Alfonso Michel

Alfonso Michel (1897 – 1957) was a Mexican painter, contemporary with the Mexican muralism movement, but whose artistry made him a forerunner to the Generación de la Ruptura that followed.

Life Michel was born in the state of Colima to a wealthy and politically powerful family which owned large numbers of coconut palms, and supplied fruit to markets in Jalisco. He claimed to have been born in 1906 but his birth certificate says 1897. He had a sad childhood, with his parents separating after his father caught his mother with another man. He then took the children to live with him in Guadalajara. Five years later, Michel’s mother died and his father decided to adopt the three children born of her affair. This led to financial problems with their businesses on the point of bankruptcy. The situation was made worse with the death of his father. In 1922, his parents sent him to San Francisco where he took classes in painting and worked at a studio used by various painters. He was an early member of the Salón de la Plástica Mexicana. Long after his death, the Museo de Arte Moderno held a retrospective and tribute to the artist in 1991, assembling the largest collection of his works for a showing. Guadalajara holds a biennial named after the painter as well, the Bienal de Pintura de Occidente Alfonso Michel at the former monastery of Del Carmen.

Artistry Michel traveled in Europe in the 1920s, living in Paris to study art. However he did not find a teacher he was particularly drawn to. Instead, he worked developed as his reinterpretation of the artistic language of the European vanguard movement of the time. His pictorial style was influenced by Cézanne and Picasso in his neo-Classical period. He was also interested in Braque and the metaphysical painting of De Chirico and Alberto Savinio . His themes include landscapes of the Colima shoreline and a number of portraits. Many of his works express introspection, nostalgia and pain. He had two periods of activities which that stretching from 1942 until his death being the most mature of his work. The composition of his work is grandiose, almost Baroque, accented with bright contrasting colors.

Generationally, Michel was contemporary with the artists of Mexican muralism with its nationalist art. However, Michel did not participate in this movement and was frequently disparage for being “too European.” Nonetheless, his work was defended by art critics such as Jorge Juan Crespo, Margarita Nelken and writer Carlos Monsiváis . Tamayo called Michel one of the best painters in Mexico. Michel’s artistic ideas came after his return to Mexico from France, studying the work of Diego Rivera, María Izquierdo, Rufino Tamayo, Agustín Lazo, Cézanne, Picasso and Chirico among others. In particular the work of Tamayo unsettled him along with that of Picasso. His unique style for the time made him a forerunner to the Generación de la Ruptura, which reached its peak in the 1960s.