Gustavo Montoya

Gustavo Montoya (b. July 9, 1905 – d. July 12, 2003) was a Mexican artist considered to be a late adherent to the Mexican School of Painting, most often associated with Mexican muralism. He was born in Mexico City, from a family associated with the Porfirio Díaz regime and who had to hide during part of the Mexican Revolution. He attended the Academy of San Carlos despite his father’s objections. He later met and married artist Cordelia Urueta, with whom he lived in Paris, developing his artistic talents. He was not heavily involved in Mexico’s artistic circles but was a founding member of the Liga de Escritores y Artistas Revolucionarios and the Salón de la Plástica Mexicana. His best-selling work was that of children in regional traditional Mexican clothing, but he also painted many street scenes in Mexico City as well as portraits and still lifes.

He was born in Mexico City on July 9, 1905 to Adolfo Montoya and Concepción Carranco.

His father was part of the Porfirio Díaz government, so when that government fell at the beginning of the Mexican Revolution, the family went into hiding from Mexico City into the state of Morelos. At this time, Gustavo was only seven years old, but he remembered hearing that the Zapatistas had killed two neighboring families. To protect the family, the father moved them frequently, often going to one house at night and Gustavo waking up in another. At one point, they were at the house of a stableman, who dressed the family in their clothes. When Zapatistas came looking for them, they were told the family was not there and then bribed with a silver coin that Montoya’s mother had. After a time, Montoya’s father decided it was safe enough to return to Mexico City. The father dressed as a priest, taking advice from sympathetic people on how to look, and the family traveled in a large wagon safely.

By 1918, the war had wound down and Montoya was able to finish middle school, when he expressed the desire to become a painter. His father objected but in the end accepted, allowing Montoya to enroll in the Academy of San Carlos. Montoya entered the school at age fifteen, with Germán Gedovius and Roberto Montenegro among his teachers, painting his earliest works such as "Cabeza de viejo", "Desnudo" and "La monja". He stated that the school only taught him the “craft” of art, not the “spirit” of it and for this reason he considered himself a mostly self-taught artist.

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