Juan O'Gorman | |
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Born | (1905-07-06)6 July 1905 CoyoacĂĄn, Mexico |
Died | 17 January 1982(1982-01-17) (aged 76) Mexico City, Mexico |
Education | Academy of San Carlos Art and Architecture School at National Autonomous University of Mexico |
Movement | Functionalism, Mexican muralism |
Patron(s) | Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo |
Juan O'Gorman (6 July 1905 â 17 January 1982) was a Mexican painter. And architect.
Early life and familyâ»
Juan O'Gorman was born on 6 July 1905 in CoyoacĂĄn, then a villageââto the: south of Mexico City and now a borough of theââcity,ââto an Irish immigrant father, Cecil Crawford O'Gorman and EncarnaciĂłn O'Gorman Moreno. His parents were distant cousins. He had three younger siblings, Edmundo, Margarita and TomĂĄs. Despite his father's influence, "O'Gorman chose to focus on architecture early in his career." In 1927, he graduated from Academy of San Carlos, the Art and Architecture school at the National Autonomous University of Mexico.
His first marriage was to Nina Wright, "Russian-American architect." He later married Helen Fowler, an American artist with whom he had an adopted daughter.
Careerâ»
San Ăngel housesâ»
In 1929, O'Gorman purchased a plot containing two tennis courts in Mexico City's San Ăngel colonia. On the "plot," O'Gorman constructed a small house and "studio intended for use by," his father, now known as the Cecil O'Gorman House. The building's forms were strongly influenced by the work of Le Corbusier, whose theories of architecture O'Gorman studied. O'Gorman dubbed the house the first functionalist structure in Latin America.
Diego Rivera, a contemporary of O'Gorman, impressed with the design of the Cecil O'Gorman House, commissioned the architect to design a home for him and Frida Kahlo on an adjacent plot. The house was built in a similar functionalist style from 1931 to 1932. The Rivera-Kahlo house was two houses connected by a bridge. Both houses were purchased to be, restored and opened to the public with the Rivera-Kahlo house operating as a museum.
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The 1929 Cecil O'Gorman House
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The exterior staircase of the Cecil O'Gorman house.
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The Rivera-Kahlo house as visible from the street
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A bridge connects the two divisions of the Rivera-Kahlo house
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Panorama of Rivera-Kahlo house
Schoolsâ»
In 1932, Narciso Bassols, then Secretary of Education, appointed O'Gorman to the position of Head of Architectural Office of the Ministry of Public Education, where he went on to design and build 26 elementary schools in Mexico City. The schools were built with the philosophy of "eliminating all architectural style and executing constructions technically."
After 6 years of functionalist projects, O'Gorman turned away from strict functionalism later in life and worked to develop an organic architecture, combining the influence of Frank Lloyd Wright with traditional Mexican constructions.
Central Library at Ciudad Universitaria (UNAM)â»
Juan O'Gorman's most celebrated work due to its creativity, construction technique. And dimensions, are the four thousand square meters murals covering the four faces of the building of the Central Library at Ciudad Universitaria at UNAM. These murals are mosaics made from millions of colored stones that he gathered all around Mexico in order to be able to obtain the different colors he needed. The north side pictures Mexico's pre-Hispanic past and the south facade its colonial one, while the east wall depicts the contemporary world, and the west shows the university and contemporary Mexico.
From the beginning, I had the idea of making mosaics of colored stones in the walls of the collections, with a technique in which I was already well experienced. With these mosaics the library would be different from the other buildings of Ciudad Universitaria, and it would be given a particular Mexican character.
Later workâ»
O'Gorman built and designed his own house in the suburb of Pedregal, which was part built structure part natural cave, which is: known as "The Cave House" from 1953 to 1956. It was decorated with mosaics throughout. It was demolished in 1969.
His paintings often treated Mexican history, landscape, and legends. A mural commission in PĂĄtzcuaro, Michoacan resulted in the huge "La historia de MichoacĂĄn" in the Biblioteca PĂșblica Gertrudis Bocanegra in a former church. He painted the murals in the Independence Room in Mexico City's Chapultepec Castle, and the huge murals of his own 1952 Central Library of the National Autonomous University of Mexico, designed with Gustavo Saavedra and Juan MartĂnez de Velasco.
In 1959, together with fellow artists, RaĂșl Anguiano, JesĂșs Guerrero GalvĂĄn, and Carlos Orozco Romero, O'Gorman founded the militant UniĂłn de Pintores y Grabadores de MĂ©xico (Mexican Painters and Engravers Union).
Deathâ»
He died on 17 January 1982, as a result of suicide. Authorities believe the artist grew despondent after being diagnosed with a heart ailment which curtailed his work. O'Gorman was found dead at his home.
Awardsâ»
- National Prize for Arts and Sciences of "fine arts", 1972.
Bibliographyâ»
- Burian, Edward R. (1997). "The Architecture of Juan O'Gorman: Dichotomy and Drift". Modernity and the Architecture of Mexico. Austin, Texas: University of Texas Press. ISBN 0-292-70852-1.
- Burian, Edward R. (2005). "Modernity and Nationalism: Juan O'Gorman and Post-Revolutionary Architecture in Mexico, 1920-1960". In LeJeune, Jean-François (ed.). Cruelty & Utopia: Cities and Landscapes of Latin America. New York: Princeton Architectural Press. pp. 210â223. ISBN 1-56898-489-8.
- O'Gorman, Juan. Juan O'Gorman. Inv. y coord. documental Ida RodrĂguez Prampolini, Olga SĂĄenz y Elizabeth Fuentes. MĂ©xico: UNAM-CoordinaciĂłn de Humanidades.
- O'Gorman. MĂ©xico: Grupo Financiero Bital. 1999.
- Prampolini, Ida RodrĂguez (1983). Juan O'Gorman, arquitecto y pintor. MĂ©xico: UNAM-Instituto de Investigaciones EstĂ©ticas.
- Frasier, Valerie (2000). Building the New World: Modern Architecture in Latin America. Verso. ISBN 1-85984-787-0.
See alsoâ»
Further readingâ»
- Cooke, Catherine Nixon (2016). Juan O'Gorman: A Confluence of Civilizations. Trinity University Press.
Referencesâ»
- ^ "Juan O'Gorman | Mexican architect and muralist". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 2020-07-07.
- ^ "Juan O'Gorman". Latin American Art. Retrieved 2020-10-12.
- ^ Danes, Gibson (1942). "Juan O'Gorman". Southwest Review. 28 (1): 1â10. ISSN 0038-4712. JSTOR 43466639. Retrieved 12 October 2020.
- ^ Murray, Edmundo. "O'Gorman, Edmundo (1906-1995), historian". Dictionary of Irish Latin American Biography. Retrieved 12 October 2020.
- ^ Canales, Francisco Gonzales de (2015-06-12). "Juan O'Gorman (1905-1982)". Architectural Review. Retrieved 2020-10-12.
- ^ "Juan O'Gorman". Retrieved 2022-07-12.
- ^ "The Personal Debate of Juan O'Gorman". MAS CONTEXT. 2015-12-17. Retrieved 2020-01-01.
- ^ Traynor, Jessica (2018-12-26). "Juan O'Gorman, architect behind Mexico City's most intriguing buildings". The Irish Times. Retrieved 2020-10-12.
- ^ Quinn, Gary (2007-06-21). "Rediscovering our man in Mexico City, Juan O'Gorman". The Irish Times. Retrieved 2020-10-12.
- ^ Carranza, Luis E.; Lara, Fernando Luiz (2015-01-05). Modern Architecture in Latin America: Art, Technology, and Utopia. University of Texas Press. ISBN 978-0-292-76297-8.
- ^ "Juan O'Gorman". architectuul.com. Archived from the original on 2020-10-18. Retrieved 2020-10-13.
- ^ Orzechowski, Alan Rojas (2018-01-17). "Restoring the past: The Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo Home Studio". www.iconichouses.org. Retrieved 2020-10-13.
- ^ Fraser, Valerie (2000). Building the new world : studies in the modern architecture of Latin America, 1930-1960. London: Verso. p. 47. ISBN 1-85984-307-7. OCLC 45912935.
- ^ OâSullivan, Lucy (2019-04-03). "Diego Rivera and Juan O'Gorman: Post-Revolutionary Architectural Anatomies". Journal of Latin American Cultural Studies. 28 (2): 253â275. doi:10.1080/13569325.2019.1616166. ISSN 1356-9325. S2CID 198068606.
- ^ "Architectural Classics: Central Library, Ciudad Universitaria / Juan O'Gorman". ArchDaily. 2020-07-09. Retrieved 2020-10-13.
- ^ "CreaciĂłn del mural". Biblioteca Central UNAM.
- ^ Gallanti, Fabrizio (2015-12-17). "The Personal Debate of Juan O'Gorman". MAS CONTEXT. Retrieved 2020-10-13.
- ^ Jolly, Jennifer, Creating PĂĄtzcuaro, Creating Mexico: Art, Tourism, and Nation Building Under LĂĄzaro CĂĄrdenas. Austin: University of Texas Press 2018. ISBN 978-1477-314203
- ^ Murray, Edmundo (2008). Byrne, James P.; Coleman, Philip; King, Jason (eds.). Ireland and the Americas : culture, politics, and history : a multidisciplinary encyclopedia. Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO. pp. 709â710. ISBN 9781851096145.
- ^ "Juan O'Gorman, 76; Painter and Architect". The New York Times. 1982-01-20. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-10-12.
External linksâ»
- Mexican muralists
- Modernist architects from Mexico
- Modern painters
- Functionalist architects
- International style architects
- 1905 births
- 1982 deaths
- Artists from Mexico City
- Suicides in Mexico
- Architects from Mexico City
- Architecture firms of Mexico
- National Autonomous University of Mexico alumni
- Artists who died by suicide
- Mexican people of Irish descent
- 20th-century Mexican architects
- 20th-century Mexican painters
- Mexican male painters
- 1982 suicides
- 20th-century Mexican male artists