Raquel Tibol

Raquel Tibol arrived in Mexico in 1953 to become Diego Rivera's secretary and eventually developed a career as an art critic. She began by publishing an interview with Luis Buñuel in the newspaper supplement Mexico en la Cultura of Novedades in November of 1953. Tibol was born in Argentina but built her entire career in Mexico an acquired the Mexican citizenship in 1961. She witnessed the evolution of art for over five decades. Since her arrival in Mexico, she became close to the Mexican School of Painting and to Mexican muralism, a subject she wrote about in many books, including: Historia General del Arte Mexicano: Época Moderna y Contemporánea (General History of Mexican Art: Modern and Contemporary Periods, 1964); Diversidades en el Arte del Siglo XX para Recordar lo Recordado; Siqueiros, Vida y Obra (Diversity in Art of the 20th Century to Remember the Forgotten; Siqueiros, Life and Work, 1974); Diego Rivera: Arte y Política (Diego Rivera: Art and Politics, 1979); Hermenegildo Bustos, Pintor de Pueblo (Hermenegildo Bustos, Painter of the People, 1981); Frida Kahlo, una Vida Abierta (Frida Kahlo, an Open Life, 1983); José Clemente Orozco, una Vida para el Arte (José Clemente Orozco, a Life for Art, 1984); Los Murales de Diego Rivera, (The Murals of Diego Rivera, 2001); Frida Kahlo, en Su Luz Más Íntima (Frida Kahlo, in Her Most Intimate Light, 2005); Diego Rivera. Luces y Sombras (Diego Rivera. Lights and Shadows, 2007); Diego Rivera Gran Ilustrador (Diego Rivera, Great Illustrator, 2008); and Diego Rivera, Palabras Ilustres (Diego Rivera, Illustrious Words, 2008). Throughout her career, Tibol received several awards and recognitions, among these: the Fernando Benítes Cultural Journalism Award; the Gold Medal of Bellas Artes; and the Doctorate Honoris Causa of the Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana. Her last appearance in public was on December 11 of 2013 at the Palacio de Bellas Artes, where she received a tribute for her 90 years of life.