In one of my most recent Posts, Arte Mexicano : Mi Colección, I mentioned a beautiful watercolour that had fortuitously (and somewhat synchronistically) entered my possession. The image in the painting was that of San Bernardino, a church in Xochimilco, and was by the artist Amendolla. Now my knowledge of Mexican art is really limited to the prehispanic era, although I am aware of modern cultural icons such as Jose Guadalupe Posada, Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo (whose work I think I could readily identify), there are many artists who I know by name only (Orozco, Tamayo, Siqueiros and Carrington – yes, yes, I know she was English) and there are a huge number more that I have no idea about.

I do like to research though so even though this is outside my normal scope I do like the process.

One artist of whom I had never heard and of whom I was able to find very little information was Luis Amendolla. This I think is a little unusual as I could find no reference to him in any of my books regarding the history of art in Mexico as in my online research I found that he was if not influential in the art history of Mexico he was most certainly a well known artist with a prodigious amount of work spread over multiple styles.

Luis Ricardo Amendolla Gasparo, (1928-2000)

His name is known to have been spelled Amendola and Amendolla although on his signature it always shows a double “ll”.

Luis Ricardo Amendolla Gasparo was born in Mexico City on March 30, 1928 (1)

1. although some sources place his birthdate in 1939 : https://www.artland.com/artists/luis-amendolla : https://boveri2.rssing.com/chan-8206312/article808.html?zx=813  : https://amoxcalli.hypotheses.org/32168#footnote_4_32168 : https://www.invaluable.com/artist/gasparo-luis-ricardo-amendolla-jupmhnqnc6/) and others note his birthplace as being Puebla “He was born in 1939  in the city of Puebla” : https://circulodeestudios-centrohistorico.blogspot.com/2019/08/efemerides21agosto-ignacio-lopez-rayon.html)

Luis was a Mexican Postwar & Contemporary painter who grew up during the 1950s when Abstract Expressionism prevailed as a dominant trend in painting. I have seen it noted that he was “inspired by the artistic atmosphere of the time” (1) which I guess he would have been as they were the times in which he grew up but the Bio seems to suggest that his work was abstract expressionistic? This I don’t know. I’m not an artist, nor am I schooled in art history. I have found information on Luis difficult to find and my most common resources have ended up being art auction houses (and even they don’t agree on certain things – like birthdate for instance)

1. https://www.artland.com/artists/luis-amendolla

People

Places

Studies of Character

Luis Amendolla is noted in some sources as being “a self-taught artist who was among the ranks of artists influenced by the Mexican School of Painting” (1). Again with the “influenced”. Well I guess all artists are influenced by something in one form or another? I also guess that if I was schooled in art history then I might be able to see these influences in his work.

1. The Mexican school of painting was born in Mexico’s post-revolutionary era (1910-1940) when artists began delving into the roots of their country’s indigenous past as an expression of where Mexico came from and where it was heading into the future (as far as the search for a National Identity was concerned). This era also involved the golden age of Mexican muralists when the Ministry of Public Education encouraged painters such as Diego Rivera (1886-1957), José Clemente Orozco (1883-1949) , David Alfaro Siqueiros (1896-1974) and Rufino Tamayo by commissioning frescoes to be painted on the walls of public buildings, which gave birth to muralism.

All I can see is a talented artist whose work I find compelling

Mexico’s Muralists (well some of them anyway – and I’ve deliberately left Diego off the list – you don’t need to know who he is as his work is likely the most popular Mexican muralist outside of México)

Considered “one of the most important watercolour artists in Mexico” Luis had first ventured into painting and later into the art of watercolour where he achieved his greatest works with landscapes.

The Amendolla I have been lucky enough to acquire. A watercolour of San Bernardino in Xochimilco. See my Post Arte Mexicano : Mi Colección for a little more information on this particular painting.

His wife has recounted how their daughter Gloria, was often the model for her father and some of his work featuring her earned him gold medals and recognition in other countries. Gloria has recounted her memories of her father such as when she was little she was wrapped in her father’s jacket and travelled with him to the port of Acapulco by motorcycle on weekends.

Amendola exhibited his works in New York, Houston, Los Angeles, Guatemala, Japan, Korea and Mexico City.

He also created and displayed murals in various U.S. cities. (I seek images of these murals. I have been able to find nothing with internet searches and am hoping that someone with a backing in art history might be able to help me with this.)

Amendolla was praised for his large watercolours showing images of his countrymen at work and play in Mexico’s scenic settings. His favourite subjects were scenes of Mexican urban life and highly expressive portraits of Mexico’s indigenous population. One of his most notable works, “El Tepozteco”, a representative figure of the municipality of Tepoztlán (1), became the symbol of Tepoztlan. Tepoztlán, was so important for carrying out his work that he chose to reside in this municipality in the northern part of the state for several years. I have yet to find any images of this painting.

1. El Tepozteco is an archaeological site in the Mexican state of Morelos. It consists of a small temple to Tepoztēcatl, the Aztec god of the alcoholic beverage pulque

All artists still have to pay the rent and feed themselves and Luis too did plenty of commercial work.

Luis was a busy artist.

Aside from his own art he produced a lot of commercial work including art for Galas de Mexico, which specialized in print advertising and calendars, and for Mexicana airlines. Galas de México (S.A. de C.V.)(1) has the distinction of being the most recognized factory producing calendars and stickers for advertising in Mexico for almost 100 years. The company bears the name of its founder Don Santiago Galas Arce who acquired a small printing shop near the centre of Mexico City in 1913. The Galas de Mexico catalogues carried advertising of all types of products, from beers to tractors, from underwear to household appliances.

1. Sociedad Anonima de Capital Variable. These corporate entities, consisting of two or more shareholders, enjoy limited liability. The S.A. de C.V. and S.A. are similar to the United States “Corporation” or “. Inc” legal entity.

Galas de México also produced calendars which were a mainstay in countless Mexican homes for decades and displayed a now easily recognizable style of Mexican “pin up” girls. Luis is said to have also produced comic book cover art. He made several covers for the Mexican publishing company, Editorial Novaro (1). In his spare time he would draw cartoons satirizing himself.

1. Editorial Novaro published comic books, mainly reprints of US issues, in Spanish around the world from 1949 through 1985.

Luis’s work with calendar girls has been displayed in museums and art galleries both in Mexico and in el otro lado.

This was Mexico’s golden age of calendar girls and Galas de Mexico printed images not only from Amendolla but also by artists such as: Jesús de la Helguera, Jorge González Camarena, Josep Renau, Eduardo Cataño, José Bribiesca, Armando Drechsler, Jaime Sadurní, and dozens of other painters. The calendars flourished until 1970, “the year of Santiago Galas’ death.

An example of Luis’ calendars

Ferretera de Centro – Central hardware store
Plomeria en general – General plumbing
Unicos en el ramo – Unique in the field
Inodoros, lavabos, accesorios del pais e importados – Toilets, sinks, local and imported accessories

A collection of Mexico’s Calendar Girls

Some of the artwork was pretty saucy

The Museo Soumaya (Soumaya Museum) is a private museum and a non-profit cultural institution in Mexico City. Since 2013 it has had a dedicated exhibition of around 1,500 works illustrating the process of advertising chromolithography and showcases the original paintings which served as models for the mass productions of Galas de México.

Don’t get confused though.

The Soumaya Museum has three locations: Soumaya Polanco, Soumaya Loreto, and the Gulliermo Tovar y de Teresa house. The Loreto one is the least well known of them all. It is located on the upper floors of Plaza Loreto and constantly changes its exhibitions. Its calendar collection is permanently displayed here.

In 2004 the Mexic-Arte Museum in Austin Texas in conjunction with Museo Soumaya presented a retrospective of Mexican Calendar Legends.

They had this to say of Luis….

“He stands out in the genre of humorous calendars with his popular characters. In 1953, he joined Galas at the age of 25 (this gives him a birthdate of 1928) (1). He was a prolific painter of chromos who started as a self taught-illustrator of packing labels.  Galas preserved more than 300 of the works that he produced up to the end of the 1960’s.  As an illustrator of publicity calendars, he painted for Hercules Radiators and Bimbo bread. In the chromos, he painted a portrait of the mischevious, humorous and witty scenes of popular wit which were well received. He died in Cuernavaca, Morelos in August 21 2000”

1. Luis’s birthdate is doing my head in. Every time I become more certain that his birthdate is 1939 a statement like this comes along (presumably from a historically accurate source) that only confuses the issue. 1928 or 1939? Are these two separate people?

Luis’ Comic book cover art

Tebeosfera is a digital magazine dedicated to the study of media linked to graphic popular culture, such as comics and graphic humour, illustration, popular novels. or the cinema.

In it – Félix López (2018) and Jesús Piernas (2019) have pages on various comic books produced by EDICIONES RECREATIVAS SA DE CV (1) in Mexico City in the late 1950’s. The artwork on two particular issues have dedications to Luis Amendolla as the artist responsible for the cover art. The later work by Jesús however mentions that the illustrator is “possibly the painter and watercolorist Luis Ricardo Améndolla”. So. Can this work be attributed to Luis?

The Enciclopedia de la literatura en México (Encyclopedia of literature in Mexico) does note that “Luis [Ricardo] Amendolla [Gasparo] is a Mexican watercolorist. He first ventured into the painting technique and, later, trained as a watercolorist. His most representative works are landscapes and drawings from the popular sector. He made several covers for Editorial Novaro.”(2). This same site credits Luis with an unpublished novel “La inesperada” (The Unexpected) and I guess it is truly unexpected as it gives a publishing date of 1923 (????). Five years before Luis was born? (and that’s if we’re going by the 1928 and not the 1939 birthdate). This cannot be the same man.

1. Label founded in 1949 by Luis Novaro in Mexico that In 1949, Luis Novaro founded the publishing house Ediciones Recreativas (ER) in Mexico , which initially published comic and children’s comics (mostly by Walt Disney) and preceded the most important Mexican comics publisher: Editorial Novaro . In the early 1950s ER signed numerous contracts with various American publishers (including those highlighted by DC, Fawcett, Archie, Harvey, St. John and Dell, creating several more labels: Ediciones Modernas SA (EMSA), Sociedad Editora Americana (SEA) and ALEGRÍA , each of them intended to publish a specific type of comics. All of them made up what became known as the NOVARO EDITORIAL ORGANIZATION (ORGANIZACIÓN EDITORIAL NOVARO, A. C.)
2. http://www.elem.mx/autor/datos/3494. Published Dec 15, 2019 1:49 p.m.

1958 – Epopeya del sello EDICIONES RECREATIVAS S. A. en el número 7: LA DERROTA DEL ISLAM (1-XII-1958)

Mexicana Airline Travel Posters – circa 1968

 

Luis passed away in his home on the night of Monday, August 21, 2000, a victim of pneumonia. Luis was survived by Sara Martha Celis Massieu (or just Sara Celis – I have also seen it written as Sarita Felix). Sara was listed as his only heir in “TIERRA Y LIBERTAD” Periódico Oficial No.4103 – Gobierno del Estado de Morelos

His friends described him as a “bohemian at heart” and a great artist

Locations of some of Amendollas work

“DON PONCHO”

CARLOS OLACHEA BOUCSÍEGUEZ ART GALLERY OF BCS

“EL SALTO”

 SINALOA ART MUSEUM

“PATZCUARO”

MUSEO DE ARTE DE SINALOA : SINALOA ART MUSEUM

“LA PAJITA”

ROUND HOUSE MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART CHIHUAHUA

“LOS TEJADOS”  :  “THE ROOFTOPS”

PINACOTECA ARTS CENTER, FUNDIDORA PARK MONTERREY

“VALLE DE BRAVO”

DIRECCIÓN GENERAL DE PROMOCIÓN CULTURAL, OBRA PÚBLICA Y ACERVO PATRIMONIAL DE LA SHCP  : GENERAL DIRECTORATE OF CULTURAL PROMOTION, PUBLIC WORKS AND HERITAGE ACQUISITION OF THE SHCP

“CUILAPAN DE GUERRERO”

DIRECCIÓN GENERAL DE PROMOCIÓN CULTURAL, OBRA PÚBLICA Y ACERVO PATRIMONIAL DE LA SHCP  : GENERAL DIRECTORATE OF CULTURAL PROMOTION, PUBLIC WORKS AND HERITAGE ACQUISITION OF THE SHCP

“EL ESTERO DEL SOLDADO”

DIRECCIÓN GENERAL DE PROMOCIÓN CULTURAL, OBRA PÚBLICA Y ACERVO PATRIMONIAL DE LA SHCP  : GENERAL DIRECTORATE OF CULTURAL PROMOTION, PUBLIC WORKS AND HERITAGE ACQUISITION OF THE SHCP

“LAS GLORIAS”

DIRECCIÓN GENERAL DE PROMOCIÓN CULTURAL, OBRA PÚBLICA Y ACERVO PATRIMONIAL DE LA SHCP  (Secretaría de Hacienda y Crédito Público)(1)

GENERAL DIRECTORATE OF CULTURAL PROMOTION, PUBLIC WORKS AND HERITAGE ACQUISITION OF THE SHCP

1. The mission of the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit is to propose, direct and control the policy of the Federal Government in financial, fiscal, spending, income and public debt matters, with the purpose of consolidating a country with quality, equitable, economic growth. inclusive and sustained, that strengthens the well-being of Mexicans – https://www.gob.mx/shcp/que-hacemos

References

• https://harveycomics.fandom.com/wiki/Editorial_Novaro
• https://www.1stdibs.com/furniture/wall-decorations/paintings/early-portrait-indian-child-luis-amendolla/id-f_2809032/
• http://www2.sat.gob.mx/sitio_internet/sitio_aplicaciones/consulta_pago_especie/obras2002.html
• https://www.artland.com/artists/luis-amendolla
• https://www.artspawn.com/artists/Luis_Ricardo_Amendolla/
• https://www.chairish.com/product/12298887/signed-watercolor-el-equipal-folk-art-painting-by-luis-ricardo-amendolla-mexico-c-1980s?epik=dj0yJnU9RkIybHVrV1NOdDNNTUFnZFFRbTdhdjVFbHRDY2hCdFUmcD0wJm49Wmtka2hvdkVrYXN2Qmd2UmkyWktRdyZ0PUFBQUFBR1djdkR3
• https://www.noyolaanticuarios.com/artists/Luis_Ricardo_Amendolla/
• History of Galas de Mexico Calendarios – https://www.kioscodelahistoria.com/single-post/2019/10/24/historia-de-los-calendarios-en-m%C3%A9xico
• Luis Amendolla Comic Book Art – Jesús Piernas (2019): “Luis Améndolla” in Tebeosfera – https://www.tebeosfera.com/autores/amendolla_luis.html
• Luis Amendolla Comic Book Art – Félix López (2018): “REAL LIFE ADVENTURES (1956, ER / NOVARO) 34” in Tebeosfera . Available online on 12-I-2024 at: https://www.tebeosfera.com/numeros/aventuras_de_la_vida_real_1956_er_novaro_34.html
• Mexican Calendar Legends at Museo Sumayo – https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth304808/m1/2/
• “TIERRA Y LIBERTAD” Periódico Oficial No.4103 – Gobierno del Estado de Morelos : https://periodicooficial.morelos.gob.mx/periodicos/2001/4103-.pdf
• Tuñón, Julia. (2006). Cuerpos femeninos, cuerpos de patria. Los iconos de nación en México: apuntes para un debate “Female bodies, bodies of the country. The icons of the nation in Mexico: notes for a debate”. Historias , (65), 41–60. Recovered from https://revistas.inah.gob.mx/index.php/historias/article/view/2199Tuñón, Julia.