Rodolfo Hurtado

Rodolfo Hurtado (full name Rodolfo Hurtado Duhart) (b. 1940 – d. 2005) was a Mexican artist, considered to be part of the “Intermediate Generation” or that which came to prominence after the Generación de la Ruptura. His works are abstract but maintain a strong link to the figurative, which gives them a dream-like quality. Although he won awards and was a member of the Salón de la Plástica Mexicana during his lifetime, his work is not well known now in part because he did not do as much to promote it as other artists did.

Life Hurtado was born in Mexico City in 1940, one of five children. He showed an early aptitude for painting and taught himself various techniques.

During his art career he had a studio in the Colonia Condesa neighborhood of Mexico City. After his death, he received a homage and retrospective in 2008 at the Palacio de la Autonomía in Mexico City.

Artistry Hurtado is classified with the “Intermediate Generation,” those artists who came into their own after the Generación de la Ruptura . According to historian Sergio Fernández, “He brings together all the qualities of the great Mexican painters but… if he is different it is because he hardly seems to be there; there is no ostentation nor desperate back-slapping, nor an irritating desire for applause.”

Alfonso de Neuvillate wrote that “The painting of Rodolfo Hurtado is both feeling and testament and more than the first than the second, it is also a nocturnal labyrinth interpreted in the light of day.” His later works showed influence from the work of Paul Klee, Jean Dubuffte and Han Hartung, as well as Rufino Tamayo. This introduced abstract elements but his work stayed within a figurative discourse, with the abstractions and the coloring influence of Tamayo giving his pieces a dreamlike quality. The play of positive and negative appears in many of his works. In 1974, he discovered the writings of Carlos Castaneda, whose philosophy of life had a strong impact on his work, affecting his figures, background, and even including elements of Yaqui shamanism. Sergio Fernandez said of his work “As if coming from faraway places, his canvases signal to us from eternity; as Gracián would say, his oils and pastels acquire “a train of incomprehensibility.””

His best work was done in the latter 1970s to early 1980s, with oils done in small format being better than his larger works according to art critic Teresa del Conde who also considered him one of the best print makers in Mexico. Many of the qualities of his engraving, illustration and drawing in general are influenced by his training in Paris. They have geometric tendencies, but with fluid lines.