Xavier Guerrero

Xavier Guerrero (December 3, 1896, San Pedro de las Colonias, Coahuila – June 29, 1974, Mexico City) was one of the pioneers of the Mexican muralism movement in the early 20th century. He was introduced to painting through working with his father, who worked in masonry and decorating. However, there is evidence that his ability was mostly self-taught. In 1912, he moved to Guadalajara and began painting murals, then to Mexico City in 1919 just as the muralism movement was about to begin. Most of his work was in collaboration with or subordinate to other painters such as Diego Rivera and David Alfaro Siqueiros, working at the San Ildefonso College, the Secretaría de Educación Pública building and the Universidad Autónoma de Chapingo; however, much of his other work has been lost. While best known for his mural work, his later canvas work is considered to be better.

Life El Jarabe Tapatio created by the artist with Roberto Montenegro.

Xavier Guerrero was born in 1896 with the name Javier Guerrero Saucedo Francisco, using the variant "Xavier Guerrero" as his professional name. He was born in San Pedro de las Colonias, Coahuila to Toalul Guerrero and Marion Saucedo.

His father was a bricklayer, painter and decorator, often finding work at haciendas. Xavier got involved his father's trade as a child. These early experiences taught him aesthetics and painting techniques. He learned to mix and create paint as well as make cement and mortar. His ability to paint in watercolors was recognized when he was very young. In the 1920s, he had a relationship with photographer Tina Modotti of whom he did a portrait in 1928. For a time he lived with Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo.

Modotti introduced Guerrero to Stalinist thought and he became politically active with the communist movement. His work in politics and journalist took him to various parts of the world, including the Soviet Union, where he went in 1927 to attend the Lomonosov University. The Chillan murals became a major tourist attraction for the city.

Later murals also include Motivos mexicanos at the house of José Guadalupe Zuno and El día y la noche at the Ermita Cinema in Tacubaya in the 1950s. He also painted murals at a residence in Guadalajara and at the Club de la Unión de Mecánicos, but only fragments remain.

Recognitions include one major prize, first place at the International Competition of Contemporary Furniture Design sponsored by the Museum of Modern Art in New York. He was also accepted as a member of the Salón de la Plástica Mexicana. He had a large exhibition at the Museo de Arte Moderno in Mexico City in 1972. In 2002, the state of Coahuila held a retrospective of his work called "Entre Torreón y San Pedro, homenajo al maestro Xavier Guerrero.

Artistry During his career, Guerrero did canvas work, graphic art and mural painting. While his mural work is his best known, his canvas work is considered better, and he had more success with it during his lifetime. At the time, his murals were considered to have a "weak" quality, but his later canvas work shows great refinement in his technique. His most significant canvas work is a self-portrait from 1947 in which a blood-red color dominates. Despite this, Rivera considered him a master of al fresco mural techniques, and Jean Charlot called him " a master in all that involves climbing and painting houses and walls" as he taught mural and wall preparation techniques to both artists.

His mural work was first influenced by his childhood experienced with masonry and decoration and has a folk quality to it. His work is considered to blur the distinction between fine art, folk art and handcrafts. There is evidence that much of his painting ability was self-taught. His work in murals was mostly associated with the Mexican muralism movement, even though his travels allowed him to see other painting styles, he stuck with the Realism that was developing in Mexico. His mural themes include the history, suffering, labor and aspirations of the Mexican people. Like many of the muralists, he thought of art as a means of social transformation to liberate the oppressed classes, but he did find much of the movement's overt political character alienating.

Guerrero's themes tended to be more philosophical. For Guerrero, man and nature identify interact in a magical and poetic way. His subjects mostly consisted of images from nature such as landscapes, flowers and fruit. Even when he did portray the human body, it was generally surrounded by plants and animals. His work has been described as pantheistic and mythical in that humans do not center, especially in his canvas work and elements of nature have anthropomorphic qualities. For this reason, he has been described as the successor to Mexico's pre-Columbian art. This quality distinguishes his work from his contemporaries.