Benito Messeguer (October 27, 1930 – October 19, 1982) was a Mexican artist born in Spain, best known for his murals which continued much of the work of 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 ...

movement. His work was recognized with a tribute 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 ...

shortly before his death and membership in the Salón de la Plástica Mexicana.

Life

Messeguer was born in Mora de Ebro,

Tarragona Tarragona (, ; ) is a coastal city and municipality in Catalonia (Spain). It is the capital and largest town of Tarragonès county, the Camp de Tarragona region and the province of Tarragona. Geographically, it is located on the Costa Daurada ar ...

, Spain (

Catalonia Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationalities and regions of Spain, nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 2006, Statute of Autonomy. Most of its territory (except the Val d'Aran) is situate ...

). During 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 ...

, his family (which supported the

Second Spanish Republic The Spanish Republic (), commonly known as the Second Spanish Republic (), was the form of democratic government in Spain from 1931 to 1939. The Republic was proclaimed on 14 April 1931 after the deposition of Alfonso XIII, King Alfonso XIII. ...

) left his hometown to live in

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

, where he studied painting under Enrique Assad. In 1944, when he was fourteen, the family moved to Mexico and when Messeguer became an adult, he obtained Mexican citizenship. In Mexico, he furthered his artistic studies at the Escuela Nacional de Pintura, Escultura y Grabado "La Esmeralda", a student 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 ...

and José Clemente Orozco who strongly influenced his work. He died of

leukemia Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia; pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and produce high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or '' ...

in Mexico City at age 51.

Career

He had over fifty individual and collective exhibitions of his work including the Bienal Interamericana de Pintura y Grabado in Mexico City (1960), the Tokyo Biennal (1961) and the Biennal de Jeunes in Paris (1961, 1963, 1965) and individual shows at the Museo de Arte Moderno and other venues. His murals include La edad de oro at the Casino de la Selva (1958), El fenómeno de la comunicación lingüística at the Instituto Mexicano de la Audición y el Lenguaje (1963), Las luchas revolucionarias de México at the Unidad Habitacional Ermita-Zaragoza (1978), El Quijote, mensaje oportuno at the SHCP Cultural Center (1981) and El desarrollo histórico y económico-cultural del hombre at the economics school of the

Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México The National Autonomous University of Mexico (, UNAM) is a public university, public research university in Mexico. It has several campuses in Mexico City, and many others in various locations across Mexico, as well as a presence in nine countri ...

(1983) . In addition to producing art, Messeguer also served as the director of La Esmeralda and the director of the Centro de Estudios Superiores de Investigación Plástica of the Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes . His career was recognized by membership in the Salón de la Plástica Mexicana and in 1983 the Palacio de Bellas Artes presented a tribute-exhibition.

Artistry

He was a painter (mostly oils), engraver and muralist, but most of his work was in murals. His early influences were those of his teachers at La Esmeralda. Diego Rivera strongly influenced the anecdotic character of his compositions and José Clemente Orozco, with humanism and themes of the universal. Antonio Rodríguez Luna stated “Messeguer never forgot the social concerns of the old masters, nor the most appropriate method for representing human beings (figuration): but he rejected their followers who were content to repeat what had been created by their predecessors.” His works did not tell stories like that of classic Mexican muralism but they did not betray the movement pictorially or ideologically. Instead they were personal works with a popular ambiance, blending critical humor and a commitment to the disadvantaged. Other influences in his work include that of Catalan architect

Antoni Gaudí Antoni Gaudí i Cornet ( , ; ; 25 June 1852 – 10 June 1926) was a Catalans, Catalan architect and designer from Spain, widely known as the greatest exponent of Catalan ''Modernisme''. Gaudí's works have a style, with most located in Barc ...

in the use of organic forms with emotive effect and Rembrandt’s use of the chiaroscuro effect. One principal example of the latter is the La creación y la economía, where a pool of intense light transcends the struggles between humanism and obscurantism. The work of his last ten years of life began to use paint as a malleable material, almost pastes to model in thick impastos to converge the qualities of mass, color and light. In 1962 he exhibited with Francisco Moreno Capdevila and José Hernández Delgadillo as the Nueva Presencia group, also known as the Interioristas. He was not a member of the Generación de la Ruptura, with its stance against politically and socially charged art. Nor did Messeguer approve of the evolution of abstract art in Mexico although some elements of his work did stray towards it.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Messeguer, Benito Mexican artists Escuela Nacional de Pintura, Escultura y Grabado "La Esmeralda" alumni 1930 births 1982 deaths Spanish emigrants to Mexico