José Luis Cuevas

Mexican artist José Luis Cuevas died on Monday, July 3 in Mexico City at the age of 83. For the moment the cause of his death remains unknown. The news of his death was confirmed by María Cristina García, the minister of culture of Mexico, who added that a tribute to the artist was planned at the Palacio de Bellas Artes for the evening of July 4. Born on February 26, 1934, Cuevas was one of the most prominent artists of the "Generación de Ruptura" (Breakaway Generation) that emerged in opposition to Mexican muralism and its nationalist themes, defying artists from the first half of the 20th century like Diego Rivera, José Clemente Orozco, and David Alfaro Siqueiros. During a 1995 AFP interview in Quito, Cuevas said, "I now would like to be ten years younger to stop thinking about my death, something that terrifies me." During the early 1940s, when José Luis Cuevas was in elementary school, he drew a portrait of himself as a "child worker" and won the first prize of a competition organized by the Ministry of Education of Mexico. In 1959 he presented his first solo show at the Galería Buenos Aires, where he also met Argentinean writer Jorge Luis Borges, with whom he established a long friendship. The following year he presented his second solo show, this time at the Herbert Art Gallery in New York City. Throughout his life, Cuevas created dozens of self-portraits and, in 1973, presented a show that included 72 of them. In 1992, Mexico City recognized his contribution to the arts with the opening of the Museo José Luis Cuevas. During his career he received several awards, including in 1981, the National Prize of Arts and Sciences of Mexico; in 1991, the Gentleman of the Order of Arts and Letters granted by the French government, the International Prize from the World Council of Engraving, and the Gold Medal of Fine Arts, granted by Mexico Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes (INBA); and, in 2008, received a special tribute at the Palacio de Bellas Artes. The work by José Luis Cuevas is part of several collections, including the collections of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and the Hirschhorn Museum in Washington DC; in addition to other institutions in France, where he lived for several years in self-imposed exile.