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Juan O'Gorman (1905-1982)
(Autorretrato, 1950,
www.laberintos.com.mx) |
O'Gorman, Juan (1905-1982), Mexican architect and artist,
was born on
6 July 1905 in
Coyoacán, Mexico D.F., the eldest son of the Dublin-trained
mining engineer and painter Cecil Crawford O'Gorman (1874-1943),
who arrived in
Mexico
from Ireland in 1895, with his wife and cousin Encarnación
O'Gorman. Cecil O'Gorman was the son of John O'Gorman, educated
at Eton in England, and grandson of Charles O'Gorman, who in
August 1823 has been appointed the first British consul to
Mexico. The other children of Cecil and Encarnación O'Gorman
were the historian Edmundo O'Gorman (1906-1995), Margarita
O'Gorman and Tomás O'Gorman, a notary public.
Juan O'Gorman graduated in 1927 from the school of
architecture at
San Carlos
Academy.
He joined the studio of Obregón, Tarditi & Villagrán García, and
later Obregón Santacilia. He lived in San Ángel, where in 1929
he bought two tennis courts facing a restaurant, and built a
small house on one of them, including a miniature staircase and
a glass-walled room on the upper floor, which would become
emblematic of the new architecture.
O'Gorman was one of the architects who worked on the
reconstruction of the Bank of Mexico. In 1931 he frescoed the
library of Azcapotzalco and in 1937 decorated and painted the
murals in
Mexico City's
first airport. In 1940, after an eight-month stay in
Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania,
he was engaged in the great mural of Gertrudis Bocanegra
Library, including scenes of the conquest of Michoacán, and the
struggle for independence from Spanish rule. Juan O'Gorman's
most imposing work was the decoration of the Central Library on
the campus of the Universidad Autónoma, where he worked in
1949-1953 painting four thousand square metres with
representations of historical scenes. Other important works
include the Social Security Centre, the International Bank on
Reforma Avenue, parks, theatres, museums, primary schools in
Mexico city and private houses, such as that of Diego Rivera and
Frida Kahlo, styled 'the functional house'. Among his murals are
those in the Independence Room of Mexico city's Chapultepec
Castle.
Juan O'Gorman married Helen Fowler, a prestigious botanist
and author of Mexican Flowering Trees and Plants (Mexico:
Ammex Asociados, 1961). They adopted a daughter, María Elena [Bunny]
O'Gorman, who studied and lives in the
USA.
According to Elena Poniatowska, Juan O'Gorman was 'an untainted,
circumspect, honourable character. [...] his eyes are poignant
and charming. He wears coveralls and a tweed coat against the
cold weather' (Poniatowska 1999).
Juan
O'Gorman incorporated Mexican culture, history, and environment
in his works. He studied the styles of Le Corbusier and
Villagrán, and as a muralist, was a member of the group formed
by Diego Rivera, Clemente Orozco, Pablo O'Higgins and Rufino
Tamayo. Evidencing a radical socialist influence in the early
years of his career, Juan O'Gorman turned away from
functionalist design and developed an organic use of space under
the influence of Frank Lloyd Wright. He took his own life on 18
March 1982 in his house at San Angel. To ensure that this act
would not fail, O'Gorman put a ladder against a tree, tied a
sturdy electrical cord around the tree and then around his neck,
then drank cyanide and shot himself through the temple. He was
buried in Mexico City.
Edmundo
Murray
References
-
Burian, Edward R. 'The Architecture of Juan O'Gorman:
Dichotomy and Drift' in Edward R. Burian (ed.), Modernity and
the Architecture of
Mexico
(University of Texas Press, 1997).
- Jiménez, Víctor. 'The Houses Juan O'Gorman made for Diego
and Frida and the Story of their Restoration' in México en el
Tiempo N° 20 (September-October 1997), available online
(http://www.mexicodesconocido.com.mx/english/cultura_y_sociedad/arte/),
accessed
3 February 2007.
- Placzek, Adolf K., Macmillan Encyclopaedia of Architects
(London: The Free Press, 1982), Vol. 3, pp. 312-313.
- Poniatowska, Elena et al. O'Gorman (Mexico:
América Arte Editores and Landucci, 1999). |