Santos Balmori
Santos Balmori Picazo (b.
Life
Balmori Picazo was born in Mexico City on September 26, 1899 to Ramón Balmori Galguerra from Asturias, Spain and Everarda Picazo from Mexico.[1]
He spent his first four years of life in a community called Soberrón near
He entered the Escuela de Bellas Artes de Santiago but his guardians did not want him to study art. In 1919, he went to Europe to study, starting at the
He studied
He favored the Republicans during the Spanish Civil War, which led to his detention in Spain. After he returned to Mexico, he continued this support, opening a school for children of Spanish exiles.[1]
Balmori Picazo was married three times, all to dancers. His first wife was French dancer, Marie Thérèse Bénard, who died shortly after from Addison's disease. His second wife was Rachel Björnstrom, which whom he had a daughter, Kore Monica, who fell ill with polio. Rachel took the child to Sweden and never returned. His last marriage was to Helena Jordán Juárez and lasted over forty years until his death.[1][2]
He died at age 93 in Mexico City on March 5, 1992 from heart and respiratory failure.[1]
Career
Balmori Picazo began his career in Paris, where he met
His first exhibitions were also in Europe, first at the Duncan Gallery in Paris. He traveled to Sweden for various successful exhibitions, then to Brussels and Madrid before he returned to Mexico, exhibiting in Mexico City.[2] During the 1930s, he was a member of leftist artists' organization Liga de Escritores y Artistas Revolucionarios and produced many illustrations for Luz, the magazine of the national electricians' union.[5]
However, Mexico from the 1930s to 1950s was highly nationalistic with the painters from the Mexican muralism movement dominating, making Balmori’s more international style less appealing. He became a professor for about thirty years at the Escuela Nacional de Artes Plásticas and was also the head of the
In his later career, he taught drawing, painting and composition at La Esmeralda and at the Escuela Nacional de Artes Plásticas, both in Mexico City.In 1973, he held an exhibition called "Espacios y tensiones" at the Museo Tecnológico de la Comisión Federal de Electricidad. This consisted of a series of paintings that demonstrated yet new ideas in his artistic conceptions. This and the later "Lunar Route" exhibitions were among his most important shows.[3]
Although he never stopped drawing, he returned to painting professionally after he retired from teaching at age seventy, exhibiting several times.
When he was ninety, the
Artistry
Balmori’s painting varied among the various painting styles of Europe of the 20th century as well as influence from Mexican muralism.
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Tesoros del Registro Civil Salón de la Plástica Mexicana [Treasures of the Civil Registry Salón de la Plástica Mexicana] (in Spanish). Mexico: Government of Mexico City and CONACULTA. 2012. pp. 32–33.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Armando Arias (February 20, 2010). "Santos Balmori". Diario de Querétaro (in Spanish). Querétaro, Mexico. Retrieved August 15, 2012.
- ^ ISBN 968 6258 54 X.
- ^ a b c d "Rinden homenaje a Santos Balmori" [Pay homage to Santos Balmori]. Reforma (in Spanish). Mexico City. February 24, 1998. p. 4.
- ^ Uribe, Paola (September 30, 2017). "Josep Renau: militancia política y fotomontaje en México". Reflexiones Marginales. 41.
- ^ a b "Presentan ineditos de Balmori" [Present unedited works by Balmori]. Reforma (in Spanish). Mexico City. March 18, 1996. p. 12.
- ^ Nilda Navarrete (August 14, 2001). "Donan a Praga obras de Balmori" [Donate works by Balmori to Prague]. Reforma (in Spanish). Mexico City. p. 3.
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