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Alfredo Guati Rojo Cárdenas (December 1, 1918 – June 10, 2003) was a 20th-century Mexican artist who worked to restore the reputation of watercolor painting as a true art form. His preference for the technique came from seeing Diego Rivera’s work and helping with a fresco mural in his hometown of Cuernavaca as a child. When he was 16, he went to Mexico City to study law, but switched to art. He learned the various classic art techniques but kept his preference for watercolor. His career began by teaching art, founding an art institute in the Colonia Roma section of Mexico City. In the 1950s, he tried to get the areas art galleries to show watercolors but they refused, considering it as a minor art form. He began to host exhibitions of watercolor works at his art institute with success which led to the formation of the Museo Nacional de la Acuarela or National Watercolor Museum in the 1960s. The museum remained in Colonia Roma until the 1985 Mexico City earthquake destroyed the building and led to it relocation to the Coyoacán borough where it remains. During this time, Guati Rojo also had a career showing and selling his own artwork, almost exclusively watercolors in various parts of the world. Most of his income from this painting went to support the museum. ==Life== Alfredo Guati Rojo Cárdenas was born on December 1, 1918 in Cuernavaca as the only child of María de Jesús Cárdenas and José Guati Rojo Ramírez. He spent his childhood listening to the stories of his paternal grandfather and traveling much of Mexico as his father was a criminal lawyer. He began drawing and painting images from his hometown of Cuernavaca when he was in primary school at about age seven. However he believed that it was seeing the murals of Diego Rivera on the wall of the Palace of Cortes that inspired him to be an artist.〔 He had a primary school art teacher, Luis Betanzos, who recognized the boy’s talent. Betanzos was also associated with Eduardo Solares of the Academy of San Carlos. When Solares came to Cuernavaca to paint a new fresco, Guati Rojo was selected to be an assistant. This gave him his first experience in water based paint.〔〔 At age 16, he left Cuernavaca for Mexico City to study at the Escuela Nacional Preparatoria, living at his grandfather’s house. He then enrolled into law school as his father wanted to continue the family tradition.〔 However, he soon decided that he did not like law and wanted to transfer to the Escuela Nacional de Artes Plásticas .〔 Despite strong opposition from his father, his mother was supportive and he made the switch.〔 He progressed rapidly and began working at an assistant to his teachers. These earnings allowed him to buy watercolor supplies. Many of these early small paintings are part of the Museum’s permanent collection.〔 He graduated in 1940, and although trained in various techniques, he kept his preference for watercolor painting.〔 That same year, he was awarded the “Águila Azteca” (Aztec Eagle) for his cultural work in Central and South America along with Ignacio Beteta .〔 He also married Berta Pietrasanta, the sister of one of his art school classmates, Orlando Pietrasanta.〔〔 The marriage lasted sixty four years, with her working with him on projects, most notably the running and promotion of the National Watercolor Museum after it was founded. They never had children, but the couple considered the museum as such. In 1995, they wrote a “Carta a mi hijo el Museo” (Letter to my child, the Museum) as testimony.〔 Berta died in May 2003. This along with impending blindness due to disease made Guati Rojo depress and he died only a few weeks later on June 10, 2003. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Alfredo Guati Rojo」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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