José Chávez Morado
| José Chávez Morado | |
|---|---|
| Born |
January 4, 1909 Silao, Guanajuato |
| Died | December 1, 2002 (aged 93) Guanajuato, Guanajuato |
| Nationality | Mexican |
| Education | Chouinard Art Institute, Academy of San Carlos |
| Known for | Painting, sculpture, printmaking |
| Notable work |
|
| Movement | Mexican muralism, Escuela Mexicana de Pintura |
| Awards | Premio Nacional de Artes 1974 |
José Chávez Morado (4 January 1909 – 1 December 2002) was a Mexican artist who was associated with the Mexican muralism movement of the 20th century. His generation followed that of Diego Rivera, José Clemente Orozco and David Alfaro Siqueiros. Although Chávez Morado took classes in California and Mexico, he is considered to be mostly self-taught. He experimented with various materials, and was an early user of Italian mosaic in monumental works. His major works include murals at the Ciudad Universitaria, Secretaría de Comunicaciones y Transportes and Museo Nacional de Antropología in Mexico City as well as frescos at the Alhóndiga de Granaditas, which took twelve years to paint. From the 1940s on, he also worked as a cultural promoter, establishing a number of cultural institutions especially in his home state of Guanajuato including the Museo de Arte Olga Costa - José Chávez Morado, named after himself and his wife, artist Olga Costa.
Chávez Morado was born on 4 January 1909 in Silao, Guanajuato, shortly before the outbreak of the Mexican Revolution. His father was a merchant, José Ignacio Chávez Montes de Oca; his mother was Luz Morado Cabrera. He came from a modest family; however, his grandfather was in possession of a private library of over 5,000 volumes which had been collected by his grandparents and great grandparents. The illustrations in those books provided the child with his first exposure to art; when he was small, he spent time copying them, especially illustrations from La Ilustración Española.
His mother died when he was a teenager, and at age 16, he began to work at the Silao electrical company, Compañia de Luz. He lost this job when he drew a caricature of his boss. He then went to work at the national railway company, Ferrocarriles Nacionales de México, which allowed him to travel some of the Mexican countryside. In 1925 he emigrated to the United States, where he worked on citrus farms in California and even went to Alaska to work in salmon fishing on the island of Tonepek. During this time he still drew, mostly likenesses of his coworkers. He returned to California from Alaska, taking various jobs to be able to take classes at the Chouinard School of Arts. At this time he met José Clemente Orozco who was painting the mural “Prometeo” at Pomona College.
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