Oscar Melchor Peredo y Garcia (born 6 January 1927) is a Mexican muralist and a representative of the

social realist Social realism is work produced by painters, printmakers, photographers, writers, filmmakers and some musicians that aims to draw attention to the real socio-political conditions of the working class as a means to critique the power structures ...

school of mural painting in Mexico. His murals depict historical scenes from Mexican history with an emphasis on revolutionary subjects. His work is featured in public and government buildings across Mexico. He has also painted murals in the USA and Europe.

Early years

Melchor was born 6 January 1927 in

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 ...

. His fathe
Luis G. Peredo
was a journalist during the 1910

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 ...

and became a pioneer of

Mexican cinema The cinema of Mexico dates to the late nineteenth century during the rule of President Porfirio Díaz. Seeing a demonstration of short films in 1896, Díaz immediately saw the importance of documenting his presidency in order to present an ...

. In 1918 Luis directed the silent film
Santa
based on the 1903 naturalist novel by Federico Gamboa. At the age of eleven, inspired by the work of muralists

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 ...

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 Siquei ...

and

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 ...

, Melchor decided to become a painter. He studied at several major art institutes in Mexico City including the Escuela La Esmeralda and the National School of Arts. He painted his first mural in 1947 in a maternity clinic, depicting the exploitation of marginalized workers in Mexico City. In 1953, he joined the Frente Nacional de Artes Plásticas and was commissioned as a representative to assist at the IV World Youth Festival for Peace in Romania. The art critic Judith Krauss made arrangements for him to stay in Bucharest but he decided that the most important movement was in Mexico and returned home to join a research workshop funded by the National Polytechnic Institute. There he perfected his fresco technique under the guidance of José Gutierrez, a proponent of the first artistic use of acrylic paint./

List of Murals

* Arribo al Mictlán, Maternidad Guadalupe, Los Reyes de la Paz, Estado de México, 1947 * Buceadores, Club Sirocco, Acapulco, Guerrero, 1950 * Resistencia Heroica (fresco-acrílico), Palacio de Justicia del Estado de Veracruz, Xalapa, Veracruz, 1980 * La Historia de la Cultura en Veracruz (segunda parte del mural del Palacio de Justicia de Veracruz), 1982 * 6 murales en la Universidad de París XII, 1983 * Magisterio Heroico (fresco), Escuela de Bachilleres Constitución de 1917, Xalapa, Veracruz, 1991 * El Desembarco en Chalchihueyecan (acrílico), Escuela de Bachilleres Ilustre Instituto Veracruzano, Boca del Río, Veracruz, 1992 * Por una Humanidad sin Fronteras, Centro de idiomas de la Universidad Veracruzana, 2000 * Cultural Heritage (4 paneles al fresco), Harton Theatre, Southern Arkansas University, Magnolia, Southern Arkansas, EUA, 2000 * El Canto de Amalia, Museo de la Universidad de Sonora, Hermosillo, Sonora, 2000 * Human Diversity without war (óleo-resina), Hendrix Students Center, Clemson University Clemson, South Carolina, EUA, 2001 * Coatepec en la Cultura (acrílico), Palacio Municipal de Coatepec, Coatepec, Veracruz, 2002 * Una nueva raza abierta al porvenir (mosaico de talavera), La Antigua, Veracruz, 2004 * Homenaje a Ignacio de la Llave y La Reforma (fresco), Escalera del Palacio de Gobierno, Xalapa, Veracruz, 2004 * Una revolución continua (fresco), vestíbulo del Palacio de Gobierno, Xalapa, Veracruz, 2010

References

Bibliography

* Diccionario Enciclopédico de México * Archivio documentale di arte contemporanee de la biennale di venezia, Venecia, Italia * Archivo de Artes Plásticas del Cenidiap del Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes.. * Krieg der wande (Guerra de Muros) de Michael Schwartz, Bonn, Germany, 1980. * Las Artes Plásticas en Veracruz, Alberto Beltrán, Xalapa, Veracruz.

External links

Melchor Peredo murals at Palacio de Gobierno in Xalapa

Melchor Peredo on the mural process - Imagen De Veracruz

Melchor Peredo interview with Plumas Libres
{{DEFAULTSORT:Peredo, Melchor 1927 births Living people Mexican muralists Mexican portrait painters Artists from Mexico City Escuela Nacional de Pintura, Escultura y Grabado "La Esmeralda" alumni 20th-century Mexican painters Mexican male painters 21st-century Mexican painters 20th-century Mexican male artists 21st-century Mexican male artists

Early years

List of Murals

See also

References

Bibliography

External links