Constantino Reyes-Valerio (January 10, 1922, Zinacatepec,

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 ...

- December 13, 2006,

Mexico City Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...

) was a prominent Mexican scholar of

pre-Columbian In the history of the Americas, the pre-Columbian era, also known as the pre-contact era, or as the pre-Cabraline era specifically in Brazil, spans from the initial peopling of the Americas in the Upper Paleolithic to the onset of European col ...

Mesoamerica Mesoamerica is a historical region and cultural area that begins in the southern part of North America and extends to the Pacific coast of Central America, thus comprising the lands of central and southern Mexico, all of Belize, Guatemala, El S ...

n cultures, particularly the

Aztec The Aztecs ( ) were a Mesoamerican civilization that flourished in central Mexico in the Post-Classic stage, post-classic period from 1300 to 1521. The Aztec people included different Indigenous peoples of Mexico, ethnic groups of central ...

and the

Maya Maya may refer to: Ethnic groups * Maya peoples, of southern Mexico and northern Central America ** Maya civilization, the historical civilization of the Maya peoples ** Mayan languages, the languages of the Maya peoples * Maya (East Africa), a p ...

as well as the Colonial Art.

Life and career

In 1947 he arrived in Mexico City, where five years later he obtained a Master's degree in Bacteriological Chemistry and

Parasitology Parasitology is the study of parasites, their host (biology), hosts, and the relationship between them. As a List of biology disciplines, biological discipline, the scope of parasitology is not determined by the organism or environment in questio ...

at the

National Polytechnic Institute National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ce ...

. Reyes-Valerio identified the artistic contribution of Native Mexican Indians in the Colonial painting and sculpture; he coined the term Indochristian art. Another major contribution was his seminal work on the chemical composition and process of the

Maya Blue Maya blue () is a unique bright turquoise or azure blue pigment manufactured by cultures of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica, such as the Mayas and Aztecs, during a period extending from approximately the 8th century to around 1860 CE. It is found in ...

Pigment where he re-discovered the technique used by the

to create the famous turquoise blue pigment. He was granted a

Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are Grant (money), grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, endowed by the late Simon Guggenheim, Simon and Olga Hirsh Guggenheim. These awards are bestowed upon indiv ...

in 1972 for Fine Arts Research. He corresponded extensively with major scholars in Mexico and abroad such as George Kubler, Santiago Sebastian and Enrique Marco Dorta among others. In 2000, he was named Emeritus Researcher by the

Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia The Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia (INAH, ''National Institute of Anthropology and History'') is a Federal government of the United Mexican States, Mexican federal government bureau established in 1939 to guarantee the researc ...

. In April 2009, a special edition of the INAH bulletin (Boletin de Monumentos Historicos Num 12 enero-abril 2008) was published as an in memoriam edition dedicated to Constantino Reyes-Valerio. Several important researchers, Miguel Leon-Portilla,

Alfredo López Austin Alfredo Federico López Austin (March 12, 1936 – October 15, 2021) was a Mexican historian who wrote extensively on the Aztec worldview and on Mesoamerican religion. As an academic teacher, he inspired generations of students, but his influence ...

Eduardo Matos Moctezuma Eduardo Matos Moctezuma (born December 11, 1940) is a Mexican archaeologist. From 1978 to 1982 he directed excavations at the Templo Mayor, the remains of a major Aztec pyramid in central Mexico City. Matos Moctezuma graduated with a ma ...

, Giacomo Chiari, Carlos Navarrete Cáceres, Beatriz Barba Ahuatzin, Dora Sierra, Guillermo Tovar y de Teresa, Manuel Sanchez del Rio, Rosa Camelo among others contributed with articles to this bulletin. CelebracionFototecaReyesValerio

He was a very active photographer and took the photographs for several books and to the general archive of the INAH. In 2009, his contribution was recognised by naming the Photographic Archive of the "Coordinacion Nacional de Monumentos Culturales" of INAH with his name. He received several awards, including the

, the Rafael Ramirez Prize granted by the S.E.P., Premio Francisco Javier Clavijero granted by INAH and the Emeritus Researcher degree by INAH as well. He died on December 13, 2006 in Mexico City. ChanfonReyesValerioMartinezMarinGurria1973

ChanfonReyesValerioMartinezMarinGurria1973

References

External links

Maya Blue Pigment site developed by Reyes-ValerioArte Indocristiano site developed by Reyes-ValerioINAH webpage with detail of the Fototeca (english)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Reyes Valerio, Constantino Mexican art historians Mexican Mesoamericanists 20th-century Mesoamericanists Historians of Mesoamerican art 1922 births 2006 deaths

Life and career

Related links

References

External links