The Academy of San Carlos ( es, Academia de San Carlos) is located at 22 Academia Street in just northeast of the main plaza of

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...

. It was the first major

art academy An art school is an educational institution with a primary focus on the visual arts, including fine art – especially illustration, painting, photography, sculpture, and graphic design. Art schools can offer elementary, secondary, post-second ...

and the first

art museum An art museum or art gallery is a building or space for the display of art, usually from the museum's own collection. It might be in public or private ownership and may be accessible to all or have restrictions in place. Although primarily co ...

in the

Americas The Americas, which are sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North America, North and South America. The Americas make up most of the land in Earth's Western Hemisphere and comprise the New World. ...

. It was founded in 1781 as the School of Engraving and moved to the Academia Street location about 10 years later. It emphasized classical European training until the early 20th century, when it shifted to a more modern perspective. At this time, it also integrated with the National Autonomous University of Mexico, eventually becoming the Faculty of Arts and Design, which is based in Xochimilco. Currently, only graduate courses of the modern school are given in the original academy building.

History

The Academy of San Carlos was founded in 1783, being the first arts academy established in America in 1783, with European teachers, and bright students. In 1540 the building was built in order to create the first hospital for people with syphilis. Its name was "Hospital del Amor de Dios", and was closed in 1783 in order to fuse itself with the hospital of San Andrés in the old college of Jesuits on Tacuba street. , a famous engraver, established in 1778 an engraving school by the order of King Carlos VI. It was so successful that with his partner, Fernando José Mangino, decided to create a new academy that teaches painting, sculpture and architecture. Finally, in 1781 classes started on the Real Casa de Moneda thanks to the donations of rich people, churches, the Tribunal of Trade and the states of Veracruz, Queretaro, Guanajuato, Cordoba and Orizaba. The school's first director, Italian Jeronimo Antonio Gil, was appointed by Carlos III and gathered prominent artists of the day including José de Alcíbar, Santiago Sandoval, Juan Sáenz, Manuel Tolsá and Rafael Ximeno y Planes. Tolsá and Ximeno would later stay on to become directors of the school. The new school began to promote Neoclassicism, focusing on Greek and Roman art and architecture, advocating European-style training of its artists. To this end, plaster casts of classic Greek and Roman statues were brought to Mexico from Europe for students to study. The Royal Card of establishment was issued on December 25 of 1783. It was asked by the viceroy Martín de Mayorga to the King Carlos III. They choose San Carlos as patron saint. On November 4 of 1785, courses were officially started in the Academy of the Noble Arts of San Carlos of the New Spain. In 1788, the Academy of San Fernando in Spain sent some teachers like the famous Manuel Tolsá who was in charge of architecture and sculpture. Aspirations of growing up were so big, that they even tried to afford the building that Tolsá was designing on Nilpantongo Street, but it was way too expensive and it was paid by the Royal Seminar of Mining. Without a building of their own, the Academy asked for the forsaken one of the Hospital Amor de Dios and finally in 1787 they started classes there. Since its founding, it attracted the country's best artists, and was a force behind the abandonment of the

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including ...

style in Mexico, which had already gone out-of-fashion in Europe. In the early 19th century, the academy was closed for a short time due to the

Mexican War of Independence The Mexican War of Independence ( es, Guerra de Independencia de México, links=no, 16 September 1810 – 27 September 1821) was an armed conflict and political process resulting in Mexico's independence from Spain. It was not a single, co ...

. When it reopened, it was renamed the National Academy of San Carlos and enjoyed the new government's preference for Neoclassicism, as it considered the Baroque reminiscent of colonialism. Despite the school's association with the independent Mexican government, Emperor Maximilian I (installed in Mexico by the French) protected the school during his reign, although foreign artists were shunned there. When Benito Juárez ousted the emperor and regained the presidency of Mexico, he was reluctant to support the school and its European influence, which he considered to be a vestige of colonialism. The academy continued to advocate classic, European-style training of its artists until 1913. In that year, a student and teacher strike advocating a more modern approach ousted director Antonio Rivas Mercado. It was also partially integrated into University of Mexico (now UNAM) at that time, although it initially kept a large degree of autonomy. In 1929, the architecture program was separated from the rest of the academy, and in 1953, this department was moved to the newly built campus of UNAM in the south of the city. The remaining programs in painting, sculpture and engraving were renamed National School of Expressive Arts Escuela Nacional de Artes Plásticas. Later, the undergraduate fine arts programs were moved to a facility in Xochimilco, leaving only some graduate programs in the original Academy of San Carlos building.

Alumni and associated artists

Some of its most famous first teachers included Miguel Constanzó in architecture, José Joaquín Fabregat in metal engraving, Rafael Ximeno y Planes in painting and Manuel Tolsá in sculpture. Another notable teacher here was Pelegrí Clavé, who was noted for his expertise in creating portraits of heroes and biblical figures.

Catalan Catalan may refer to: Catalonia From, or related to Catalonia: * Catalan language, a Romance language * Catalans, an ethnic group formed by the people from, or with origins in, Northern or southern Catalonia Places * 13178 Catalan, asteroid #1 ...

Antonio Fabres was a dominant force at the Academy during the early 20th century. He would mentor later Mexican artists such as Saturnino Herrán, Roberto Montenegro, Diego Rivera and

José Clemente Orozco José Clemente Orozco (November 23, 1883 – September 7, 1949) was a Mexican caricaturist and painter, who specialized in political murals that established the Mexican Mural Renaissance together with murals by Diego Rivera, David Alfaro Si ...

. José María Velasco is considered the greatest artist associated with the Academy, famous for his landscapes of the Valley of Mexico and a mentor of Diego Rivera. Other artists linked to the Academy are

Manuel Rodríguez Lozano Manuel Rodríguez Lozano (December 4, 1896 – March 27, 1971) was a List of Mexican artists, Mexican painter, known for his “melancholy” depiction of Mexico rather than the more dominant political or festive one of the Mexican muralism movem ...

Alfredo Zalce Alfredo Zalce Torres (12 January 1908 – 19 January 2003) was a Mexican artist and contemporary of Diego Rivera, David Siqueiros and other better-known muralists. He worked principally as a painter, sculptor, and engraver, also taught, and ...

, Andrés José López, José Chávez Morado, Francisco Moreno Capdevila, Luis Sahagún Cortés,

Gabriel Fernández Ledesma Gabriel Fernández Ledesma (May 30, 1900 – August 26, 1983) was a Mexican painter, printmaker, sculptor, graphic artist, writer and teacher. He began his career working with artist Roberto Montenegro then moved into publishing and education ...

Roberto de la Selva Nicaraguan-born Roberto de la Selva (1895–1957) was an artist who moved to Mexico City in 1921 as a protest against U.S. military occupation. He was an associate of Diego Rivera and the brother of poet Salomón de la Selva. His work may be see ...

and

Jorge Figueroa Acosta Jorge Figueroa Acosta is a Mexican painter and sculptor born (April 23, 1942) in Cananea, Sonora, Mexico. He studied at the National School of Plastic Arts Academy of San Carlos, regarded as the best school of arts in Mexico, of the National Aut ...

Matusha Corkidi Matusha Corkidi (1922–1987) was a Mexican sculptor of Egyptian birth. Born in Cairo, Egypt in 1922. Corkidi studied at the Academy of San Carlos The Academy of San Carlos ( es, Academia de San Carlos) is located at 22 Academia Street in just ...

studied at the Academy after emigrating from Egypt. Mexican muralist

Elena Huerta Muzquiz Elena Huerta Múzquiz, also known as Elena Huerta de Arenal (born July 15, 1908 – death 1997) was a Mexican artist, she was best known for her mural work in her hometown of Saltillo, Coahuila, Mexico. Most of her art career was dedicated to tea ...

and her daughter

Electa Arenal Electa Arenal, born as Elena Electa Arenal y Huerta, (May 16, 1935 – June 12, 1969) was a Mexican artist, known best as a muralist painter, and sculptor. Early life and education Elena Electa Arenal y Huerta was born on May 16, 1935, in Mexi ...

, both attended the school.

Architects

A number of important nineteenth-century architects studied at the Academy, including Juan (b. 1825) and Ramón Agea (b. 1828), who were sent to Rome by the Academy to study with Cippolla. They sent back sketches of Roman monuments that served as models for Academy students. They went on to be professors at the Academy as well as working architects in Mexico City. They completed the Monument to Cuauhtémoc on Paseo de la Reforma after the death of the engineer in charge. Another notable graduate (1863) is architect Manuel Francisco Álvarez, who was also a civil engineer. Álvarez was a city counsellor (''regidor'') of the capital, president of the Asociación de Ingenieros y Arquitectos, a founding member of the ''Asociación Francesa para el Desarrollo de la Enseñanza Técnica, Industrial y Comercial''; director of the Escuela Nacional de Artes y Oficios; and a member of the Academy of France, and author of many books on architecture.Katzman,''Arquitectura del siglo XIX en México'' p. 267

Building

The building originally was as the Amor de Dios Hospital, which had closed by the time the School of Engraving decided to move there from the mint building. Founding director Gerónimo Antonio Gil took charge of the restoration and remodeling work. Artist

Javier Cavallari Francesco Saverio Cavallari (1809 or 2 March 1810–1896), also known in Mexico as Javier Cavallari, was an architect, professor, painter and archeologist. He was active in Mexico City between 1857 and 1864. Cavallari was born in Palermo, Sic ...

created the Academy's Neoclassic facade, which is embellished with six medallions. Four of these represent the Academy's founders: Carlos III, Carlos IV, Gerónimo Antonio Gil and Fernando José Manguino, and the other two are of Michelangelo and

Raphael Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino, better known as Raphael (; or ; March 28 or April 6, 1483April 6, 1520), was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. His work is admired for its clarity of form, ease of composition, and visual ...

. Cavallari also finished the patio, the conference room and the painting and sculpture galleries. The painting gallery contains portraits by Ramon Sagredo and the sculpture room contains works by José Obregón and Manuel Ocaranza. A number of plaster casts of classic statues from the San Fernando Fine Arts Academy in Spain were brought here for teaching purposes. These casts still exist and can be seen on display in the Academy's central patio. Some of these statues include casts of statues from the

Medici The House of Medici ( , ) was an Italian banking family and political dynasty that first began to gather prominence under Cosimo de' Medici, in the Republic of Florence during the first half of the 15th century. The family originated in the Mu ...

tombs, ''Moses'' by Michelangelo, the '' Winged Victory of Samothrace'' and '' Venus de Milo''.

Gallery

The academy once had a very large collection of art in the Gallery of the San Carlos Academy, considered the first museum of art in the Americas. Its art collection began with plaster casts of original Greek, Roman and European works used as teaching aids. It also gained other European works such as engravings from the 16th to 19th centuries from Spain, France, England, Italy, Germany, and Holland. The school also collected works from students and teachers from its founding to beginning of the 20th century. However, the collection outgrew the original academy building as it received donations from private sources and purchases made by the Mexican government after independence. The collection was divided, some going to the Museo Universitario de la Academia, also in the historic center of town, some going to the

National Museum of San Carlos The Museo Nacional de San Carlos ( en, National Museum of San Carlos) is a Mexican national art museum devoted to European art, located in the Cuauhtémoc borough in Mexico City. The museum is housed in the Palace of the Count of Buenavista, a n ...

, northeast of the historic center and the other part remaining in the original building.

References

External links

* {{authority control Museums in Mexico City Contemporary art galleries in Mexico Historic center of Mexico City Buildings and structures in Mexico City Universities in Mexico City Landmarks in Mexico City National Monuments of Mexico Defunct hospitals in Mexico Mexican art Mexican culture Plaster cast collections 1781 establishments in New Spain 1780s establishments in Mexico Art museums established in 1781 18th century in Mexico 19th century in Mexico Colonial Mexico Neoclassical architecture in Mexico 1540s establishments in Mexico Hospitals established in the 16th century Hospitals disestablished in 1783