Constantino Reyes-Valerio (January 10, 1922, Zinacatepec, Puebla - December 13, 2006, Mexico City)[1] was a prominent Mexican scholar of pre-ColumbianMesoamerican cultures, particularly the Aztec and the Maya, an expert in Christian Iconography of the Romanic and Gothic periods in Europe and the Colonial period in Mexico. Reyes-Valerio coined the term “Arte Indocristiano” [2] to refer to the Latinamerican Art that combines European Christian iconography with native Indigenous expressions and traditions both in mural paintings [3] and sculpture [4].
He studied both History and Chemistry, a combination that helped him decipher the chemical composition and a recipe to recreate the Maya blue pigment [5].
Reyes-Valerio identified the artistic contribution of Native Mexican Indians in the Colonial painting and sculpture; he coined the term Indochristian art. Another major contribution was his seminal work on the chemical composition and process of the Maya Blue Pigment where he re-discovered the technique used by the Maya to create the famous turquoise blue pigment. He was granted a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1972 for Fine Arts Research. He corresponded extensively with major scholars in Mexico and abroad such as George Kubler, Santiago Sebastian and Enrique Marco Dorta among others. In 2000, he was named Emeritus Researcher by the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia.
In April 2009, a special edition of the INAH bulletin (Boletin de Monumentos Historicos Num 12 enero-abril 2008) was published as an in memoriam edition dedicated to Constantino Reyes-Valerio. Several important researchers, Miguel Leon-Portilla, Alfredo López Austin, Eduardo Matos Moctezuma, Giacomo Chiari, Carlos Navarrete Cáceres, Beatriz Barba Ahuatzin, Dora Sierra, Guillermo Tovar y de Teresa, Manuel Sanchez del Rio, Rosa Camelo among others contributed with articles to this bulletin.
Event at which the Photographic Archive of INAH's Coordinacion de Monumentos Historicos was named after Constantino Reyes-Valerio. On the Photograph: Natalia Fiorentini, Carlos Navarrete and Rosa Camelo and a picture of Reyes-Valerio on the far left.
He was a very active photographer and took the photographs for several books and to the general archive of the INAH. In 2009, his contribution was recognised by naming the Photographic Archive of the "Coordinacion Nacional de Monumentos Culturales" of INAH with his name.
He received several awards, including the Guggenheim Fellowship, the Rafael Ramirez Prize granted by the S.E.P., Premio Francisco Javier Clavijero granted by INAH and the Emeritus Researcher degree by INAH as well.
↑ Rosquillas Quiles, Hortensia (Spring 2008). "Constantino Reyes-Valerio, Arte indocristiano, México, INAH (Obra diversa), 2000, 486 pp., epílogo, apéndice y bibliografía". Boletín de Monumentos Históricos. 12: 159–168.
↑ Reyes-Valerio, Constantino (1989). El pintor de conventos: los murales del siglo XVI en la Nueva España. Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia.
↑ Reyes-Valerio, Constantino (1978). Arte indocristiano: escultura del siglo XVI en México. Escuela Nacional de Conservación, Restauración y Museografía "Prof. Manuel del Castillo Negrete", SEP, Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia.
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