Adolfo Mexiac

Adolfo Mexiac (August 7, 1927 – October 13, 2019) was a Mexican graphic artist, known principally for his politically and socially themed work, especially with the Taller de Gráfica Popular and with fellow graphic artist Leopoldo Méndez. He also painted several murals, the most important of which deals with the history of human law at the University of Colima. In 2011, a “national homage” was held for the artist at the Museo de la Estampa in Mexico City.

Life

Adolfo Mexiac was born on August 7, 1927, in Cuto de la Esperanza, Michoacán. He began to study painting at the Escuela Popular de Bellas Artes in Morelia. Later he moved to Mexico City to study at the Escuela Nacional de Artes Plásticas. He also studied at the Escuela Nacional de Pintura, Escultura y Grabado "La Esmeralda", with one of his teachers there being José Chávez Morado.

He learned engraving studying for three years at the Escuela de Artes del Libro located in Colonia Roma, learning various techniques, especially wood engraving, using a jigsaw method to piece the image together which allowed the introduction of various colors, some of the first work of its kind. Referring to this work, he stated that Mexican artists have never had complete freedom of expression.

He was also a member of the Salón de la Plástica Mexicana. In 2010 he had an exhibition called Una reflexión sobre el Bicentenario in honor of the 200th anniversary of Mexico's independence at the Alfredo Guati Rojo National Watercolor Museum . Other murals include La ayuda del hombre por el hombre at the Instituto Nacional Indigenista in Mexico City, Formación del Estado Mexicano at the Centro de Estudio para la Reforma del Estado and Los constitucionales de México at the Palacio Legislativo in Mexico City. The last work was accidentally destroyed and redone by Mexiac in 1992.

Recognitions of his work include the Casa de las Américas Prize from Cuba in 1964, a 2010 documentary film about the artist by Othón Salazar called Libertad de expresión de Adolfo Mexiac and a national homage to the artist in Mexico in 2011. This homage was held at the Museo Nacional de la Estampa which included a retrospective of his life's work. The retrospective traveled to various museums in the country to cities such as Toluca, Puebla, Oaxaca, Monterrey and Saltillo, as well as the Mexic-Arte Museum in Austin, Texas.

Artistry Influenced by the work of José Guadalupe Posada, Leopoldo Méndez and José Chávez Morado, he believed in art, especially printmaking, with a social context, stating, "if we want to make revolutionary art, we must have printmaking, that noble means of artistic expression which has always fulfilled its lofty function of denunciation, of struggle and the encouragement of a largely exploited population."