Tracing the Bold Strokes of Juan O'Gorman's Brush

Juan O'Gorman was a man committed to architecture and art in Mexico and for Mexico. His murals contain messages about aspects that are our own, of which we should be proud; an example of this is the Central Library in Ciudad Universitaria, his most important and best known work.

“Besides being the most photographed building in the country, it is recognized anywhere in the world, like the Eiffel Tower, and it is something to be proud of, both of our pre-Hispanic and European past”.

This is what Luisa Noelle Gras Gas, technical secretary of the Analysis Committee for Urban, Architectural and Engineering Interventions at UNAM's Ciudad Universitaria Campus and campuses, says on the occasion of the 42nd anniversary of the death of the Mexican architect and painter, which will be commemorated on January 18.

“All the time there are students who go to take pictures in front of the Central Library, with his title. It has a great attraction and an exceptional meaning for UNAM: it is the center of knowledge”, adds the researcher of the Institute of Aesthetic Research of this house of studies.

In addition to their visual appeal, the murals -which total well over four thousand square meters-contain a wide range of information and messages “that make you feel you are at the National University. It is part of our identity elements, just like the Rectory,” adds the expert.

O'Gorman did a “phenomenal” job, as he prepared the walls to receive the one-meter by one meter mosaics, with the drawings that he traced and assembled with the help of some workers, placing colored stones that he looked for all over Mexico.

Previously he researched in depth the pre-Hispanic codices and European history, from which he took elements to capture them in the murals. “The south side represents European culture; the north side represents pre-Hispanic culture; the east side symbolizes today's Mexico; and the west side represents the University, with its coat of arms,” explains the specialist in contemporary Mexican architecture.

She planned to make murals that would last, that would not need to be repainted, that could be outside without suffering major deterioration. “They have to be restored because of the acid rain because over time the cement loses strength, but they have lasted a long time,” she says, recalling that for the Library's architectural project the artist teamed up with Juan Martínez de Velasco and Gustavo Saavedra.

The UNAM expert assures that the painter Diego Rivera was the one who initiated the technique of elaborating drawings with stones, and applied it in the Anahuacalli, located south of Mexico City, where he would house his art collections.

The Mexican muralist asked O'Gorman for help to draw up the plans for the building, obtain the construction permit and be able to build it. Since he did not have enough money, he decided to use the stones that were on the land, located in the south of Mexico City.

When Juan O'Gorman planned to build the Central Library in Ciudad Universitaria, he proposed an enclosure with closed walls that would protect the collections from the air, sun, dust and rain, but he also wanted it not to look “like a box” and therefore had to decorate it.

The specialist in contemporary Mexican architecture also says that the Mexican painter and architect built approximately 20 public schools in Mexico City, with great functionality, and highlights his commitment to the country.

In 1932 Narciso Bassols was appointed Secretary of Public Education and during a visit to Diego Rivera's house he considered that Mexican schools should have an architecture similar to this one, they should no longer be large and colonial style establishments, but modern buildings with a lower cost and for more students.

He invited O'Gorman to build schools for what was then the outskirts of the city: Xochimilco, Coyoacán, Azcapotzalco. With a minimal budget, he repaired others and made sure that the classrooms were well oriented and received natural light, that they had adequate ventilation, among other aspects.

“He had studied a series of hygiene issues because in the 1930s there were many diseases, particularly tuberculosis. Therefore, it was important that the classrooms were ventilated, some had circular openings for air to pass through and in all the schools he arranged a row of sinks outside the classrooms, so that girls and boys could wash their hands.

“Today, after the COVID-19 experience, we understand that children had to wash their hands to avoid contagion,” he recalls.

These buildings are still in use, and one of them, located in downtown Coyoacán, was recently declared a National Artistic Monument. In some of these buildings, artists such as Ramón Alva de la Canal also painted murals.

Louise Noelle Gras Gas mentions that Juan O'Gorman was among the first group of architecture students who, in addition to studying Composition, studied Architecture Theory with José Villagrán García, considered the father of modern architecture in Mexico. “They were brilliant architects who took modernity beyond what Villagrán had done, to a more radical, deeper level.”

An example of his works are the houses he built from 1930 to 1932 in San Angel, which today are part of the Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo House-Studio Museum. “That modernity in this colonial town, with its cobblestone streets, was a scandal. There was a lot of criticism, but it is wonderful that they have been preserved. They were very well restored by architect Victor Jimenez, who even won awards for it.”

He made others, including one for the painter Julio Castellano and another for the historian of colonial art, Manuel Toussaint. In 1936 O'Gorman decided to give up architecture and devote himself to painting, especially muralism, which was experiencing its great moment in the country.

Gras Gas recalls that the Mexican artist had knowledge of painting, which he obtained while studying architecture at the Antigua Escuela de San Carlos, which also housed the studies of Plastic Arts. In addition, his father was a miniaturist painter.

Although Juan O'Gorman was a friend of Diego Rivera, he did not take classes with him. He did portraits, easel work, landscapes. “He would thoroughly research the subject he was going to paint: what flag the revolutionaries or independence fighters were carrying; what portraits there were, for example of Morelos, so as not to paint an invented one but the closest thing to a portrait of the time. He always did everything with great precision,” concludes the researcher.