Chappie Angulo (1928 – October 2, 2020) was an American-Mexican painter and illustrator whose work has been recognized with membership in Mexico’s

Salón de la Plástica Mexicana Salón de la Plástica Mexicana (Hall of Mexican Fine Art; ''SPM'') is an institution dedicated to the promotion of Mexican contemporary art. It was established in 1949 to expand the Mexican art market. Its first location was in historic center o ...

Life

Angulo was born Ruth Chapman Maruschok in the United States in 1928. In 1949, she began studying art, attending the

Los Angeles City College Los Angeles City College (LACC) is a public community college in East Hollywood, Los Angeles, California. A part of the Los Angeles Community College District, it is located on Vermont Avenue south of Santa Monica Boulevard on the former campus ...

and the

University of California Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a Normal school, teachers colle ...

. In 1954, she moved to Mexico, where she studied at the

Escuela Nacional de Pintura, Escultura y Grabado "La Esmeralda" La Esmeralda or Escuela Nacional de Pintura, Escultura y Grabado (ENPEG) (English: National School of Painting, Sculpture and Printmaking) is a Mexican art school founded in 1927 and located in Mexico City. History The history of the ENPEG start ...

. When she finished her studies there, she went to England to study at the London Art Center, spending a year and a half drawing live models and working with plaster molds. Angulo lived in the Mexican state of

Morelos Morelos (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Morelos ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Morelos), is one of the 32 states which comprise the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 36 municipalities and its capital city is Cu ...

. She died on October 2, 2020.

Career

Angulo began her art career in 1957 collaborating with what was then called the Museo de Arqueología y Etnografía, located in the

historic center of Mexico City The historic center of Mexico City ( es, Centro Histórico de la Ciudad de México), also known as the Centro or Centro Histórico, is the central neighborhood in Mexico City, Mexico, focused on Zócalo or main plaza and extending in all directio ...

. Here she created reproductions of various pre Hispanic murals such as those of

Bonampak Bonampak (known anciently as ''Ak'e'' or, in its immediate area as ''Usiij Witz'', 'Vulture Hill') is an ancient Maya archaeological site in the Mexican state of Chiapas. The site is approximately south of the larger site of the people Yaxchilan ...

and

Chichen Itza Chichen Itza , es, Chichén Itzá , often with the emphasis reversed in English to ; from yua, Chiʼchʼèen Ìitshaʼ () "at the mouth of the well of the Itza people" was a large pre-Columbian city built by the Maya people of the Termi ...

. When the museum moved and became the

National Anthropology Museum The National Museum of Anthropology ( es, Museo Nacional de Antropología, MNA) is a national museum of Mexico. It is the largest and most visited museum in Mexico. Located in the area between Paseo de la Reforma and Mahatma Gandhi Street within ...

Chapultepec Park Chapultepec, more commonly called the "Bosque de Chapultepec" (Chapultepec Forest) in Mexico City, is one of the largest city parks in Mexico, measuring in total just over 686 hectares (1,695 acres). Centered on a rock formation called Chapultep ...

, much of her work was moved with it and still can be seen at the institution. Others can be found at the

Teotihuacan Teotihuacan (Spanish: ''Teotihuacán'') (; ) is an ancient Mesoamerican city located in a sub-valley of the Valley of Mexico, which is located in the State of Mexico, northeast of modern-day Mexico City. Teotihuacan is known today as the ...

Museum. Her first art exhibition was held in

Monterrey Monterrey ( , ) is the capital and largest city of the northeastern state of Nuevo León, Mexico, and the third largest city in Mexico behind Guadalajara and Mexico City. Located at the foothills of the Sierra Madre Oriental, the city is ancho ...

in 1959. Since then, she has had over twenty individual exhibitions of her work and has participated in over 100 in Mexico and abroad. Major exhibitions include those at the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, ...

(1967, 1970),

Palacio de Bellas Artes The Palacio de Bellas Artes (Palace of Fine Arts) is a prominent cultural center in Mexico City. It has hosted notable events in music, dance, theatre, opera and literature in Mexico and has held important exhibitions of painting, sculpture and p ...

(Confrontación ’68), Olympic Cultural Program (1969), and the Museo Fronterizo in

Ciudad Juarez Ciudad () is the Spanish word for City Ciudad may also refer to: *La Ciudad (archaeological site), Hohokam ruins in Phoenix, Arizona *La Ciudad, district of Durango City, Mexico *''La ciudad'', novel by Mario Levrero 1970 *La Ciudad ''The City'' ...

(1971). Angulo’s work can be found the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, the Iguala Art Museum and the

Museo Universitario Arte Contemporáneo The Museo Universitario Arte Contemporáneo ("University Museum of Contemporary Art"), also known as MUAC, is a large contemporary art museum located within the main campus of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). It opened in Novem ...

. As an illustrator her work has been published in a number of books, mostly related to the pre Hispanic history of Mexico. These include ''Teotihuacan-un autoretrato cultural'' (1964), ''Tlalmanalli – encomtrade en Tlatelolco'' (1966), ''Relieves de Chalcatzingo'' (1973), ''El Amanecer'' (1973), ''El Museo de Cuahtetelco : guia oficial'' (1978) and ''El Museo Cuauhnahuac en el Palacio de Cortés : recopilación histórico-arqueológica del proceso de cambio en el Edo. de Morelos'' (1979). Her work has been recognized with membership in the Salón de la Plástica Mexicana.

Artistry

Her early work was figurative but over time she eventually evolved towards the abstract, especially after 1969. She began to experiment with various styles and techniques that include handmade paper,

monotype Monotyping is a type of printmaking made by drawing or painting on a smooth, non-absorbent surface. The surface, or matrix, was historically a copper etching plate, but in contemporary work it can vary from zinc or glass to acrylic glass. The i ...

, photography, collage, tapestries and more. Her preferred media is acrylics.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Angulo, Chappie 1928 births 2020 deaths American emigrants to Mexico 20th-century Mexican painters Mexican male painters 21st-century Mexican painters University of California, Los Angeles alumni Escuela Nacional de Pintura, Escultura y Grabado "La Esmeralda" alumni 20th-century Mexican male artists 21st-century Mexican male artists