Fernando Leal

Fernando Leal (February 26, 1896 – October 7, 1964) was one of the first painters to participate in the Mexican muralism movement starting in the 1920s. After seeing one of his paintings, Secretary of Education José Vasconcelos invited Leal to paint at the Escuela Nacional Preparatoria. The resulting work is Los danzantes de Chalma. Leal also painted a mural dedicated to Simón Bolívar at the Anfiteatro Bolivar, as well as religious murals such as those at the chapel dedicated to the Virgin of Guadalupe at the Basilica Villa in Tepeyac.

Life Fernando Leal was born in Mexico City on February 26, 1896. He first studied art at the Academy of San Carlos, then switched to the Escuela al Aire Libre de Coyoacán, studying under Alfredo Ramos Martinez. He was classmates with Gabriel Fernández Ledesma, Rafael Vera de Córdoba, Ramón Alva de la Canal and Fermín Revueltas.

Career

Leal was one of the first muralists in Mexico, in a movement that began in the 1920s.

The first mural he painted was Los danzantes de Chalma at the Escuela Nacional Preparatoria, today the San Ildefonso College. Leal chose the theme when offered his choice by Vasconcelos. The encaustic mural shows a ritual performed in the sanctuary town of Chalma, with its fusion of Catholic and indigenous rites. In 1952, he published El derecho de la cultura (The right of culture). He also wrote an unfinished history of the Academy of San Carlos.

His paintings can be found in the Museo de Arte Moderno, including El hombre de la tuna (The man of the prickly pear) and Campesinos con sarape (Farm workers with sarape). (encmex) He was also a successful wood engraver.

Artistry

Leal is best known for his mural work, but he also did engraving, lithography and painting on canvas. He was one of the first Mexican muralists using a number of different techniques. He was one of the first to create small trial versions of a work in order to find the best means of executing monumental works. His murals usually used encaustic painting producing rich transparent colors, subtly graduated and free from heavy chiaroscuro .

He was notable for his use of color and his early use of images from Mexican rural and popular culture. His themes were mostly popular traditions and Biblical personages, one of the first to use indigenous themes for monumental work. His work features a synthesis of shapes in the styles of Saturnino Herrán, avoiding allegory, trademarks of the Mexican realist school of paintings. His artistic style was somewhere between Baroque and Classic but with use of bright colors. The base of the work was Classic but the repetition of forms is Baroque. However, his canvas works tends to be stylized with a simplification of forms in a post Impressionist style.