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The murals of the UNAM Central Library, by Juan O'Gorman

Juan O'Gorman (July 6, 1905 – January 17, 1982) was a Mexican painter and architect.

Biography

House of Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo

O'Gorman was born in Coyoacán, then a village to the south of Mexico City and now a borough of the Federal District, to an Irish father, Cecil Crawford O'Gorman (a painter himself) and a Mexican mother. In the 1920s he studied architecture at the Academy of San Carlos, the Art and Architecture school at the National Autonomous University. He became a well known architect, worked on the new Bank of Mexico building, and under the influence of Le Corbusier introduced modern functionalist architecture to Mexico City with his 1929 houses at San Angel.

Mural in library Gertrudis Bocanegra, Pátzcuaro, Michoacán

An important early commission was for a house and studio for painters Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo, built in 1931-32, with its symbolic bridge. Rivera, in turn, influenced O'Gorman's painting. 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."

As he matured O'Gorman turned away from strict functionalism and worked to develop an organic architecture, combining the influence of Frank Lloyd Wright with traditional Mexican constructions.

His paintings often treated Mexican history, landscape, and legends. 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 Martinez de Velasco. See also Mexican Muralism.

In 1959, together with fellow artists, Raúl Anguiano, Jesús Guerrero Galván, and Carlos Orozco Romero, Juan O'Gorman founded the militant Unión de Pintores y Grabadores de México.

He died on January 17, 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, who was 76 years old, was found dead at his home.

Bibliography

• Burian, Edward R., "The Architecture of Juan O'Gorman: Dichotomy and Drift," in Modernity and the Architecture of Mexico, (Edward R. Burian, ed.) University of Texas Press, Austin TX, 1997, ISBN 0292708521

• Burian, Edward R., “Modernity and Nationalism: Juan O’Gorman and Post-Revolutionary Architecture in Mexico, 1920-1960,” in Cruelty & Utopia: Cities and Landscapes of Latin America (Jean-François LeJeune, ed.) Princeton Architectural Press, New York 2005, pages 210-223, ISBN 1568984898

• O'Gorman, Juan, Juan O'Gorman (Inv. y coord. documental Ida Rodríguez Prampolini, Olga Sáenz y Elizabeth Fuentes), México, UNAM-Coordinación de Humanidades.

• O'Gorman, México, Grupo Financiero Bital, 1999.

• Rodríguez Prampolini, Ida, Juan O'Gorman, arquitecto y pintor, México, UNAM-Instituto de Investigaciones Estéticas, 1983.

• Frasier, Valerie, Building the New World: Modern Architecture in Latin America, Verso, 2000, ISBN 1859847870

Awards

• National Prize for Arts and Sciences of "fine arts", 1972

External links

• Rediscovering our man in Mexico City - The Irish Times 21-June-2007
• Juan O'Gorman on artcyclopedia.com
• "Irish-Mexican Brothers: Edmundo and Juan O'Gorman" by Edmundo Murray
• (Spanish) Juan O'Gorman's House (with photos)
• (Spanish) Self Portrait