Rafael Yela Günther
Encyclopedia
Rafael Yela Günther was a Guatemala
Guatemala
Guatemala is a country in Central America bordered by Mexico to the north and west, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, Belize to the northeast, the Caribbean to the east, and Honduras and El Salvador to the southeast...

n painter and sculptor.

Biography

Yela studied sculpture under his father Baldomero Yela Montenegro (1859–1909), a sculptor and marble-carver, and afterwards under the Venezuela
Venezuela
Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...

n Santiago González (1850–1909). The Italian Antonio Doninelli taught him bronze casting techniques. In his early life he made the acquaintances of notable artists like 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...

, Carlos Mauricio Valenti Perrillat
Carlos Mauricio Valenti Perrillat
Carlos Mauricio Valenti Perrillat was a French-born painter, who worked predominantly in Guatemala...

 and Jaime Sabartés.

Around 1921 he moved 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...

, where he made the acquaintance of 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 got into first contact with Maya
Maya art
Maya art, here taken to mean the visual arts, is the artistic style typical of the Maya civilization, that took shape in the course the Preclassic period , and grew greater during the Classic period Maya art, here taken to mean the visual arts, is the artistic style typical of the Maya...

 and Aztec
Aztec
The Aztec people were certain ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those groups who spoke the Nahuatl language and who dominated large parts of Mesoamerica in the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries, a period referred to as the late post-classic period in Mesoamerican chronology.Aztec is the...

 art via Manuel Gamio
Manuel Gamio
Manuel Gamio was a Mexican anthropologist, archaeologist, sociologist, and a leader of the indigenismo movement. He is often considered as the father of modern anthropological studies in Mexico...

. From 1926 to 1930 he lived in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, before he created imposing works in his home country. He was director of the Escuela Nacional de Artes Plásticas "Rafael Rodríguez Padilla"
Escuela Nacional de Artes Plásticas "Rafael Rodríguez Padilla"
The Escuela Nacional de Artes Plásticas "Rafael Rodríguez Padilla" is an art school in Guatemala City, that was founded as Academia de Bellas Artes in 1920...

 for several years until his death.

Selected works

  • José Francisco Barrundia
    José Francisco Barrundia
    José Francisco Barrundia y Cepeda was a liberal Central American politician. From June 26, 1829 to September 16, 1830 he was interim president of the United Provinces of Central America....

     monument, Guatemala City main cemetery, 1905/1906
  • Isabel La Católica
    Isabella I of Castile
    Isabella I was Queen of Castile and León. She and her husband Ferdinand II of Aragon brought stability to both kingdoms that became the basis for the unification of Spain. Later the two laid the foundations for the political unification of Spain under their grandson, Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor...

     monument, Guatemala City, 1915
  • "Tríptico de la Raza" (triptych
    Triptych
    A triptych , from tri-= "three" + ptysso= "to fold") is a work of art which is divided into three sections, or three carved panels which are hinged together and can be folded shut or displayed open. It is therefore a type of polyptych, the term for all multi-panel works...

     of the race
    ), Museo Arqueológico de Teotihuacán, 1922 (destroyed in the 1960s)
  • Leaders of the Independence monument, Guatemala City, 1934/1935
  • Jacinto Rodríguez Díaz mausoleum, 1932
  • Tecún Umán
    Tecún Umán
    Tecún Umán was the last ruler and king of the K'iche' Maya people, in the highlands of what is now Guatemala...

     heroes' monument, Quetzaltenango
    Quetzaltenango
    Quetzaltenango, also commonly known by its indigenous name, Xelajú , or more commonly, Xela , is the second largest city of Guatemala. It is both the capital of Quetzaltenango Department and the municipal seat of Quetzaltenango municipality....

  • Justo Rufino Barrios
    Justo Rufino Barrios
    Justo Rufino Barrios was a President of Guatemala known for his liberal reforms and his attempts to reunite Central America....

    monument, 1941
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