuernavaca CathedralThe Cathedral of the Assumption of Mary of Cuernavaca is the Roman Catholic cathedral church of the Diocese of Cuernavaca, located in the city of Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico...
, the churches of Santiago TlatelolcoTlatelolco (Mexico City)Tlatelolco is an area in the Cuauhtémoc borough of Mexico City, centered on the Plaza de las Tres Culturas, a square surrounded on three sides by an excavated Aztec archaeological site, a 17th century church called Templo de Santiago, a former convent, and office complexes that used to belong to...
and AzcapotzalcoAzcapotzalcoAzcapotzalco is one of the 16 delegaciones into which Mexico's Federal District is divided. Azcapotzalco is in the northwestern part of Mexico City...
, and the Maguén-David synagogue, Mexico City. - Coordination of the sculptures of the Ruta de la amistad (Route of Friendship), a major project of the Cultural Program of the 1968 Mexico City Olympics.
- Osa Mayor (Ursa Major, 1968), Palacio de los Deportes, Mexico City.
- Torres de Automex (Automex Towers, 1963–64), Carretera de Toluca.
- Pirámide de Mixcoac (Mixcoac Pyramid, 1971), Mexico City.
- Murals for the Arco Tower in Los AngelesLos ÁngelesLos Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, CaliforniaCaliforniaCalifornia is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, USA, 1970. - Corona de Bambi and Espacio Escultórico (Sculpture Space, 1979), Ciudad UniversitáriaCiudad UniversitariaCiudad Universitaria , Mexico, is UNAM's main campus, located in Coyoacán borough in the southern part of Mexico City. Designed by architects Mario Pani and Enrique del Moral, it encloses the Olympic Stadium, about 40 faculties and institutes, the Cultural Center, an ecological reserve, the Central...
, UNAMUnamUNAM or UNaM may refer to:* National University of Misiones, a National University in Posadas, Argentina*National Autonomous University of Mexico , the large public autonomous university based in Mexico City...
, Mexico City. - Laberinto de Jerusalén (Jerusalem Labyrinth), 1978-1980.