La Esmeralda or Escuela Nacional de Pintura, Escultura y Grabado (ENPEG) (English: National School of Painting, Sculpture and Printmaking) is a Mexican art school founded in 1927 and located in Mexico City.
The history of the ENPEG started with the foundation of a sculpture and wood carving school in the former La Merced Cloister (Exconvento de la Merced) in the historic center of Mexico City by Guillermo Ruiz in 1927. In the 1930s, the school moved to the alley Callejón de la Esmeralda (now Calle San Fernando), Colonia Guerrero, [1] which gave it the name "La Esmeralda".
In 1943, Antonio M. Ruiz became head of the seemingly provisory school. He redesigned the building, separated the training in classes, and developed the first curriculum, which achieved certification by the Secretaría de Educación Pública in 1943 accompanied by the official status of an art school. [2] Notable teachers at this time were Diego Rivera, Francisco Zúñiga, Frida Kahlo, Carlos Orozco Romero, Federico Cantú, Luis Ortiz Monasterio, María Izquierdo, Fidencio Castillo, [3] Agustín Lazo, Raúl Anguiano, Feliciano Peña, and José Chávez Morado. In 1994, "La Esmeralda" moved from Colonia Guerrero to Centro Nacional de las Artes (National Center for Arts). [4]
Arturo García Bustos was a Mexican painter and print maker. He is known as one of “Los Fridos” students who studied under Frida Kahlo at her home in Coyoacán.
Luciano Biagio Spano Tancredi is a Mexican painter.
La Esmeralda may refer to:
Fanny Rabel, born Fanny Rabinovich, was a Polish-born Mexican artist who is considered to be the first modern female muralist and one of the youngest associated with the Mexican muralism of the early to mid 20th century. She and her family arrived to Mexico in 1938 from Europe and she studied art at the Escuela Nacional de Pintura, Escultura y Grabado "La Esmeralda", where she met and became friends with Frida Kahlo. She became the only female member of “Los Fridos” a group of students under Kahlo’s tutelage. She also worked as an assistant and apprentice to Diego Rivera and David Alfaro Siqueiros, painting a number of murals of her own during her career. The most significant of these is "Ronda en el tiempo" at the Museo Nacional de Antropología in Mexico City. She also created canvases and other works, with children often featured in her work, and was one of the first of her generation to work with ecological themes in a series of works begun in 1979.
Salón de la Plástica Mexicana is an institution dedicated to the promotion of Mexican contemporary art. It was established in 1949 to expand the Mexican art market. Its first location was in historic center of the city but today it mostly operates out of a building in Colonia Roma. The institution is run by a membership of almost four hundred recognized artists and holds multiple exhibitions each year. Although it operates autonomously, it is part of the Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes y Literatura.
Arturo Estrada Hernández is a Mexican painter, one of a group of Frida Kahlo’s students called “Los Fridos.” Estrada is mostly known for his mural work, which remains faithful to the figurative style and ideology of Mexican muralism. He has created murals in various parts of Mexico in both public and private places, including a 1988 mural found in the Centro Médico metro station in Mexico City. He has also taught classes at the Escuela Nacional de Pintura, Escultura y Grabado "La Esmeralda", where he was a student, since 1948 and continues to give classes there and other venues. He lives in his birthplace: Panindicuaro, Michoacán.
Antonio M. Ruíz, was a Mexican fine art painter and scenic designer otherwise known by his childhood nickname "El Corzo" or "El Corcito" (diminutive) which came about due to his resemblance to a popular Spanish bullfighter or torero.
Gilberto Aceves Navarro was a Mexican painter and sculptor and a professor at the Escuela Nacional de Artes Plásticas and Academy of San Carlos. There have been more than two hundred individual exhibits of his work, with his murals found in Mexico, Japan and the United States. He received numerous awards for his work including grants as a Creador Artístico of the Sistema Nacional de Creadores de Arte, Premio Nacional de Ciencias y Artes and Bellas Artes Medal from the Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes.
Abelardo Ávila Villarreal was a Mexican engraver of the Costumbrista work, notably with Sociedad Mexicana de Grabadores. He also one mural along with Pedro Rendón at the Abelardo L. Rodríguez market in Mexico City. Disciple of Francisco Díaz de León and Carlos Alvarado Lang.
Adolfo Mexiac was a Mexican graphic artist, known principally for his politically and socially themed work, especially with the Taller de Gráfica Popular and with fellow graphic artist Leopoldo Méndez. He also painted several murals, the most important of which deals with the history of human law at the University of Colima. In 2011, a “national homage” was held for the artist at the Museo de la Estampa in Mexico City.
Azteca de Gyves is a Mexican artist from Juchitán de Zaragoza in the state of Oaxaca. She is of Zapotec heritage and one of only two prominent female artists in her city. She has been a member of the Salón de la Plástica Mexicana since 1998 and has exhibited her work individually and collectively in Mexico, Brazil, the United States, Japan and other countries.
Antonio García Vega is a Mexican artist and member of the Salón de la Plástica Mexicana. He began exhibiting his work while still in school in the early 1970s and continues to do so, often working with his brother Mauricio García Vega. He works in mixed media to paint various forms of expression. His early work was mostly fantastic, with elements of eroticism but his later work has been darker as a means of expressing his own feelings and moods. His work has mostly been exhibited in Mexico, often in conjunction with other artists including a 2010 exhibition with his brother at various venues.
Ofelia Márquez Huitzil is a Mexican artist and member of the Salón de la Plástica Mexicana. She is best known for her abstract art with figurative elements, which has made her work somewhat controversial and excluded from Mexico abstract art movement.
Rosa Castillo Santiago was a Mexican sculptor, and founding member of the Salón de la Plástica Mexicana.
Fidencio Castillo Santiago was a Mexican artist, educator, and a founding member of the Salón de la Plástica Mexicana.
Erasto Cortés Juárez was a Mexican artist and a founding member of the Salón de la Plástica Mexicana.
Leonel Maciel is a Mexican artist, member of the Salón de la Plástica Mexicana, from the coast of the state of Guerrero. Although from a rural area and farming family, he studied art at the Escuela Nacional de Pintura, Escultura y Grabado "La Esmeralda" and has traveled extensively in Europe and Asia, which has influenced his work. His art has changed styles from generally contains multiple elements and saturated colors.
Tomás Parrá is a Mexican artist, cultural promoter and museum curator. His work has been noted with membership into Mexico Sistema Nacional de Creadores de Arte.
José Zúñiga is a Mexican painter whose work has been exhibited both in Mexico and abroad. His work has been recognized by membership in the Salón de la Plástica Mexicana.
Mary Martín was a Spanish-Mexican artist whose work has been recognized with membership in the Salón de la Plástica Mexicana.