Academy of San Carlos
Encyclopedia
The Academy of San Carlos is located at 22 Academia Street in just northeast of the main plaza
of Mexico City
. It was the first major art academy
and the first art museum in the Americas
. It was founded in 1781 as the School of Engraving and moved to the Academia Street location about 10 years later. It emphasized classical European training until the early 20th century, when it shifted to a more modern perspective. At this time, it also integrated with the National Autonomous University of Mexico
, eventually becoming the National School of Expressive Arts, which is based in Xochimilco
. Currently, only graduate courses of the modern school are given in the original academy building.
Mexican painter Miguel Cabrera
iterated the need for an art academy as early as 1753 but attempts by him and other prominent Mexican artists of the time to gain royal permission for such was never obtained. The School of Engraving was begun later in the building that used to be the mint
, and would later become the modern-day National Museum of Cultures. Ten years later, it would moved to the former Amor de Dios Hospital, where it remains to this day. The street it is located on was renamed from Amor de Dios Street to Academia Street in its honor.
The Academy was originally sponsored by the Spanish Crown and a number of private patrons. The academy was inaugurated on 4 November 1781 on the saint's day of King Carlos III, operating for its first ten years in the old mint building (now the National Museum of Cultures). However, it did not obtain its royal seal until 1783 and was not fully functional until 1785. The school moved into the old "Hospital del Amor de Dios" building in 1791, where it remained ever since. The academy was the first major art institution in the Americas.
The school's first director, Italian Jeronimo Antonio Gil was appointed by Carlos III and gathered prominent artists of the day including José de Alcíbar, Santiago Sandoval, Juan Sáenz, Manuel Tolsá
and Rafael Ximeno y Planes
. Tolsá and Ximeno would later stay on to become directors of the school. The new school began to promote Neoclassicism
, focusing on Greek and Roman art and architecture, advocating European-style training of its artists. To this end, plaster casts of classic Greek and Roman statues were brought to Mexico from Europe for students to study.
Since its founding, it attracted the country's best artists, and was a force behind the abandonment of the Baroque
style in Mexico, which had already gone out-of-fashion in Europe.
In the early 19th century, the academy was closed for a short time due to the Mexican War of Independence
. When it reopened, it was renamed the National Academy of San Carlos and enjoyed the new government's preference for Neoclassicism, as it considered the Baroque reminiscent of colonialism. Despite the school's association with the independent Mexican government, Emperor Maximilian I (installed in Mexico by the French) protected the school during his reign, although interestingly enough, foreign artists were shunned here. When Benito Juárez
ousted the emperor and regained the presidency of Mexico, he was reluctant to support the school and its European influence, which he considered to be a vestige of colonialism.
The academy continued to advocate classic, European-style training of its artists until the 1913. In this year, a student and teacher strike advocating a more modern approach ousted director Antonio Rivas Mercado
. It was also partially integrated into University of Mexico (now UNAM) at this time, although it initially kept a large degree of autonomy. In 1929, the architecture program was separated from the rest of the academy, and in 1953, this department was moved to the newly-built campus of UNAM
in the south of the city. The remaining programs in painting, sculpture and engraving were renamed National School of Expressive Arts Escuela Nacional de Artes Plásticas. Later, the undergraduate fine arts programs were moved to a facility in Xochimilco
, leaving only some graduate programs in the original Academy of San Carlos building.
Catalonia
n Antonio Fabres
was a dominant force at the Academy during early 20th century. He would mentor later Mexican artists such as Saturnino Herrán
, Roberto Montenegro
, Diego Rivera
and José Clemente Orozco
.
José María Velasco
is considered the greatest artist associated with the Academy, famous for his landscapes of the Valley of Mexico
and a mentor of Diego Rivera. Other artists linked to the Academy are Manuel Rodríguez Lozano
, Alfredo Zalce, José Chávez Morado
, Francisco Moreno Capdevila, Luis Sahagún Cortés, Gabriel Fernández Ledesma
and Jorge Figueroa Acosta
.
and Raphael
. Cavallari also finished the patio, the conference room and the painting and sculpture galleries. The painting gallery contains portraits by Ramon Sagredo
and the sculpture room contains works by José Obregón and Manuel Ocaranza.
A number of plaster casts of classic statues from the San Fernando Fine Arts Academy
in Spain were brought here for teaching purposes. These casts still exist and can be seen on display in the Academy's central patio. Some of these statues include casts of statues from the Medici
tombs, Moses by Michelangelo
, The Victory of Samothrace and Venus de Milo
.
Zócalo
The Zócalo is the main plaza or square in the heart of the historic center of Mexico City. The plaza used to be known simply as the "Main Square" or "Arms Square," and today its formal name is Plaza de la Constitución...
of Mexico City
Mexico City
Mexico City is the Federal District , capital of Mexico and seat of the federal powers of the Mexican Union. It is a federal entity within Mexico which is not part of any one of the 31 Mexican states but belongs to the federation as a whole...
. It was the first major art academy
Art school
Art school is a general term for any educational institution with a primary focus on the visual arts, especially illustration, painting, photography, sculpture, and graphic design. The term applies to institutions with elementary, secondary, post-secondary or undergraduate, or graduate or...
and the first art museum in the Americas
Americas
The Americas, or America , are lands in the Western hemisphere, also known as the New World. In English, the plural form the Americas is often used to refer to the landmasses of North America and South America with their associated islands and regions, while the singular form America is primarily...
. It was founded in 1781 as the School of Engraving and moved to the Academia Street location about 10 years later. It emphasized classical European training until the early 20th century, when it shifted to a more modern perspective. At this time, it also integrated with the National Autonomous University of Mexico
National Autonomous University of Mexico
The Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México is a university in Mexico. UNAM was founded on 22 September 1910 by Justo Sierra as a liberal alternative to the Roman Catholic-sponsored Royal and Pontifical University of Mexico The Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) (National Autonomous...
, eventually becoming the National School of Expressive Arts, which is based in Xochimilco
Xochimilco
Xochimilco is one of the sixteen delegaciones or boroughs within Mexican Federal District. The borough is centered on the formerly independent city of Xochimilco, which was established on what was the southern shore of Lake Xochimilco in the pre-Hispanic period...
. Currently, only graduate courses of the modern school are given in the original academy building.
History
The Academy of San Carlos was initially founded in 1781 under the name of the School of Engraving. From that time to the present, it has been renamed many times to The Royal Academy of the Three Noble Arts of San Carlos (Real Academia de la Tres Nobles Artes de San Carlos) (1783), Academia Nacional de San Carlos de México (1821); Academia Imperial de San Carlos de México (1863); Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes (1867) and Escuela Nacional de Artes Plásticas (1929).Mexican painter Miguel Cabrera
Miguel Cabrera (painter)
Miguel Mateo Maldonado y Cabrera was an indigenous Zapotec painter during the Viceroyalty of New Spain, today's Mexico. During his lifetime, he was recognized as the greatest painter in all of New Spain....
iterated the need for an art academy as early as 1753 but attempts by him and other prominent Mexican artists of the time to gain royal permission for such was never obtained. The School of Engraving was begun later in the building that used to be the mint
Mint (coin)
A mint is an industrial facility which manufactures coins for currency.The history of mints correlates closely with the history of coins. One difference is that the history of the mint is usually closely tied to the political situation of an era...
, and would later become the modern-day National Museum of Cultures. Ten years later, it would moved to the former Amor de Dios Hospital, where it remains to this day. The street it is located on was renamed from Amor de Dios Street to Academia Street in its honor.
The Academy was originally sponsored by the Spanish Crown and a number of private patrons. The academy was inaugurated on 4 November 1781 on the saint's day of King Carlos III, operating for its first ten years in the old mint building (now the National Museum of Cultures). However, it did not obtain its royal seal until 1783 and was not fully functional until 1785. The school moved into the old "Hospital del Amor de Dios" building in 1791, where it remained ever since. The academy was the first major art institution in the Americas.
The school's first director, Italian Jeronimo Antonio Gil was appointed by Carlos III and gathered prominent artists of the day including José de Alcíbar, Santiago Sandoval, Juan Sáenz, Manuel Tolsá
Manuel Tolsá
Manuel Tolsá was a prolific Neoclassical architect and sculptor in Spain and Mexico.-Biography:...
and Rafael Ximeno y Planes
Rafael Ximeno y Planes
Rafael Ximeno y Planes was a Spanish painter. Some of his work appears in the Basílica de la Asunción, in the town of Cieza....
. Tolsá and Ximeno would later stay on to become directors of the school. The new school began to promote Neoclassicism
Neoclassicism
Neoclassicism is the name given to Western movements in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that draw inspiration from the "classical" art and culture of Ancient Greece or Ancient Rome...
, focusing on Greek and Roman art and architecture, advocating European-style training of its artists. To this end, plaster casts of classic Greek and Roman statues were brought to Mexico from Europe for students to study.
Since its founding, it attracted the country's best artists, and was a force behind the abandonment of the Baroque
Baroque
The Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music...
style in Mexico, which had already gone out-of-fashion in Europe.
In the early 19th century, the academy was closed for a short time due to the Mexican War of Independence
Mexican War of Independence
The Mexican War of Independence was an armed conflict between the people of Mexico and the Spanish colonial authorities which started on 16 September 1810. The movement, which became known as the Mexican War of Independence, was led by Mexican-born Spaniards, Mestizos and Amerindians who sought...
. When it reopened, it was renamed the National Academy of San Carlos and enjoyed the new government's preference for Neoclassicism, as it considered the Baroque reminiscent of colonialism. Despite the school's association with the independent Mexican government, Emperor Maximilian I (installed in Mexico by the French) protected the school during his reign, although interestingly enough, foreign artists were shunned here. When Benito Juárez
Benito Juárez
Benito Juárez born Benito Pablo Juárez García, was a Mexican lawyer and politician of Zapotec origin from Oaxaca who served five terms as president of Mexico: 1858–1861 as interim, 1861–1865, 1865–1867, 1867–1871 and 1871–1872...
ousted the emperor and regained the presidency of Mexico, he was reluctant to support the school and its European influence, which he considered to be a vestige of colonialism.
The academy continued to advocate classic, European-style training of its artists until the 1913. In this year, a student and teacher strike advocating a more modern approach ousted director Antonio Rivas Mercado
Antonio Rivas Mercado
Antonio Rivas Mercado was a Mexican architect, engineer and restorer. His most notable project was the design of the Independence Column in downtown Mexico City. He was father of Antonieta Rivas Mercado....
. It was also partially integrated into University of Mexico (now UNAM) at this time, although it initially kept a large degree of autonomy. In 1929, the architecture program was separated from the rest of the academy, and in 1953, this department was moved to the newly-built campus of UNAM
Ciudad Universitaria
Ciudad Universitaria , Mexico, is UNAM's main campus, located in Coyoacán borough in the southern part of Mexico City. Designed by architects Mario Pani and Enrique del Moral, it encloses the Olympic Stadium, about 40 faculties and institutes, the Cultural Center, an ecological reserve, the Central...
in the south of the city. The remaining programs in painting, sculpture and engraving were renamed National School of Expressive Arts Escuela Nacional de Artes Plásticas. Later, the undergraduate fine arts programs were moved to a facility in Xochimilco
Xochimilco
Xochimilco is one of the sixteen delegaciones or boroughs within Mexican Federal District. The borough is centered on the formerly independent city of Xochimilco, which was established on what was the southern shore of Lake Xochimilco in the pre-Hispanic period...
, leaving only some graduate programs in the original Academy of San Carlos building.
Associated artists
Some of its most famous first teachers included Miguel Constanzó in architecture, José Joaquín Fabregat in metal engraving, Rafael Ximeno y Planes in painting and Manuel Tolsá in sculpture. Another notable teacher here was Pelegrín Clavé, who was noted for his expertise in creating portraits of heroes and biblical figures.Catalonia
Catalonia
Catalonia is an autonomous community in northeastern Spain, with the official status of a "nationality" of Spain. Catalonia comprises four provinces: Barcelona, Girona, Lleida, and Tarragona. Its capital and largest city is Barcelona. Catalonia covers an area of 32,114 km² and has an...
n Antonio Fabres
Antonio Fabres
Antonio Maria Fabrés y Costa Antonio Fabrés was a famous Spanish artist during the turn of the 20th century. He was born in Barcelona Spain in 1854. It is said that he was the artist gene since his father was a draughtsman and his uncle a silversmith. He started studying at the Escuela de Bellas...
was a dominant force at the Academy during early 20th century. He would mentor later Mexican artists such as Saturnino Herrán
Saturnino Herrán
Saturnino Herrán Guinchard was a Mexican painter. His mother's name was Josefa Guinchard. In 1897 he took private drawing lessons in his native city and in 1901 entered the Aguascalientes Academy of Science. He took classes with José Inés Tovilla and Severo Amador, who taught him drawing and...
, Roberto Montenegro
Roberto Montenegro
Roberto Montenegro Nervo was a Mexican painter, illustrator, and stage designer....
, Diego Rivera
Diego Rivera
Diego María de la Concepción Juan Nepomuceno Estanislao de la Rivera y Barrientos Acosta y Rodríguez was a prominent Mexican painter born in Guanajuato, Guanajuato, an active communist, and husband of Frida Kahlo . His large wall works in fresco helped establish the Mexican Mural Movement in...
and José Clemente Orozco
José Clemente Orozco
José Clemente Orozco was a Mexican social realist painter, who specialized in bold murals that established the Mexican Mural Renaissance together with murals by Diego Rivera, David Alfaro Siqueiros, and others...
.
José María Velasco
José María Velasco Gómez
José María Velasco was a Mexican painter of the 19th century who made Mexican geography a symbol of national identity through of his paintings...
is considered the greatest artist associated with the Academy, famous for his landscapes of the Valley of Mexico
Valley of Mexico
The Valley of Mexico is a highlands plateau in central Mexico roughly coterminous with the present-day Distrito Federal and the eastern half of the State of Mexico. Surrounded by mountains and volcanoes, the Valley of Mexico was a centre for several pre-Columbian civilizations, including...
and a mentor of Diego Rivera. Other artists linked to the Academy are Manuel Rodríguez Lozano
Manuel Rodríguez Lozano
Manuel Rodríguez Lozano was a Mexican painter.- Biography :Rodríguez Lozano was born to Manuel Rodríguez and his wife Sara Lozano. He began a military education at the Heroico Colegio Militar, and started a diplomatic service career...
, Alfredo Zalce, José Chávez Morado
José Chávez Morado
José Chávez Morado was a Mexican painter and sculptor.- Biography :Morado was born in Silao, near the city of Guanajuato, where Diego Rivera was born, and like Rivera he is a well known and highly regarded painter and sculptor who became most famous for the murals he painted in Mexico in the first...
, Francisco Moreno Capdevila, Luis Sahagún Cortés, Gabriel Fernández Ledesma
Gabriel Fernández Ledesma
Gabriel Fernández Ledesma was a Mexican painter, printmaker, sculptor, graphic artist, writer and teacher. He has been described as one of the most prolific artists in Mexican modern art.-Biography:...
and Jorge Figueroa Acosta
Jorge Figueroa Acosta
Jorge Figueroa Acosta is a Mexican painter and sculptor born in Cananea, Sonora, Mexico. He studied at the National School of Plastic Arts Academy of San Carlos, regarded as the best school of arts in Mexico, of the National Autonomous University of Mexico.Because his works, predominantly...
.
Building
The building originally was as the Amor de Dios Hospital, which had closed by the time the School of Engraving decided to move there from the mint building. Founding director Jeronimo Antonio Gil took charge of the restoration and remodeling work. Artist Javier Cavallari created the Academy's Neoclassic facade, which is embellished with six medallions. Four of these represent the Academy's founders: Carlos III, Carlos IV, Jeronimo Antonio Gil and Fernando José Manguino, and the other two are of MichelangeloMichelangelo
Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni , commonly known as Michelangelo, was an Italian Renaissance painter, sculptor, architect, poet, and engineer who exerted an unparalleled influence on the development of Western art...
and Raphael
Raphael
Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino , better known simply as Raphael, was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. His work is admired for its clarity of form and ease of composition and for its visual achievement of the Neoplatonic ideal of human grandeur...
. Cavallari also finished the patio, the conference room and the painting and sculpture galleries. The painting gallery contains portraits by Ramon Sagredo
Ramón Sagredo
Ramón Sagredo was a 19th century Mexican painter and photographer who worked under the patronage of Emperor Maximilian and decorated the former cupola of "La Profesa" with the Catalonian master Pelegrín Clavé....
and the sculpture room contains works by José Obregón and Manuel Ocaranza.
A number of plaster casts of classic statues from the San Fernando Fine Arts Academy
Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando
The Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando , located on the Calle de Alcalá in the heart of Madrid, currently functions as a museum and gallery....
in Spain were brought here for teaching purposes. These casts still exist and can be seen on display in the Academy's central patio. Some of these statues include casts of statues from the Medici
Medici
The House of Medici or Famiglia de' Medici was a political dynasty, banking family and later royal house that first began to gather prominence under Cosimo de' Medici in the Republic of Florence during the late 14th century. The family originated in the Mugello region of the Tuscan countryside,...
tombs, Moses by Michelangelo
Moses (Michelangelo)
The Moses is a sculpture by the Italian High Renaissance artist Michelangelo Buonarroti, housed in the church of San Pietro in Vincoli in Rome...
, The Victory of Samothrace and Venus de Milo
Venus de Milo
Aphrodite of Milos , better known as the Venus de Milo, is an ancient Greek statue and one of the most famous works of ancient Greek sculpture. Created at some time between 130 and 100 BC, it is believed to depict Aphrodite the Greek goddess of love and beauty. It is a marble sculpture, slightly...
.