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Gallery Artists Back
Jose Luis Cuevas
Born in Mexico City in 1934. He lives and works in both Mexico City and Paris.
By the age of fourteen, he had illustrated numerous periodicals and books and had had this first exhibition in Mexico City. In 1953, Cuevas published La Cortina del Nopal (The Cactus Curtain), an article condemning aspects of the Mexican Mural movement and advocating greater artistic freedom.
This philosophy inspired the founding in 1960 of the group Nueva Presencia, which he joined for a brief time. It promoted individual expression and figurative art reflecting the contemporary human condition. Cuevas' work was influenced by the graphic art of Goya and Picasso as well as by Posada and Orozco, whose representation of deformed creatures, degraded humanity and prostitutes were of particular thematic interest.
Intellectual - Controversial - Literary - all accurate descriptions of Jose Luis Cuevas and his work. The inquisitive and fertile mind of this prolific artist has produced a legacy of work that places him among the truly great artists of Mexico and establishes his international credentials as one of the outstanding draftsmen of this century.
The delicacy of his line and the subtle tonalities of his washed add to the fleeting contacts of reality that pervade the artist's work. Carlos Fuentes in his book on Cuevas, states "the figures of Jose Luis Cuevas are at war with themselves, with their own appearance. The artist, with great wisdom, divests color of its brightness; an ochre atmosphere, the light of dead stars, blacks and greys, sensitive paleness that permeate by diffusing; colors representing the moment of transfiguration; dawns and sunsets, death and madness, orgasm. It is only this decisive color which allows the profound aspect of Cuevas' art to be perceived without losing its mystery; appearances are about to be resolved by apparition or disappearance."
1955 prima mostra personale a Parigi, alla Galerie Loeb
1956 mostre personali alla Galerie Proteo, Mexico, e al Palazzo delle Belle Arti a l'Avana
1957 mostre personali al Musee de la Napoule (Alpi Marittime) e al Metropolitan Museum di New York con Calder, Stuart Davis e Morris Graves; inizia una serie di articoli contro il muralismo messicano; esegue alcuni disegni su New York per "Life"; mostra personale alla Aenlle Gallery di New York
1960 il Philadelphia Museum gli acquista 71 disengni; mostra personale alla Galeria Souza, Mexico, alla David Herbert di New York e all Silvane Simone di Los Angeles; restrospettiva all'Art Center di Fort Worth, Texas
1975 mostre personali al San Diego Museum of Art, California, al Phoenix Art Museum, Arizona, a San Francisco e a Basilea; la Biennale di San Paolo gli dedica una sala; viaggia negli Stati Uniti e tiene conferenze al Fullerton College di Los Angeles, alla Washington University di Seattle, e alla Austin University, Texas; espone a Stoccolma, Varsavia, Bruxelles
1977 mostra personale alla Estudio Actual di Caracas, retrospettiva al Musee des Beaux Arts di Chartres, mostra personale alla Galerie de Seine, Paris
Collections
Museum of Modern Art, New York
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York
Brooklyn Museum, New York
Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia
The Phillips Collection, Washinton
Pan American Union Art Collection, Washington
Art Institute, Chicago
Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute, Utica, New York
Worcester Art Museum, Worcester
Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara
Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas
Museum of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
The Art Center of Milwaukee
Museum of the University of California, Los Angeles
Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto
Museum of Art of Tel-Aviv, Tel-Aviv
National Museum of Bezalel, Jerusalem
Museo de Bellas Artes, Caracas
Museo de Arte Moderno, Bogota
Biblioteca Luis-Angel Arango, Bogota
Museo de Cartagena, Cartagena
Museo de Barranquilla, Baranquilla
Museo de Arte MOderno, Sao Paulo
Instituto de Arte Contemporaneo, Lima
Museo Nacional de Pintura, La Paz
Fine Arts Gallery, San Diego
Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix
Museo de Arte Moderno, Mexico
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"Portrait and Self Portrait" (1978)
Etching - aquatint drypoint
13.5 x 19.75 |
"Autoritratto" (1977)
Etching
9.7 x 7.8 |
"Autoritratto" (1977)
Etching
9.7 x 7.8 |
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"Autoritratto" (1977)
Etching
9.7 x 7.8 |
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