Ramón Alva de la Canal (b. 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...

, August 29, 1892 – d. Mexico City, April 4, 1985) was a Mexican

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 and illustrator.

Biography

Alva studied at the Academia de San Carlos, and assisted Alfredo Ramos Martínez

Alfredo Ramos Martínez

Alfredo Ramos Martínez was a painter and muralist who lived and worked in Mexico, Paris, and Los Angeles...

 in his open-air painting school in Santa Anita, Iztacalco

Iztacalco

Iztacalco is one of the 16 delegaciones into which Mexico's Federal District is divided. It is located in the center-east of the district and is the smallest of the city’s boroughs. The area’s history began in 1309 when the island of Iztacalco, in what was Lake Texcoco, was settled in 1309 by the...

 borough of Mexico City. After 1920 he taught painting at the Academia de San Carlos, and he became member of the Sindicato de Pintores. In 1922 he painted the first fresco

Fresco

Fresco is any of several related mural painting types, executed on plaster on walls or ceilings. The word fresco comes from the Greek word affresca which derives from the Latin word for "fresh". Frescoes first developed in the ancient world and continued to be popular through the Renaissance...

 of the 20th century in Mexico at the Colegio Grande, entitled “The Spanish Landing and Planting of the Cross on New Land”, and studied woodcut

Woodcut

Woodcut—occasionally known as xylography—is a relief printing artistic technique in printmaking in which an image is carved into the surface of a block of wood, with the printing parts remaining level with the surface while the non-printing parts are removed, typically with gouges...

 techniques under Jean Charlot

Jean Charlot

Louis Henri Jean Charlot was a French painter and illustrator, active in Mexico and the United States. Charlot was born in Paris. His father, Henri, owned an import-export business and was a Russian-born émigré, albeit one who supported the Bolshevik cause. His mother Anna was herself an artist...

. Together with others, he founded the ¡30-30!

¡30-30!

"¡30-30!" was a Mexican artists' group of revolutionary anti-academic painters, that took its name from the .30-30 Winchester rifle. The group existed from 1928 to 1930, and had around about 30 members...

 group in 1928, and became member of the "Estridentistas" movement, a group of artists and intellectuals, that coined the term of Stridentism

Stridentism

Stridentism was an artistic and multidisciplinary avant-garde movement, founded in Mexico City by Manuel Maples Arce at the end of 1921 but formally developed in Xalapa where all the founders moved after the University of Veracruz granted its support for the movement...

 (Estridentismo).. Alva lectured at several schools, especially at schools of the Secretaría de Educación Pública

Secretaría de Educación Pública

The Secretaría de Educación Pública is a Mexican federal government authority with Cabinet representation and responsibility for overseeing the development and implementation of national educational policy and school standards in Mexico.Additionally, it has the following responsibilities:*Creation...

 (SEP), and became director of the sulpture school of the Universidad Veracruzana

Universidad Veracruzana

Universidad Veracruzana a public autonomous university located in the Mexican state of Veracruz. Established in 1944, the university is one of the most important in the south-east region of México and has a good projection in all México...

, Xalapa

Xalapa

Xalapa-Enríquez, commonly Xalapa or Jalapa, is the capital city of the Mexican state of Veracruz and the name of the surrounding municipality. In the year 2005 census the city reported a population of 387,879 and the municipality of which it serves as municipal seat reported a population of...

, at almost 60 years. His works include book illustrations, murals and panel paintings. He also word as scenic painter

Scenic painting

Theatrical scenic painting includes wide-ranging disciplines, encompassing virtually the entire scope of painting and craft techniques. An experienced scenic painter will have skills in landscape painting, figurative painting, trompe l'oeil, and faux finishing, be versatile in different media such...

, and became member of the Academia de Artes

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...

 in 1981.

In 1989 Javier Audirac filmed a documentary about him..