Erasto Cortés Juárez

Erasto Cortés Juárez (August 26, 1900 – December 8, 1972) was a Mexican artist and a founding member of the Salón de la Plástica Mexicana.

He was born in Tepeaca, Puebla to Reynaldo Cortés and Soledad Juárez. In 1916, he entered the Academy of San Carlos in Mexico City, then the Escuela de Pintura al Aire Libre in Coyoacán in 1922. He spent much of his career teaching art at the Escuela Nacional de Artes Plásticas and the Escuela Nacional de Pintura, Escultura y Grabado "La Esmeralda" in 1922. His classmates included Jean Charlot, Federico Cantú and Gabriel Fernández Ledesma.

In addition to his career as an engraver and artist, he also collected engravings produced by fellow artists and students.

He was married to Consuelo Arellano.

He died from a heart attack in Mexico City at age 72.

He did not begin to work in prints, what he is known for, until the age of 48. He worked with other artists such as Fernández Ledesma to bring about what has been called the "Renaissance of printmaking in Mexico."

His political and artistic activity led him to be a member of various organizations including Grupo 30-30 (with which he had his first collective exhibition), Lucha Intellectual Proletaria, the Liga de Escritores y Aritistas Revolucionarios (LEAR), Taller de Gráfica Popular, Núcleo de Grabadores Poblanos and the Academia de Artes along with being a founder of the Salón de la Plástica Mexicana.

Cortés Juárez was also a teacher, starting in 1923 and continuing until 1956, giving classes at the Escuela Nacional de Pintura y Escultura "La Esmeralda" as well as the Escuela Nacional de Artes Plásticas.

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