Rosario Cabrera facts for kids

Rosario Cabrera (born Rosario Cabrera López; June 5, 1901 – December 30, 1975) was an important Mexican artist from the early 1900s. The Museum of Mexican Women Artists called her the "first great Mexican painter of the twentieth century." Rosario's parents passed away when she was young. Their influence helped her become a talented artist.

Early Life and Art

Rosario Cabrera started studying art in 1916 at the Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes in Mexico City. She had her first art show there in December 1920. Cabrera was known for her landscapes and portraits. Her art showed different styles, from realistic to impressionism. She also studied sculpture and was good at showing shapes and sizes.

Rosario was one of the first women to create wood engravings. She learned this after working with Alfredo Ramos Martínez and the Open Air Painting Schools. In the 1920s, she traveled to Europe to practice her art. Then she came back to Mexico to teach young artists. She was the first woman in Mexico to teach two painting classes. One was in Los Reyes, Coyoacan, and the other in Cholula, Puebla.

Rosario Cabrera received a lot of praise for her art. In 1925, she was the first Mexican woman to have an art show in Paris. Her show was at the Galerie Bernheim-Jeune.

Teaching Art Outdoors

Cabrera joined the Open Air Painting Schools, also called the Escuelas de Pintura al Aire Libres (EPALs). She became involved through artists like Martínez, who started the schools. From 1924 to 1927, Rosario lived in Europe. She got a special grant from the Secretaría de Educación Pública to study art there.

When she returned to Mexico, she worked at the Open Air Painting Schools from 1928 to 1931. She was the first woman to be in charge of two EPALs. She taught alongside famous Mexican artists like Saturnino Herrán, Leandro Izaguirre, and Germán Gedovius.

Fighting for Art Education

Rosario Cabrera strongly supported the Open Air Painting Schools. In the late 1920s, some people in Mexico's art and education groups criticized these schools. Cabrera believed that art should be for everyone, especially in small towns.

In 1928, she joined the ¡30-30! group. This group was formed to protest a new director at the National School of Fine Arts. They felt this decision would harm new ways of teaching art, like the open air schools. Even after she stopped painting in 1928, Cabrera kept teaching art in primary schools. She chose a path that helped more people. Her students' art was shown at the Museo del Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City. This showed how talented she was as a teacher.

The ¡30-30! Movement

There was a disagreement between the Academy of San Carlos and the Open Air Schools of Painting. The Academy thought the Open Air Schools were not creating real art. Because of this, the anti-academic ¡30-30! movement was formed, and Cabrera joined it. This group wrote five manifestos, which are public declarations. Cabrera signed the fifth one, which tried to remove the Academy's director.

Awards and Recognition

Even though she later disagreed with the Academy, Cabrera was a student there when she was younger. She was considered the best student in her class. She received the highest grade and special recognition when she graduated.

After the Open Air Painting Schools opened around 1928, she decided to focus more on teaching. In 1929, Cabrera won a gold medal at the Iberoamerican Fair in Spain. In 1972, Luis Echeverría Alvarez, who was the President of Mexico, gave her the Maestro Manuel Ignacio Altamirano medal. This honored her achievements in art.

Artistic Style

Experts like Eduardo Espinosa Campos say that Cabrera's art was different from other artists of her time. She liked to paint portraits instead of landscapes. She was inspired by Impressionist, Post-Impressionist, and Fauvist art styles.

You can see this in her art because she used wide brush strokes and bright, unusual colors. She tried to show the "spirit" and feelings of the people she painted, rather than just a realistic picture. For many of her paintings, Cabrera used oil paints on canvas. She made them look like frescoes, which are paintings done on wet plaster. Even though her paintings were not realistic, her sculptures were very realistic. They showed human bodies accurately.

See also

• Geles Cabrera (her niece)