Arnold Belkin
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Arnold Belkin (December 9, 1930 – July 3, 1992) was a Canadian- Mexican painter credited for continuing the
Mexican muralism Mexican muralism refers to the art project initially funded by the Mexican government in the immediate wake of the Mexican Revolution (1910–1920) to depict visions of Mexico's past, present, and future, transforming the walls of many public buil ...
tradition at a time when many Mexican painters were shifting away from it. Born and raised in western Canada, he trained as an artist there but was not drawn to traditional Canadian art. Instead he was inspired by images of
Diego Rivera Diego Rivera (; December 8, 1886 – November 24, 1957) was a Mexican painter. His large frescoes helped establish the Mexican muralism, mural movement in Mexican art, Mexican and international art. Between 1922 and 1953, Rivera painted mural ...
's work in a magazine to move to Mexico when he was only eighteen. He studied further in Mexico, focusing his education and his career mostly on murals, creating a type of work he called a "portable mural" as a way to adapt it to new architectural style. He also had a successful career creating canvas works as well with several notable series of paintings. He spent most of his life and career in Mexico except for a stay in New York City in the late 1960s to mid-1970s. His best known works are the murals he created for the University Autónoma Metropolitana in the Iztapalapa borough of Mexico City.


Life

Belkin was born on December 9, 1930, with the name Arnold Lewis Belken Greenberg in
Calgary Calgary () is a major city in the Canadian province of Alberta. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806 making it the third-largest city and fifth-largest metropolitan area in C ...
,
Alberta Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...
. His father was a Russian Jewish immigrant who became prominent in the
Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...
Jewish community when the family moved there shortly after Belkin's birth. His mother was a Jewish immigrant from England. He began drawing and painting at an early age. His parents were socialist, which would affect his later artwork, giving him an harshal in social issues and the rights of the underprivileged. He began formal art training at the Vancouver School of Art, studying there from 1945 to 1947. At age 15, Belkin won first place an art contest with the Labor Arts Guild in
British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...
with the painting "Workers on a Streetcar." From 1947 to 1948 he studied at the Banff School of Fine Arts. During his training, Belkin was not drawn to traditional Canadian painting which was heavily focused on landscapes. At age 14 he discovered the work of Diego Rivera and Mexican muralism from
Time magazine ''Time'' (stylized in all caps as ''TIME'') is an American news magazine based in New York City. It was published weekly for nearly a century. Starting in March 2020, it transitioned to every other week. It was first published in New York Cit ...
. He discovery of contemporary Mexican art made a great impact and in 1948 at the age of eighteen, he left Canada to move to Mexico. He enrolled into the Escuela Nacional de Pintura, Escultura y Grabado "La Esmeralda" from 1948 to 1949, studying with Agustín Lazo, Carlos Orozco Romero and Andrés Sánchez Flores. In Mexico City, he was surrounded by the mural work of the first half of the 20th century, with its emphasis on class struggle and oppression. At La Esmeralda, he focused on this kind of painting, being influenced by the work of José Clemente Orozco, Rico Lebrun and
Leonard Baskin Leonard Baskin (August 15, 1922 – June 3, 2000) was an American sculptor, draughtsman and graphic artist, as well as founder of the Gehenna Press (1942–2000). One of America's first fine arts presses, it went on to become "one of the most imp ...
. In 1950 he traveled to various parts of Mexico, especially the
Isthmus of Tehuantepec The Isthmus of Tehuantepec () is an isthmus in Mexico. It represents the shortest distance between the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific Ocean. Before the opening of the Panama Canal, it was a major overland transport route known simply as the T ...
. From this trip, he wrote a script for a radio documentary on the region's music, customs and legends, produced by
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (), branded as CBC/Radio-Canada, is the Canadian Public broadcasting, public broadcaster for both radio and television. It is a Crown corporation that serves as the national public broadcaster, with its E ...
. In the same year, he met
David Alfaro Siqueiros David Alfaro Siqueiros (born José de Jesús Alfaro Siqueiros; December 29, 1896 – January 6, 1974) was a Mexican social realist painter, best known for his large public murals using the latest in equipment, materials and technique. Along with ...
, forming both a personal and professional relationship. He was an assistant on two murals from that time ''Patricios y Patricidas'' at the former customs building in Santo Domingo along with the ''Cuauhtémoc'' mural at the
Palacio de Bellas Artes The Palacio de Bellas Artes (Palace of Fine Arts) is a prominent cultural center in Mexico City. It hosts performing arts events, literature events and plastic arts galleries and exhibitions (including important permanent Mexican murals). "Bella ...
from 1950 to 1951. The experience not only influence his style but also taught him the level of quality expected in Mexican muralism. In the early 1950s he joined the Taller de Ensayo de Materiales y Plásticos run by Prof. José L. Gutíerrez at the Instituto Politecnico Nacional, participating in the creation of various collective murals. From 1954 to 1956, he studied
engraving Engraving is the practice of incising a design on a hard, usually flat surface by cutting grooves into it with a Burin (engraving), burin. The result may be a decorated object in itself, as when silver, gold, steel, or Glass engraving, glass ar ...
in metal with Lola Cueto at Mexico City College and
lithography Lithography () is a planographic method of printing originally based on the miscibility, immiscibility of oil and water. The printing is from a stone (lithographic limestone) or a metal plate with a smooth surface. It was invented in 1796 by ...
from the Escuela de Artes del Libro with Pedro Castelar Baez. He also participated in the workshop of Guillermo Silva Santamaría where he met Francisco Icaza and Leonel Góngora. Belkin spent most of the rest of his life in Mexico, except for a trip to Europe and a number of years spent in New York City in the 1970s, connecting with American painters such as
Omar Rayo Omar Rayo Reyes (January 20, 1928 – June 7, 2010) was a renowned Colombian painter, sculptor, caricaturist and plastic artist. He won the 1970 Salón de Artistas Colombianos. Rayo worked with abstract geometry primarily employing black, white ...
, Rodolfo Abularach, Cesar Paternosto and Rubens Gerchman . For
Expo 67 The 1967 International and Universal Exposition, commonly known as Expo 67, was a general exhibition from April 28 to October 29, 1967. It was a category one world's fair held in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is considered to be one of the most s ...
in
Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...
, he represented Mexico rather than Canada. He returned to Mexico to stay in 1976, becoming a naturalized citizen in 1981. He was married once, to dancer Esperanza Gómez with whom he had two daughters. After they divorced, he had numerous relationships but did not remarry or have more children. At the time of his death, his partner was Patricia Quijano, and he had one grandchild. Belkin died in Mexico City on July 3, 1992, from lung cancer at age 61. He was buried at the Panteón Judio in Mexico City with honors.


Career

Belkin's career spanned more than three decades, during which time he produced 28 major public murals, various smaller ones, with about ninety individual exhibitions and over fifty collective ones in Mexico and abroad and designed sets and costumes for forty Mexican stage productions, as well as other activities.


Murals

After graduating from La Esmeralda, Belkin began to work at the Taller de Ensayo de Materiales y Plasticos belonging to José L. Gutierrez. With this group he worked on various collective murals as well as his first individual mural called ''¡El pueblo no quiere la guerra!'' in 1950, a fresco painted at the Instituto Politécnico Nacional, since destroyed. During the rest of the decade, he painted a number of murals in various parts of the country. In 1952 he painted ''Canto a la tierra'', several fresco panels based on poems by Nezahualcoyotl at the Banco de Monterrey. In 1956 he painted ''La bahía de Acapulco'' at the Hotel Continental Hilton in Mexico City which was destroyed by the 1985 earthquake. In the same year, he painted ''Figuras de Tlatilco'' at a private home in
Xalapa Xalapa or Jalapa (, ), officially Xalapa-Enríquez (), is the capital city of the Mexico, Mexican List of states of Mexico, state of Veracruz and the name of the surrounding municipality. In 2020 census the city reported a population of 443,063 ...
,
Veracruz Veracruz, formally Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave, is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the 32 Political divisions of Mexico, Federal Entit ...
. In 1957 he painted the mural ''Escenas de Don Quijote'' at the La Casa de Piedra in
Cuernavaca Cuernavaca (; , "near the woods" , Otomi language, Otomi: ) is the capital and largest city of the Mexican state, state of Morelos in Mexico. Along with Chalcatzingo, it is likely one of the origins of the Mesoamerica, Mesoamerican civilizatio ...
. From 1960 to 1961 he painted a mural on a federal prison in Mexico City called ''Todos somos culpables''. This tells the story of a criminal committing crime, getting caught and punished but from a social worker point of view rather than a law-and-order one. In 1963 he painted a mural at the Centro Pedagóogico Infantil called ''A nuestra generación corresponde decidir''. However, it was later painted over by the director of Child Services, wife of President
Adolfo López Mateos Adolfo López Mateos (; 26 May 1909 – 22 September 1969) was a Mexican politician and lawyer who served as President of Mexico from 1958 to 1964. Previously, he served as Secretariat of Labor and Social Welfare, Secretary of Labor and Social ...
because it was considered to be "too sad." In 1966 he created the mural ''Las festivades judías'' for the Kehila Ashkenazi in Mexico City. The building of the Kehila was torn down due to severe damage caused by the earthquake of 2017 and its whereabouts are unknown. From the late 1960s to mid-1970s, Belkin lived and worked in New York City. One major mural done here was a wall in Hell's Kitchen measuring almost 40,000 square feet from 1972 to 1973. To complete the extremely large project, he enlisted help from anyone willing to be taught. The result was ''Against Domestic Colonialism'' belonging not only to the artist but the community. Over the decades, this mural has escaped most of the
graffiti Graffiti (singular ''graffiti'', or ''graffito'' only in graffiti archeology) is writing or drawings made on a wall or other surface, usually without permission and within public view. Graffiti ranges from simple written "monikers" to elabor ...
that covers most other surfaces in the area. He painted a number of other murals in the New York City area. In 1971 he was artist-in-residence at the
Lock Haven University of Pennsylvania Commonwealth University-Lock Haven (LHU) is a public university in Lock Haven, Pennsylvania, United States. It is part of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE). The main campus covers and the branch campus in Clearfield, Pe ...
. He also painted ''Epimiteo'' on the cafeteria walls of Dumont High School in
New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...
in 1973. When he returned to Mexico, he continued to paint murals. From 1978 to 1979 he created ''La migración sefardí'' en México at the Centro Social Monte Sinaí in Mexico City. In 1981 he painted ''A través de la technología'' for the Colegio de Ingenieros Mecánicos y Electricistas. In the 1980s he worked on a series of works for the Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana in Iztapalapa. It is this work for which he is best known. The murals total six : ''El hombre y el cosmos, Genesis de un nuevo orden''(1988), ''Omniciencia'' (1984), ''Imagenes de nuestros dias, Una utopia posible'' (1983–1984), ''Muerte de la ignorancia and Transformacion de la sociedad'' (1986), as well as a number of sculptures. He became the artist-in-residence for the institution in 1983 and starting painting the Teatro del Fuego Nuevo as part of a course he taught there, finishing in 1984. He finished the last mural in 1988 on Building E after painting the library and the social sciences building. During this period, he also painted from 1985 to 1986 the mural ''Identidad y futuro'' the Colegio Madrid. This work depicts the
Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...
and the Republican exiles that arrived to Mexico. In 1987 he traveled to
Managua Managua () is the capital city, capital and largest city of Nicaragua, and one of the List of largest cities in Central America, largest cities in Central America. Located on the shores of Lake Managua, the city had an estimated population of 1, ...
,
Nicaragua Nicaragua, officially the Republic of Nicaragua, is the geographically largest Sovereign state, country in Central America, comprising . With a population of 7,142,529 as of 2024, it is the third-most populous country in Central America aft ...
to paint ''Los prometeos'' on the Palacio Nacional Héroes y Mártires de la Revolución. The mural features
Emiliano Zapata Emiliano Zapata Salazar (; 8 August 1879 – 10 April 1919) was a Mexican revolutionary. He was a leading figure in the Mexican Revolution of 1910–1920, the main leader of the people's revolution in the Mexican state of Morelos, and the insp ...
,
Augusto César Sandino Augusto César Sandino (; 18 May 1895 21 February 1934), full name Augusto Nicolás Calderón Sandino, was a Nicaraguan revolutionary, founder of the militant group EDSN, and leader of a rebellion between 1927 and 1933 against the United Sta ...
and
Prometheus In Greek mythology, Prometheus (; , , possibly meaning "forethought")Smith"Prometheus". is a Titans, Titan. He is best known for defying the Olympian gods by taking theft of fire, fire from them and giving it to humanity in the form of technol ...
, with the two revolutionaries being compared to the mythical Greek figure who brought fire to man. At the end of the 1980s, he became interested in reinterpreting the discovery of the Americas by the Europeans resulting in murals called ''Descubrimiento y conquista del Nuevo Mundo'' (1988–1989) at the Biblioteca Pública de Popotla and 1492 (1991). This would be his last major work. In addition to more traditional works, Belkin created what he called "portal murals," large scale paintings which can be moved and adapted as a way to deal with changing architectural tastes such as lower walls and the use of prefabricated panels. He created ten major pieces of this type of work. The first of these was in 1959 called the ''Levanamiento del Ghetto de Varsovia'' or ''Warsaw Ghetto Uprising'' which was later acquired by the Vancouver Jewish Community Center. These were followed later by ''Massacre at Kent State'' in 1970 (1974), ''The My Lai Massacre'' in 1976 and ''Los hermanos Serdán: la lucha continúa'', which was acquired by the state of
Puebla Puebla, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Puebla, is one of the 31 states that, along with Mexico City, comprise the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 217 municipalities and its capital is Puebla City. Part of east-centr ...
for the Casa de los hermanos Serdán. Another major piece from the 1970s was for the
Museo Nacional de Historia The National Museum of History ( Spanish: ), also known as MNH, is a national museum of Mexico, located inside Chapultepec Castle in Mexico City. The Castle itself is found within the first section of the well known Chapultepec Park. The museum ...
called ''La llegada de los generals Zapata y Villa al Palacio Nacional el 6 diciembre de 1914''. In 1986 he created the portable mural called ''La vocación de la maestra Magdalena'' and in 1990 he did ''Inventando el futuro'' for the engineering school at UNAM. At various points in his career, Belkin was a professor and teacher, mostly related to mural work. In 1956 he began teaching mural painting at the Universidad de las Americas. From 1971 to 1972 he gave painting classes at the
New School for Social Research The New School for Social Research (NSSR), previously known as The University in Exile and The New School University, is a graduate-level educational division of The New School in New York City, United States. NSSR enrolls more than 1,000 stud ...
and The Art Students League in New York City. From 1972 to 1973 he was a guest lecturer at the
Pratt Institute Pratt Institute is a private university with its main campus in Brooklyn, New York. It has an additional campus in Manhattan and an extension campus in Utica, New York at the Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute. The institute was founded in 18 ...
in
Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...
. In the later 1970s to the 1980s he taught various workshops in Mexico resulting in collective murals done by students. These include a mural to journalist Francisco Zarco at Callejón Francisco Zarco (1977), a mural called ''La historia del movimiento obrero'' at Parque Juventino Rosas in the
Magdalena Contreras La Magdalena Contreras () is a Boroughs of Mexico City, borough () in Mexico City. As of the 2010 census, it has a population of 239,086 inhabitants and is the third-least populous of Mexico City's boroughs. It lies at an elevation of above sea ...
borough and ''Raíces de las flores Nelhuayotl'' on the borough hall of
Xochimilco Xochimilco (; ) is a borough () of Mexico City. The borough is centered on the formerly independent city of Xochimilco, which was established on what was the southern shore of Lake Xochimilco in the precolonial period. Today, the borough cons ...
all in Mexico City done by students from ENAP. From 1983 to 1984, he gave a course about the uses of photography in paintings at the Museo Universitario del Chopo.


Canvas work and exhibitions

In addition to murals, Belkin also created a large number of canvas works with which he had success in exhibitions. His first individual exhibition was at the Instituto Cultural Anglo-Mexicano sponsored by the Canadian Embassy in 1952, with the introduction written by David Alfaro Siqueiros.- This was followed by other individual exhibitions in Mexico along with exhibitions in Vancouver and Calgary in 1953m, 1958 and 1959. In 1960 he exhibited at the Academy of San Carlos. His first exhibition in the United States was at the Zora Gallery in
Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
in 1961. Along with Siqueiros, Icaza and Tamayo and his was invited to represent Mexico at the International Award Exhibition at the Guggenheim Museum in New York. In 1966, he participated in the group show Confrontación 66 organized by the Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes at the Palacio de Bellas Artes. His fame increased in the 1970s with exhibitions in the United States,
Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...
,
Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...
and
Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...
. Belkin's easel paintings also enjoyed much success during his time in New York. In 1970 he began a series of sixteen paintings related to the death of physicist and politician Juan Pablo Marat. These were exhibited at the Lerner-Heller Gallery in New York in 1972. From 1972 to 1975 he had various individual exhibitions in
Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...
,
Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...
,
Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...
,
Dayton Dayton () is a city in Montgomery County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of cities in Ohio, sixth-most populous city in Ohio, with a population of 137,644 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The Dayton metro ...
, Phoenix and
San Juan, Puerto Rico San Juan ( , ; Spanish for "Saint John the Baptist, John") is the capital city and most populous Municipalities of Puerto Rico, municipality in the Commonwealth (U.S. insular area), Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the ...
. In 1974 he began a series of paintings called ''Historic Battles'', considered to be some of his best canvas work. It is a series of large scale paintings, including ''Massacre at Kent State'', ''My Lai Massacre'' and the ''Military Coup in Chile of 1973''. While many are of contemporary topics, they also included paraphrases of compositions by masters of European art of past centuries such as
Nicolas Poussin Nicolas Poussin (, , ; June 1594 – 19 November 1665) was a French painter who was a leading painter of the classical French Baroque style, although he spent most of his working life in Rome. Most of his works were on religious and mythologic ...
's ''The Rape of the Sabines''. However all deal with the violence of armed men during war against the defenseless. He also painted images of the future and of utopia, such as ''Armoured Figure'' done in New York. This one is a warning against technology enslaving the human spirit. In 1977 he had an individual exhibition at the Museo de Bellas Artes in
Caracas, Venezuela Caracas ( , ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas (CCS), is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, and the center of the Metropolitan Region of Caracas (or Greater Caracas). Caracas is located along the Guaire River in the northern p ...
. In 1979, he was invited by the Cuban government to do an individual exhibition at the Casa de las Américas of his work during the 1970s. This included some of his portable murals. His other major series of paintings is dedicated to Emiliano Zapata, started in 1979. These works are a kind of documentary based on photographs and other visual references to the
Mexican Revolution The Mexican Revolution () was an extended sequence of armed regional conflicts in Mexico from 20 November 1910 to 1 December 1920. It has been called "the defining event of modern Mexican history". It saw the destruction of the Federal Army, its ...
figure. They include works done in pencil, ink and crayon and served as sketches for larger works about Zapata later in his career. From 1981 to 1982 he worked on a series of drawings and paintings called ''Los amantes'' based on love poems by Mario Benedetti. The series also included photographs by Rafael Doniz of lovers embracing in the middle of scenes of social conflict. From 1985 to 1986 he created the Lucio Cabañas series, which are large scale drawings on amate paper which feature the revolutionary along with Sandino and Pedro Albizu Campos. The triptych ''Tlatelolco, lugar del sacrificio'' (1989) ties the events of 1521,
1968 Events January–February * January 1968, January – The I'm Backing Britain, I'm Backing Britain campaign starts spontaneously. * January 5 – Prague Spring: Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Cze ...
and
1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a n ...
. In 1982 he had an individual exhibition at the Museo de Arte Moderno. In 1983 he presented an exhibition of drawings from 1957 to 1983 at the Casa del Lago.


Other activities

In the first half of the 1950s, Belkin became interested in music, dance and theatre. From 1951 to 1954 he drew dancers and began to design sets and costumes for various ballets such as ''Tierra'' by Elena Noriega, ''El muñeco y los hombrecillos'', ''El debate and Advenimiento de la luz'' by Xavier Francis. From 1955 to 1960 he did set design for Seki Sano, Héctor Mendoza and Luis de Tavira for productions such as ''Cinco preciosidades francesas'' and ''El Décimo hombre''. In 1966 he created the set of the work ''Don Gel de las calzas verdes'' by Tirso de Molina, directed by Héctor Mendoza. In 1982 he created the set for ''Lances de amor y fortuna'' by
Pedro Calderón de la Barca Pedro Calderón de la Barca y Barreda González de Henao Ruiz de Blasco y Riaño (17 January 160025 May 1681) (, ; ) was a Spanish dramatist, poet, and writer. He is known as one of the most distinguished Spanish Baroque literature, poets and ...
directed by Luis de Tavira. In 1983 he created the set for ''El destierro'' by Juan Tovar, directed by José Caballero. In 1983 he designed the wardrobe, set and lighting for the work ''Herejía'' by Sabina Berman directed by Abraham Oceransky, which received the Premio Nacional de Teatro in the same year. In 1984 he designed the set for ''Los dos hermanos'' by Felipe Santander. His engraving work is not very well known but it has been exhibited and has received awards. In 1972 his work was recognized at the II Bienal Latinoamericana de Grabado in San Juan. In 1987 he created five engravings called ''Los conquistadores'' which became part of the El Inicio de Nueva España display at the Museo Nacional de Antropología e Historia. After his death, his work featured in an exhibition called Arte Gráfico Latinoamericano (1970–1980)" at the state government building in Villahermosa,
Tabasco Tabasco, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Tabasco, is one of the Political divisions of Mexico, 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into Municipalities of Tabasco, 17 municipalities and its capital city is Villahermosa. It i ...
, as well as an exhibition at the Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla in 2011. In 1961 he formed the Grupo de Interioristas along with Francisco Icaza, which was concerned with the
Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...
and commercialism with the widespread use of plastic. The group focused on creating monochromatic images which became their trademark. The name Interioristas was coined by art critic Selden Rodman. In 1961 he co-authored the manifesto ''Nueva Presencia:el hombre en el arte de nuestro tiempo'' with Francisco Icaza, which was against so-called
bourgeois The bourgeoisie ( , ) are a class of business owners, merchants and wealthy people, in general, which emerged in the Late Middle Ages, originally as a "middle class" between the peasantry and Aristocracy (class), aristocracy. They are tradition ...
art and academic art of "good taste" in favor of that with political and social messages. This led to the formation of the group Nueva Presencia with included Leonel Góngora, Francisco Corzas, José Muñoz Medina, Artemio Sepulveda, Rafael Coronel and Nacho López. From 1967 to 1968 he created the Museo Latinoamericano with Omar Rayo, Leonel Góngora, Abularach, Paternosto, Gerchman and others because he was unhappy with attitudes towards Latin American shown by the Center for Inter-American Relations. The idea the museum was that Latin American artists were better able to present the art and culture of the region more than capitalists from the United States. He also founded the Taller del Muralismo Comunitario in 1978. He published a catalog of lithographs called ''Two'' with poems by Jack Hirschman published by Zora Gallery in 1963. In 1987 he published a book called ''Contra la amnesia: textos 1960-1985''. He created postcards at various points in his life included one in 1966 for the Secretaría de Comunicaciones y Transportes featuring Eolo, Greek goddess of wind, one in 1981 for the Secretaría de Relaciones Exteriores to honor the bicentennial of the birth of
Simón Bolívar Simón José Antonio de la Santísima Trinidad Bolívar y Palacios (24July 178317December 1830) was a Venezuelan statesman and military officer who led what are currently the countries of Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Panama, and Bol ...
and one in 1988 for the Mexican postal service with a portrait of César Vallejo. He also did a few sculptures which include a large scale one in 1981 called ''El Estudiante'' for the Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana-Iztapalapa and one in 1986 for the Jardín Escultórico at the Bosque Lázaro Cárdenas in
Morelia Morelia (; from 1545 to 1828 known as Valladolid; Otomi language, Otomi: ) is a city and municipal seat of the municipalities of Mexico, municipality of Morelia in the north-central part of the state of Michoacán in central Mexico. It is both th ...
. In 1988 he created the cover to the social science textbook for public schools in Mexico.


Recognition

In 1960 he received an award from the Asociación de Críticos Teatrales for best scene design for his work on ''Terror y miserias del III Reich'' by Bertolt Brecht. ''El hombre si tiene future (homenaje a Bertrand Russell)'' won the Adquisición del Salón de Pintura prize in 1963. Also in 1963, he received an honorary mention at the Casa de las Américas for a catalogue of lithographs he made in Los Angeles. In 1982 the mural ''Traición y muerte de Zapata and El asesinato de Rubén Jaramillo y su familia mayo 22 de 1962'' won the Winfred Lam Grand Prize at the I Bienal in
Havana Havana (; ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center. He keynoted the III Coloquio Latinoamericano de Fotografía in Havana talking about his experience using photography in his art. In 1986 there was a retrospective of his mural work at the Galería Metropolitana in Mexico City. In 1987 UNAM published a book about the artist. There have been a number of posthumous retrospectives and other exhibitions of his work including the 1997 the exhibition at the Museo Mural Diego Rivera and was honored at an event at the Museo Universitario del Chopo in 1998.


Artistry

Arnold Belkin has been referred to as the "Canadian son of Mexican muralism." He is best known for his murals such as those at Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana in Iztapalapa. There are thirty murals of the artist still in existence in Mexico, Nicaragua and the United States. He is credited with continuing the Mexican muralism tradition in the mid-20th century when the Generación de la Ruptura headed by artists like José Luis Cuevas and Rafael Coronel were taking the Mexican art scene away from muralism and its Marxist tendencies. Most of his murals are in public and educational spaces keeping the tradition of murals as a way to communicate with the masses and the following generations keeping murals an important part of Mexican culture. From the muralist generation, Belkin not only learned traditional painting techniques but also new ones, influenced by the work of Siqueiros. This included painting with air brushes and creating images using photographs projected on a wall as a base. His works are characterized in the use of intense, dark and often
ochre Ochre ( ; , ), iron ochre, or ocher in American English, is a natural clay earth pigment, a mixture of ferric oxide and varying amounts of clay and sand. It ranges in colour from yellow to deep orange or brown. It is also the name of the colou ...
colors in the entire work depicting the human body as central along with geometric figures. They often aim to tie the past with the present with themes such as war, peace, death, injustice and exile. He believed that art should serve as a teaching tool and to spark political discourse, often presenting humanity's most controversial and painful experiences. He generally did not produce works merely for aesthetics. He painted historical scenes, never allegory and although his work was influenced by the socialist ideals of his parents, his heroes were those of Latin America, not Canada. These heroes included the Serdán brothers, Francisco Villa, Emiliano Zapata, Francisco I. Madero, Lucio Cabañas, Simón Bolívar and
Christopher Columbus Christopher Columbus (; between 25 August and 31 October 1451 – 20 May 1506) was an Italians, Italian explorer and navigator from the Republic of Genoa who completed Voyages of Christopher Columbus, four Spanish-based voyages across the At ...
. He did paint some other subjects, for example in the 1970s he created pieces criticizing the automatization of modern life, depicting men as robots. His work went through a number of phases. His early paintings starting in the early 1950s were focused on popular traditions in Mexico, especially those related to death such as ''Entierro'' in 1952. He was influenced by Rico Lebrun who visited Mexico in the 1960s resulting in works which were monochromatic emphasizing the use of grays, sepias, ochres and black. Two notable works of this type are ''Resurrección'' in 1960 and ''Presagio y Seres terrestres'' in 1961.In the mid-1960s he experimented with abstract art with all forms being distorted. Works from this period include ''Paisaje interior'' (1964), ''Imagen humana'' (1965) and ''Los colores del día son los que te visten, el resto es silencio'' (1966). In the late 1960s his work featured figures surrounded by circles and ovals,which include ''El eclipse'' (1968), ''Progresión II'' (1969) and ''Language-system'' (1970). In 1968 he visited to Europe, where his work acquired a more dynamic character, even denouncing his previous static work. Europe's old masters also inspired a series called Historic battles which were reinterpretations of classic works. His work took on a strong ochre tone in the 1970s when he began to work in oils and sculpture. focused on human emotions such as loneliness, desperation, abandonment and misery.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Belkin, Arnold 1930 births 1992 deaths 20th-century Mexican painters 20th-century Canadian male artists 20th-century Mexican male artists Mexican male painters Mexican Jews Mexican muralists Mexican people of English-Jewish descent Mexican people of Russian-Jewish descent Mexico City College alumni Canadian emigrants to Mexico Canadian people of Russian-Jewish descent Canadian people of English-Jewish descent 20th-century Canadian painters Canadian male painters Canadian muralists Jewish Canadian artists Jewish painters Artists from Calgary Painters from Mexico City Emily Carr University of Art and Design alumni Escuela Nacional de Pintura, Escultura y Grabado "La Esmeralda" alumni