Günther Gerzso
Encyclopedia
Gunther Gerzso was a Hungarian
Mexican
painter
, designer and director and screenwriter for film and theatre.
Born in Mexico City
, in the times of the Revolution
, to Oscar Gerzso , a Hungarian immigrant and Dore Wendland, German by birth. After his father's death, a few months after Gunther was born, his mother married a German jeweler. The economic crisis during the revolution caused the family to flee to Europe in 1922. The family returned to Mexico
two years later and her mother divorced. Not being able to provide for the children, she sent Gunther to Lugano
, Switzerland to live with his uncle Dr. Hans Wendland, who was an influential name in the art world. Gunther, then a teenager, met Paul Klee
and lived among his uncle's collection of paintings which included works by Pierre Bonnard
, Rembrandt, Paul Cézanne
, Eugène Delacroix
and Titian
. During his time in Lugano
, he also met Nando Tamberlani, noted set designer who would introduce him to the world of theater.
In 1931, due to the impact of the Great Depression
in Europe, Dr. Wendland sent the boy back to his mother in Mexico City. Back home he started doing sketches for set designs and writing plays influenced by Mr. Tamberlani. Two years later he started working in a local theater production company run by Fernando Wagner
. In 1935 he was offered a scholarship to study at the Cleveland Playhouse where he made more than 50 set designs over the course of 4 years. During the 40's and 50's he made various set designs for Mexican, French and American films. He won a total of 5 Premios Ariel
(The Mexican Equivalent of the Oscars) for Best Production Design as well as two more honorary Ariel Awards in 1994 and 2000. During this time he collaborated with directors like Emilio "El Indio" Fernández
in "Un Dia de Vida" (1950), Luis Buñuel
in "Susana" (1951), "Una Mujer sin Amor" (1952) and "El Rio y la Muerte" (1955), Yves Allégret
in "Les Orgueilleux" (1953), and John Houston
in "Under the Volcano" (1984).
In the late 30's Gerzso also started painting as a hobby. The steady parade of beautiful actresses and interesting people he met in showbusiness provided him with a great inspiration for his canvases which showed a clear influence of his art appreciation with a mix of European and Mexican influence. His friend, Bernard Pfriem, convinced him to enter the annual Art Exhibition at the Cleveland Museum of Art
where two of his works were selected. It was then that Gunther Gerzso started considering himself a painter more than a Set Designer. In 1941 Gerzso and his wife moved permanently to Mexico City
and in 1944 he joined a group of surrealist painters that had taken refuge from the Second World War in Mexico. These artists were Benjamin Péret
, Leonora Carrington
, Remedios Varo
, Alice Rahon
and Wolfgang Paalen
. His works from this period show a clear surrealist influence, which he later abandoned when he started working his famous abstracts
.
According to Octavio Paz
, Gunther Gerzso was one of the greatest Latin American painters, since it was him, along with Carlos Mérida
and Rufino Tamayo
, who opposed the ideologist aesthetic movement into which muralism
had degenerated.
Gunther Gerzso was awarded the Guggenheim Fellowship
in 1973 and later in 1978 he was the recipient of the Premio Nacional de Bellas Artes. A world renowned painter, sculptor, printmaker, set designer, writer and art director, Gunther Gerzso died on April 21, 2000.
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
Mexican
Mexican people
Mexican people refers to all persons from Mexico, a multiethnic country in North America, and/or who identify with the Mexican cultural and/or national identity....
painter
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
, designer and director and screenwriter for film and theatre.
Born in 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...
, in the times of the Revolution
Mexican Revolution
The Mexican Revolution was a major armed struggle that started in 1910, with an uprising led by Francisco I. Madero against longtime autocrat Porfirio Díaz. The Revolution was characterized by several socialist, liberal, anarchist, populist, and agrarianist movements. Over time the Revolution...
, to Oscar Gerzso , a Hungarian immigrant and Dore Wendland, German by birth. After his father's death, a few months after Gunther was born, his mother married a German jeweler. The economic crisis during the revolution caused the family to flee to Europe in 1922. The family returned to Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
two years later and her mother divorced. Not being able to provide for the children, she sent Gunther to Lugano
Lugano
Lugano is a city of inhabitants in the city proper and a total of over 145,000 people in the agglomeration/city region, in the south of Switzerland, in the Italian-speaking canton of Ticino, which borders Italy...
, Switzerland to live with his uncle Dr. Hans Wendland, who was an influential name in the art world. Gunther, then a teenager, met Paul Klee
Paul Klee
Paul Klee was born in Münchenbuchsee, Switzerland, and is considered both a German and a Swiss painter. His highly individual style was influenced by movements in art that included expressionism, cubism, and surrealism. He was, as well, a student of orientalism...
and lived among his uncle's collection of paintings which included works by Pierre Bonnard
Pierre Bonnard
Pierre Bonnard was a French painter and printmaker, as well as a founding member of Les Nabis.-Biography:...
, Rembrandt, Paul Cézanne
Paul Cézanne
Paul Cézanne was a French artist and Post-Impressionist painter whose work laid the foundations of the transition from the 19th century conception of artistic endeavour to a new and radically different world of art in the 20th century. Cézanne can be said to form the bridge between late 19th...
, Eugène Delacroix
Eugène Delacroix
Ferdinand Victor Eugène Delacroix was a French Romantic artist regarded from the outset of his career as the leader of the French Romantic school...
and Titian
Titian
Tiziano Vecelli or Tiziano Vecellio Tiziano Vecelli or Tiziano Vecellio Tiziano Vecelli or Tiziano Vecellio (c. 1488/1490 – 27 August 1576 better known as Titian was an Italian painter, the most important member of the 16th-century Venetian school. He was born in Pieve di Cadore, near...
. During his time in Lugano
Lugano
Lugano is a city of inhabitants in the city proper and a total of over 145,000 people in the agglomeration/city region, in the south of Switzerland, in the Italian-speaking canton of Ticino, which borders Italy...
, he also met Nando Tamberlani, noted set designer who would introduce him to the world of theater.
In 1931, due to the impact of the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
in Europe, Dr. Wendland sent the boy back to his mother in Mexico City. Back home he started doing sketches for set designs and writing plays influenced by Mr. Tamberlani. Two years later he started working in a local theater production company run by Fernando Wagner
Fernando Wagner
Fernando Wagner was a Mexican actor and film director. One of his most memorable roles was in the film La perla.-External links:* * * *...
. In 1935 he was offered a scholarship to study at the Cleveland Playhouse where he made more than 50 set designs over the course of 4 years. During the 40's and 50's he made various set designs for Mexican, French and American films. He won a total of 5 Premios Ariel
Ariel Award
The Ariel is the Mexican Academy of Film Award. It has been awarded annually since 1947. The award recognizes excellence in motion picture making, such as acting, directing and screenwriting in Mexican cinema. It is considered the most prestigious award in the Mexican movie industry.- History :The...
(The Mexican Equivalent of the Oscars) for Best Production Design as well as two more honorary Ariel Awards in 1994 and 2000. During this time he collaborated with directors like Emilio "El Indio" Fernández
Emilio Fernández
Emilio "El Indio" Fernández was an actor, screenwriter and director of the cinema of Mexico. He is best known for his work as director of the film Maria Candelaria which won the Grand Prix at the 1946 Cannes Film Festival.-Early life:Fernández was born in Mineral del Hondo, Coahuila...
in "Un Dia de Vida" (1950), Luis Buñuel
Luis Buñuel
Luis Buñuel Portolés was a Spanish-born filmmaker — later a naturalized citizen of Mexico — who worked in Spain, Mexico, France and the US..-Early years:...
in "Susana" (1951), "Una Mujer sin Amor" (1952) and "El Rio y la Muerte" (1955), Yves Allégret
Yves Allégret
Yves Allégret was a French film director in the film noir genre.He is noted as having been the husband of actress Simone Signoret between the years 1944–1949.-Selected filmography:...
in "Les Orgueilleux" (1953), and John Houston
John Houston
John Houston is the name of:* John Houston * John Houston , Pioneer newspaperman and politician from British Columbia, Canada* John Houston , New Zealand historian and writer...
in "Under the Volcano" (1984).
In the late 30's Gerzso also started painting as a hobby. The steady parade of beautiful actresses and interesting people he met in showbusiness provided him with a great inspiration for his canvases which showed a clear influence of his art appreciation with a mix of European and Mexican influence. His friend, Bernard Pfriem, convinced him to enter the annual Art Exhibition at the Cleveland Museum of Art
Cleveland Museum of Art
The Cleveland Museum of Art is an art museum situated in the Wade Park District, in the University Circle neighborhood on Cleveland's east side. Internationally renowned for its substantial holdings of Asian and Egyptian art, the museum houses a diverse permanent collection of more than 43,000...
where two of his works were selected. It was then that Gunther Gerzso started considering himself a painter more than a Set Designer. In 1941 Gerzso and his wife moved permanently to 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...
and in 1944 he joined a group of surrealist painters that had taken refuge from the Second World War in Mexico. These artists were Benjamin Péret
Benjamin Péret
Benjamin Péret was a French poet, Parisian Dadaist and a founder and central member of the French Surrealist movement with his avid use of Surrealist automatism.-Biography:...
, Leonora Carrington
Leonora Carrington
Leonora Carrington OBE was a British-born Mexican artist, a surrealist painter and a novelist. She lived most of her life in Mexico City.-Early life:...
, Remedios Varo
Remedios Varo
Remedios Varo Uranga was a Spanish-Mexican, para-surrealist painter and anarchist. She was born María de los Remedios Varo Uranga in Anglès, Girona, Spain in 1908. During the Spanish Civil War she fled to Paris where she was greatly influenced by the surrealist movement...
, Alice Rahon
Alice Rahon
Alice Rahon was a French Surrealist painter and writer.- Life :Alice Rahon was born in the village Chenecey-Buillon in the French Franche-Comté region. In 1931 she met the Austrian painter Wolfgang Paalen whom she married later. She was inspired by his Surrealist poetry...
and Wolfgang Paalen
Wolfgang Paalen
Wolfgang Paalen was an Austrian-Mexican painter and theorist.-Early life:Wolfgang Paalen was born in Vienna in 1905, as the first of four sons of the Austrian-Jewish merchant and inventor Gustav Robert Paalen, and his German wife, the actress Clothilde Emilie Gunkel...
. His works from this period show a clear surrealist influence, which he later abandoned when he started working his famous abstracts
Abstract art
Abstract art uses a visual language of form, color and line to create a composition which may exist with a degree of independence from visual references in the world. Western art had been, from the Renaissance up to the middle of the 19th century, underpinned by the logic of perspective and an...
.
According to Octavio Paz
Octavio Paz
Octavio Paz Lozano was a Mexican writer, poet, and diplomat, and the winner of the 1990 Nobel Prize for Literature.-Early life and writings:...
, Gunther Gerzso was one of the greatest Latin American painters, since it was him, along with Carlos Mérida
Carlos Merida
Carlos Mérida was a Guatemalan artist.-Early life:Mérida was born in Guatemala City to a family from Quetzaltenango, boasting a Maya and Zapotec heritage which was often an inspiration in his art. He began studying music but became hearing-impaired due to illness. He then changed to the visual arts...
and Rufino Tamayo
Rufino Tamayo
Rufino Tamayo was a Mexican painter of Zapotec heritage, born in Oaxaca de Juárez, Mexico. Tamayo was active in the mid-20th century in Mexico and New York, painting figurative abstraction with surrealist influences....
, who opposed the ideologist aesthetic movement into which muralism
Mexican murals
Mexican murals are an important part of Mexican culture and history. Murals have been used for political, social, environmental, and cultural representation.-Mayans and Aztecs:...
had degenerated.
Gunther Gerzso was awarded the Guggenheim Fellowship
Guggenheim Fellowship
Guggenheim Fellowships are American grants that have been awarded annually since 1925 by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the arts." Each year, the foundation makes...
in 1973 and later in 1978 he was the recipient of the Premio Nacional de Bellas Artes. A world renowned painter, sculptor, printmaker, set designer, writer and art director, Gunther Gerzso died on April 21, 2000.