Arturo García Bustos facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Arturo García Bustos
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Arturo García Bustos speaking at a book presentation in the Palacio de Bellas Artes
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| Born | August 8, 1926 |
| Died | April 7, 2017 (aged 90) |
| Nationality |  Mexico |
| Education | Escuela Nacional de Artes Plásticas |
| Occupation | Visual artist |
| Known for | Painting Printmaking |
Arturo García Bustos (born August 8, 1926 – died April 7, 2017) was a talented Mexican painter and printmaker. He was famous for being one of "Los Fridos," a group of students who learned art from the well-known artist Frida Kahlo at her home in Coyoacán.
Contents
Life of Arturo García Bustos
Early Life and Education
Arturo García Bustos was born in Mexico City, close to the Zócalo, a famous main square. He grew up when a big art movement called Mexican muralism was very popular. This movement used large paintings on walls to tell stories about Mexico's history and culture. Seeing these murals made him want to become an artist.
After finishing high school, where he focused on architecture, he started studying art at the Escuela Nacional de Artes Plásticas in 1941. He was only fifteen years old. The next year, in 1943, he went to another art school called "La Esmeralda." There, he had amazing teachers like Frida Kahlo, Feliciano Peña, Agustín Lazo, and María Izquierdo. He studied with them for five years. Later in his career, he also learned printmaking, which is a way of making art by printing images. He even took courses in other countries like Korea and China.
Family and Home Life
When Arturo was younger, he spent a lot of time with famous artists like Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo. He even met his future wife, Rina Lazo, through them. They got married in 1949 and were happily together for over 60 years until Arturo passed away.
Arturo and Rina lived in a colonial house in Coyoacán, a neighborhood in Mexico City. Their home was called Casa Colorada, which means "Red House." It's said that this house was once home to La Malinche, a famous historical figure. It was also a monastery, a prison, and a hospital at different times. After living there for more than forty years, they opened part of their home as an art gallery in 2006. Their daughter, Rina García Lazo, who is an architect, helps run this gallery.
Arturo García Bustos died in Mexico City on April 7, 2017. His very last art show was at Universidad Iberoamericana. It was a special exhibition where he displayed his artwork alongside his wife's.
Artistic Career and Works
Starting as an Artist
Arturo García Bustos began his art career as one of four students who went to study with Frida Kahlo in Coyoacán. These students became known as "Los Fridos." He also worked as an apprentice, learning mural painting from Diego Rivera. He learned how to make engravings and lithographs (types of prints) at a workshop called the Taller de Gráfica Popular, working with Leopoldo Méndez. In 1958, he also worked with a graphic designer named Miguel Prieto.
Exhibitions and Murals
Arturo García Bustos had many art shows, both by himself and with other artists, in Mexico and in other countries. He had individual shows in cities like Mexico City, Veracruz, Oaxaca, and Guadalajara. His art was also shown in countries such as Guatemala, the United States, Germany, and North Korea. He often participated in group exhibitions, especially with the Taller de Gráfica Popular, and in art festivals. In 2005, a collection of eleven of his paintings was shown at the Museo Mural Diego Rivera in Mexico City.
While he was very well-known for his prints, he also created many large wall paintings called murals. In 1947, he helped Frida Kahlo paint a mural. Other murals he worked on include:
- A fresco (a type of mural painted on wet plaster) at the Hotel Posada del Sol in Mexico City (1948).
- A fresco about Emiliano Zapata (a Mexican revolutionary) at a rural school (1950).
- A series of seven murals with his wife Rina Lazo and Atilio Carrasco (1952).
- A fresco called Pobladores de las Siete Regiones de Oaxaca at the Museo Nacional de Antropología (1964).
- A series of sixteen print murals for a museum in Cuatro Ciénegas (1969).
- Nine panels for the Casa de Obrero Mundial in Mexico City (1971).
- Oaxaca en la historia y en el mito at the state government building in Oaxaca (1980).
- A mural at a cultural center in Azcapotzalco, Mexico City.
Teaching and Recognition
Arturo García Bustos spent much of his career teaching art and giving talks. He taught engraving in Guatemala City and started a printmaking workshop in Mexico City. He also taught fine arts, drawing, and painting at different schools and workshops. He gave many talks about the history of engraving and lithography in Mexico, and about Mexican muralism in other countries like Germany and Italy.
He received many awards for his art, including:
- First prize at a UNAM event (1947).
- Peace Movement Gold Medal in Guatemala (1953).
- First prize and a gold medal at a festival in Poland (1955).
- First prize at the Salón Annual de Grabado (1957).
- A silver medal at an engraving event in Moscow (1957).
He became a member of important art groups like the Academia de Artes in 1973, the World Peace Council in 1974, and the Salón de la Plástica Mexicana in 1974.
Artistic Style and Inspiration
Arturo García Bustos saw himself as someone who continued the "figurative" style of Mexican art. This means he focused on painting things that looked real, like people and objects, rather than abstract shapes. He remembered how much seeing Diego Rivera and José Clemente Orozco paint murals affected him. He said it gave him "visual shocks" and made him dream of painting murals himself one day.
Images for kids
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On the top row, from left to right: missing information, Valentina Kelly, Cecilia Castillo, Arturo García Bustos, Arturo's wife Rina Lazo, Dina Comisarenco Mirkin and Guadalupe Falcón.
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On the bottom row, from left to right: Juan Pablo Aguilar, Celeste Garduño, Daniela Barraza, Elsy Carabarin and Regina González.
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Celeste, Daniela, Cecilia and Valentina were the students in charge of mounting García's and Lazo's artworks around the exhibition room.
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Steps in the cochineal harvest, detail from Oaxaca en la historia y en el mito
See also
In Spanish: Arturo García Bustos para niños
