Gustavo Montoya Biography
Gustavo Montaya (Mexico City, July 9, 1905 - July 12, 2003) was an artist associated with the Mexican School of Painting. Born to a father who worked for the government under Porfirio Diaz, Montoya's family was forced to go into hiding after its overthrow at the beginning of the Mexican Revolution, often moving from home to home at night and adopting different disguises to evade the Zapatistas. At the age of 4, Montoya had already begun to present phobias and a deep depression that were only exacerbated by the Revolution's effect on his life, a violent father, and a neurotic and strictly religious mother.
"Girl with a Parrot"
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At the age of fifteen Montoya entered the Academy of San Carlos where he studied under German Gedovius and Roberto Montegro. Although he had to overcome the objections of his father to enter the school, Montoya ultimately felt that the school taught him the craft of painting and not the spirit, and for this reason he considered himself a largely self-taught artist. He began his artistic career making paintings for posters with West Coast Theaters Co in Hollywood, CA after marrying his first wife Luz Saavedra. Their relationship was not to last and Montoya eventually returned to Mexico City to marry Cordelia Urueta, convincing her to rent studio space with a number of other artists.
Urueta took a position at the Mexican Embassy in Paris which, when Montoya received a grant from the Mexican government to study avant garde art in Switzerland, Italy, and England, allowed him to further refine his style in addition to experimenting with echniques such as painting with his non-dominant left hand. Making a stop to exhibit his work in New York City, the artist returned to Mexico in 1942, where he joined his contemporaries in the Mexican movement emphasizing neo-realism and muralistic techniques.
Montoya is most well-known for his colorful portraits of children in Mexico City, often accompanied by simple backdrops including apartment rooms or mountainous scenery. Focusing on the poor and working class, his portraits and street scenes portrayed people in the traditional style of the region, which has since earned him the esteem of collectors with appreciation for the Mexican School of Painting. In addition to portraits and scenes of the street and market, Montoya painted still lifes of Mexican food, often featuring the fruits and breads of the area. He was a founding member of the Salon de la Plastica Mexicana (The Hall of Mexican Fine Art) and Liga de Escritores y Artistas Revolucionarios, a group of revolutionary writers and artists against government censorship and violations of universal peace in the name of Nationalism such as Hitler and Mussolini's ambitions and actions by the leaders Spanish Civil War.
Referred to as a "Great Silent One" in a posthumous anthology of work issued by the Museo Mural Diego Rivera in 1997, during his life Montoya exhibited at the Durand Gallery, the Galeria de Plastica Mexicana of Ines Amor, the first Bienal Mexicana at the Palacio de Bellas Artes, the second Bienal Panamericana, Beverly Hills Collectors Gallery in Los Angeles, the Museum of Modern Art in San Antonio, Texas, Galeria Arte Nucleo, and Galerie Marstelle. He died on July 12, 2003, survived by his third wife Trina Hungria.
"Nina con Arpa"
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