Rodolfo Morales
Encyclopedia
Mexican art
Mexican art consists of the various visual and plastic arts which developed over the geographical area now known as Mexico. The development of these arts roughly follow the history of Mexico, divided into the Mesoamerican era, the colonial period, with the period after the gaining of Independence...
, who incorporated elements of magic realism
Magic realism
Magic realism or magical realism is an aesthetic style or genre of fiction in which magical elements blend with the real world. The story explains these magical elements as real occurrences, presented in a straightforward manner that places the "real" and the "fantastic" in the same stream of...
into his work.
Morales is best known for his brightly coloured surrealistic dream-like canvases and collages often featuring Mexican women in village
Village
A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet with the population ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand , Though often located in rural areas, the term urban village is also applied to certain urban neighbourhoods, such as the West Village in Manhattan, New...
settings. He was notable for his restoration
Building restoration
Building restoration describes a particular treatment approach and philosophy within the field of architectural conservation. According the U.S...
of historic buildings in Ocotlán
Ocotlán
Ocotlán is a city and municipality in Jalisco, Mexico. Its industry includes furniture production.-Toponymy:The toponym Ocotlán means: "near the pines" or "place of the ocote ". Ocote is from the Náhuatl ocōtl, Pinus montezumae, a species of pine, .-History:Ocotlán was founded in 1530. Two main...
and, together with 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....
and Francisco Toledo
Francisco Toledo
Francisco Benjamín López Toledo is a Mexican graphic artist. He studied at the Escuela de Bellas Artes de Oaxaca and the Centro Superior de Artes Aplicadas del Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes, Mexico, where he studied graphic arts with Guillermo Silva Santamaria...
, helped make Oaxaca
Oaxaca
Oaxaca , , officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Oaxaca is one of the 31 states which, along with the Federal District, comprise the 32 federative entities of Mexico. It is divided into 571 municipalities; of which 418 are governed by the system of customs and traditions...
in Southern Mexico a centre for contemporary art
Contemporary art
Contemporary art can be defined variously as art produced at this present point in time or art produced since World War II. The definition of the word contemporary would support the first view, but museums of contemporary art commonly define their collections as consisting of art produced...
and tourism. Up until his death in 2001, both he and Toledo had been regarded as Mexico’s greatest living artists for over a decade.
Early years
A Zapotec Native AmericanIndigenous peoples of Mexico
Mexico, in the second article of its Constitution, is defined as a "pluricultural" nation in recognition of the diverse ethnic groups that constitute it, and in which the indigenous peoples are the original foundation...
, born to working class parents in the small town of Ocotlán de Morelos
Ocotlán
Ocotlán is a city and municipality in Jalisco, Mexico. Its industry includes furniture production.-Toponymy:The toponym Ocotlán means: "near the pines" or "place of the ocote ". Ocote is from the Náhuatl ocōtl, Pinus montezumae, a species of pine, .-History:Ocotlán was founded in 1530. Two main...
, Morales was an often solitary child who found comfort in drawing. From 1948 to 1953 he studied art at the Academy of San Carlos
Academy of San Carlos
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...
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...
. He graduated as a drawing teacher and began a 32-year career as an art teacher at Escuela Nacional Preparatoria
Escuela Nacional Preparatoria
The Escuela Nacional Preparatoria , the oldest senior high school system in Mexico, belonging to the National Autonomous University of Mexico , opened its doors on February 1, 1868. It was founded by Gabino Barreda, M.D., following orders of then President of Mexico Benito Juárez...
, a position he held from 1953 until 1985.
In 1965 while organizing a Christmas party at the home of a sculptor friend, Geles Cabrera, he used collages as decorations. She liked his works and suggested a trade: a piece of sculpture for a painting. This recognition stimulated Morales to focus all his efforts on painting and, to make extra money, he organized exhibitions of his work in small galleries around the capital.
In 1975 with Morales approaching 50, he was persuaded by Cabrera to hold his first mainstream solo exhibition at the Casa de las Campanas Art Gallery in Cuernavaca
Cuernavaca
Cuernavaca is the capital and largest city of the state of Morelos in Mexico. It was established at the archeological site of Gualupita I by the Olmec, "the mother culture" of Mesoamerica, approximately 3200 years ago...
. Here his paintings came to the attention of famous Mexican painter 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....
. Tamayo helped Morales make contacts with art critics and galleries around the world, leading to a number of joint and solo exhibitions.
Later years
By 1985, Morales had earned enough money to stop teaching and to return to OaxacaOaxaca
Oaxaca , , officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Oaxaca is one of the 31 states which, along with the Federal District, comprise the 32 federative entities of Mexico. It is divided into 571 municipalities; of which 418 are governed by the system of customs and traditions...
where he was able to dedicate himself to both his art and to restoration
Building restoration
Building restoration describes a particular treatment approach and philosophy within the field of architectural conservation. According the U.S...
. Using income from his art he founded the Rodolfo Morales Cultural Foundation devoted to restoration of buildings in his hometown of Ocotlán. In all, he funded the restoration of fifteen churches including the 16th century Convent of Santo Domingo and a 17th century church in the town of Santa Ana Zegache
Santa Ana Zegache
Santa Ana Zegache is a town and municipality in Oaxaca in south-western Mexico. The municipality covers an area of 26.79 km².It is part of the Ocotlán District in the south of the Valles Centrales Region...
, as well creating cultural spaces throughout Oaxaca's central valleys. His most important restoration project was the former convent of Ocotlan which was converted into a municipal complex.
Morales ensured that much of the restoration work done was by local women who, by developing skills, were able to later find employment elsewhere. His other notable Foundation work included setting up a computer room for local youths to learn information technology skills, providing materials to aspiring artists, producing of prints to help Frente Común Contra SIDA educate against the spread of AIDS
AIDS
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...
and planting new copal
Copal
Copal is a name given to tree resin that is particularly identified with the aromatic resins used by the cultures of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica as ceremonially burned incense and other purposes...
trees not only to enhance the landscape but also to provide wood for the creation of hand-painted animals.
Whilst continuing with his art, he would begin each day by making a small collage which he would sell to raise money for his Foundation.
He died on January 30, 2001, at the age of 75 in Oaxaca from pancreatic cancer
Pancreatic cancer
Pancreatic cancer refers to a malignant neoplasm of the pancreas. The most common type of pancreatic cancer, accounting for 95% of these tumors is adenocarcinoma, which arises within the exocrine component of the pancreas. A minority arises from the islet cells and is classified as a...
. His remains were placed in his restored Convent of Santo Domingo, in Ocotlán, Oaxaca.
Artistic style and technique
Morales’ work has been described as dreamDream
Dreams are successions of images, ideas, emotions, and sensations that occur involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep. The content and purpose of dreams are not definitively understood, though they have been a topic of scientific speculation, philosophical intrigue and religious...
-like, fertile
Fertile
The term fertile describes a condition whereby organisms are able to produce physically healthy offspring.Fertile may also refer to:...
and heavily based in folklore
Folklore
Folklore consists of legends, music, oral history, proverbs, jokes, popular beliefs, fairy tales and customs that are the traditions of a culture, subculture, or group. It is also the set of practices through which those expressive genres are shared. The study of folklore is sometimes called...
. It often depicts indigenous people, especially women set amongst rural buildings, churches, town squares and arcaded shops. His style is influenced by María Izquierdo
María Izquierdo
María Izquierdo was a Mexican painter. She was born in San Juan de los Lagos in the state of Jalisco; her birth name was María Cenobia Izquierdo Gutiérrez. Her father died when she was five years old and she lived with grandparents afterward in small towns of Aguascalientes, Torreón, and Saltillo...
(1902-1955) and French painter Marc Chagall
Marc Chagall
Marc Chagall Art critic Robert Hughes referred to Chagall as "the quintessential Jewish artist of the twentieth century."According to art historian Michael J...
(1887-1985).
Women and memories appear to be at the heart of his work. Morales once explained, “Mexico would be lost without the steadfast work of women. They bear the burden of day-to-day living and find solutions to those problems to which men simply resign themselves.” In a 1995 interview Morales explained, "I came here to live in my memories. . . Nostalgia and melancholy are very important to me." Despite this, Morales avoided discussing the “meaning” of his work, often producing works without title.
Characteristics of his work include rich use of colour, exaggerated hands and feet, over-sized faces, women (often brides), puppies, flowers, angels, bicycles, musical instruments and the dreamy floating of figures.
Whilst the bulk of his work was oil on canvas
Canvas
Canvas is an extremely heavy-duty plain-woven fabric used for making sails, tents, marquees, backpacks, and other items for which sturdiness is required. It is also popularly used by artists as a painting surface, typically stretched across a wooden frame...
he also produced a number of murals, highly decorated pieces of wooden furniture
Furniture
Furniture is the mass noun for the movable objects intended to support various human activities such as seating and sleeping in beds, to hold objects at a convenient height for work using horizontal surfaces above the ground, or to store things...
and characteristic cardboard pillars which, when arranged together, create a changing kaleidoscope of image and colour as the viewer walks around them. Added to this were his many collages, some sold as fund raisers but others, often in a set and in greater detail, arranged to tell a story. In 1998 the Children’s Book Press published Angel’s Kite
Kite
A kite is a tethered aircraft. The necessary lift that makes the kite wing fly is generated when air flows over and under the kite's wing, producing low pressure above the wing and high pressure below it. This deflection also generates horizontal drag along the direction of the wind...
illustrated by Morales in the form of collage.
Exhibitions and murals
Notable Individual Exhibits
- 1973 Provincial Palace of Málaga, Málaga, Spain
- 1975 Casa de las Campanas, Cuernavaca, Morelos
- 1976 Galeria del Circulo, Mexico City
- 1978 Galeria Miro, Monterrey, Mexico
- 1978 Mexican MuseumMexican MuseumEl Museo Mexicano or The Mexican Museum is a San Francisco, California, USA museum created to exhibit the aesthetic expression of the Latino, Chicano, Mexican, and Mexican-American people.-History:...
, San Francisco, CaliforniaSan Francisco, CaliforniaSan Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland... - 1978 Estella Shapiro Gallery, Mexico City
- 1979 Club de Industriales, Monterrey, Mexico
- 1980 Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes, Mexico City
- 1981 Downtown Gallery, Fort Worth, TexasFort Worth, TexasFort Worth is the 16th-largest city in the United States of America and the fifth-largest city in the state of Texas. Located in North Central Texas, just southeast of the Texas Panhandle, the city is a cultural gateway into the American West and covers nearly in Tarrant, Parker, Denton, and...
- 1981 National Polytechnic InstituteNational Polytechnic InstituteThe National Polytechnic Institute colloquially known as the Polytechnic is one of the largest public universities in Mexico with 153.027 students at the high school, undergraduate and postgraduate levels...
, Mexico City - 1982 Estella Shapiro Gallery, Mexico City
- 1983 Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de MonterreyMuseo de Arte Contemporáneo de MonterreyMuseo de Arte Contemporáneo de Monterrey is one of the leading museums of contemporary art in Mexico. MARCO organizes major exhibitions with regional and international contemporary artists. It is located in the heart of Monterrey next to the Macroplaza and Barrio Antiguo...
, Monterrey - 1986 Galeria Los Principes, OaxacaOaxacaOaxaca , , officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Oaxaca is one of the 31 states which, along with the Federal District, comprise the 32 federative entities of Mexico. It is divided into 571 municipalities; of which 418 are governed by the system of customs and traditions...
, Mexico - 1986 Taller Artes Plasticas Rufino Tamayo, Oaxaca, Mexico
- 1986 Magic and Mystery, Galeria Centro Cultural, Mexico City
- 1988 Vorpal Gallery, SoHo, New York
- 1989 Vorpal Gallery, SoHo, New York
- 1990 Vorpal Gallery, San Francisco
- 1990 Estella Shapiro Gallery, Mexico City
- 1993 Ramis Barquet, Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico
- 1995 Dreams of a Village, Riva Yares Gallery, Santa Fe, New MexicoSanta Fe, New MexicoSanta Fe is the capital of the U.S. state of New Mexico. It is the fourth-largest city in the state and is the seat of . Santa Fe had a population of 67,947 in the 2010 census...
- 1996 Dreams of a Village, Riva Yares Gallery, Scottsdale, ArizonaScottsdale, ArizonaScottsdale is a city in the eastern part of Maricopa County, Arizona, United States, adjacent to Phoenix. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, as of 2010 the population of the city was 217,385...
- 1996 Opening Exhibition, Mexican MuseumMexican MuseumEl Museo Mexicano or The Mexican Museum is a San Francisco, California, USA museum created to exhibit the aesthetic expression of the Latino, Chicano, Mexican, and Mexican-American people.-History:...
, San Francisco then touring the USA and CanadaCanadaCanada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean... - 2006 'Rodolfo Morales: Master of Dreams, Monterrey, Mexico City, GuadalajaraGuadalajara, JaliscoGuadalajara is the capital of the Mexican state of Jalisco, and the seat of the municipality of Guadalajara. The city is located in the central region of Jalisco in the western-pacific area of Mexico. With a population of 1,564,514 it is Mexico's second most populous municipality...
, BogotáBogotáBogotá, Distrito Capital , from 1991 to 2000 called Santa Fé de Bogotá, is the capital, and largest city, of Colombia. It is also designated by the national constitution as the capital of the department of Cundinamarca, even though the city of Bogotá now comprises an independent Capital district...
, Los AngelesLos ÁngelesLos Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
Group Exhibits
- 1981 Five Mexican Painters, Tampa Museum of ArtTampa Museum of ArtThe Tampa Museum of Art is located in Downtown Tampa, Florida. The museum exhibits 20th-century fine art, as well as Greek, Roman, and Etruscan antiquities. It opened in 1979 on the banks of Hillsborough River.- Museum History :...
, Tampa, FloridaTampa, FloridaTampa is a city in the U.S. state of Florida. It serves as the county seat for Hillsborough County. Tampa is located on the west coast of Florida. The population of Tampa in 2010 was 335,709.... - 1981 National Bank of Mexico City, Mexico City
- 1982 Artists of Oaxaca, Metropolitan Museum, Mexico City
- 1982 Mexican MuseumMexican MuseumEl Museo Mexicano or The Mexican Museum is a San Francisco, California, USA museum created to exhibit the aesthetic expression of the Latino, Chicano, Mexican, and Mexican-American people.-History:...
, San Francisco, CaliforniaSan Francisco, CaliforniaSan Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland... - 1983 Galeria Metropolitana, Universidad Autonoma, Mexico City
- 1983 Casa de la Cultura Jaliscience, GuadalajaraGuadalajara, JaliscoGuadalajara is the capital of the Mexican state of Jalisco, and the seat of the municipality of Guadalajara. The city is located in the central region of Jalisco in the western-pacific area of Mexico. With a population of 1,564,514 it is Mexico's second most populous municipality...
, Mexico - 1984 Galeria Uno, Puerto VallartaPuerto VallartaPuerto Vallarta is a Mexican balneario resort city situated on the Pacific Ocean's Bahía de Banderas.The 2010 census reported Puerto Vallarta's population as 255,725 making it the sixth-largest city in the state of Jalisco...
, Mexico - 1985 Galeria Metropolitana, Universidad Autonoma, Mexico City
- 1986 Museo de Arte ModernoMuseo de Arte ModernoThe Museo de Arte Moderno or Museum of Modern Art is located in Chapultepec Park, Mexico City, Mexico. The museum is part of the Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes and prepares exhibitions of national and international contemporary artists...
, Mexico City - 1987 La Plastica Oaxaquena, Galeria del Auditoria Nacional, Mexico City
- 1987 Galeria d'Art de Oaxaca, Oaxaca, Mexico
- 1990 The Heart of Mexico, Riva Yares Gallery, Scottsdale, ArizonaScottsdale, ArizonaScottsdale is a city in the eastern part of Maricopa County, Arizona, United States, adjacent to Phoenix. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, as of 2010 the population of the city was 217,385...
- 1990 Aspects of Contemporary Mexican Art, Americas Society, New YorkNew YorkNew York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
then traveling to Blue Star Art Space, San Antonio, TexasSan Antonio, TexasSan Antonio is the seventh-largest city in the United States of America and the second-largest city within the state of Texas, with a population of 1.33 million. Located in the American Southwest and the south–central part of Texas, the city serves as the seat of Bexar County. In 2011,...
; Meadows MuseumMeadows MuseumThe Meadows Museum is a museum in Dallas, USA. A division of the Southern Methodist University Meadows School of the Arts, houses one of the largest and most comprehensive collections of Spanish art outside of Spain, with works dating from the 10th to the 20th century...
, Dallas, TexasDallas, TexasDallas is the third-largest city in Texas and the ninth-largest in the United States. The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is the largest metropolitan area in the South and fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States...
; Santa Monica Museum of ArtSanta Monica Museum of ArtThe Santa Monica Museum of Art is an independent non-collecting art museum located in Santa Monica, California. It exhibits the work of local, national, and international contemporary artists....
, Santa Monica, CaliforniaSanta Monica, CaliforniaSanta Monica is a beachfront city in western Los Angeles County, California, US. Situated on Santa Monica Bay, it is surrounded on three sides by the city of Los Angeles — Pacific Palisades on the northwest, Brentwood on the north, West Los Angeles on the northeast, Mar Vista on the east, and...
; Mexican MuseumMexican MuseumEl Museo Mexicano or The Mexican Museum is a San Francisco, California, USA museum created to exhibit the aesthetic expression of the Latino, Chicano, Mexican, and Mexican-American people.-History:...
, San Francisco, CaliforniaSan Francisco, CaliforniaSan Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland... - 1990 Life, Legends and Dreams - Six Painters from Oaxaca, Arizona State UniversityArizona State UniversityArizona State University is a public research university located in the Phoenix Metropolitan Area of the State of Arizona...
Art Museum, Tempe, ArizonaTempe, ArizonaTempe is a city in Maricopa County, Arizona, USA, with the Census Bureau reporting a 2010 population of 161,719. The city is named after the Vale of Tempe in Greece. Tempe is located in the East Valley section of metropolitan Phoenix; it is bordered by Phoenix and Guadalupe on the west, Scottsdale... - 1990 The Heard MuseumHeard MuseumThe Heard Museum of Native Cultures and Art is a museum located in Phoenix, Arizona, USA. There is also the Heard Museum North Scottsdale branch in Scottsdale and the Heard Museum West branch in Surprise....
, Phoenix, ArizonaPhoenix, ArizonaPhoenix is the capital, and largest city, of the U.S. state of Arizona, as well as the sixth most populated city in the United States. Phoenix is home to 1,445,632 people according to the official 2010 U.S. Census Bureau data... - 1991 The Charm of Oaxaca, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de MonterreyMuseo de Arte Contemporáneo de MonterreyMuseo de Arte Contemporáneo de Monterrey is one of the leading museums of contemporary art in Mexico. MARCO organizes major exhibitions with regional and international contemporary artists. It is located in the heart of Monterrey next to the Macroplaza and Barrio Antiguo...
, Monterrey - 1992 New Territories 350/500 years later, Montreal, Canada and Regional Museum of Oaxaca
- 1992 Mito y Magia en America: Los Ochenta, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de MonterreyMuseo de Arte Contemporáneo de MonterreyMuseo de Arte Contemporáneo de Monterrey is one of the leading museums of contemporary art in Mexico. MARCO organizes major exhibitions with regional and international contemporary artists. It is located in the heart of Monterrey next to the Macroplaza and Barrio Antiguo...
, Monterrey - 1993 Death in Mexican Culture, Stuttgart, Germany
- 1993 Oaxaca: Tierra de Colores, Banco Nacional de Obras, Mexico City
- 1994 Myth and Magic: Oaxaca Past and Present, at the Palo Alto Art CenterPalo Alto Art CenterPalo Alto Art Center is multi-purpose center for various art-related activities in the city of Palo Alto, California. The art center has many educational activities, such as weekly classes and special days...
, Palo Alto, CaliforniaPalo Alto, CaliforniaPalo Alto is a California charter city located in the northwest corner of Santa Clara County, in the San Francisco Bay Area of California, United States. The city shares its borders with East Palo Alto, Mountain View, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Stanford, Portola Valley, and Menlo Park. It is...
Murals
- 1954 Municipal Palace of Ocotlán de Morelos, Oaxaca, Mexico
- 1962 Escuela Preparatoria No. 5, Mexico City
- 1980 Municipal Palace of Ocotlán de Morelos, Oaxaca, Mexico
- 1980 Rincon de los Bosques Restaurant, Mexico City (two murals)
- 1986 Fresco at Escuela Preparatoria No. 5, Mexico City
- 1994 Sheraton Hotel, Mexico City