The non-mexican Latin American students of the Escuela Superior de Pintura y Grabado La Esmeralda in the 30s, 40s and 50s

Abstract

This article is an Art History study and is an investigation into non-Mexican Latin American students who were enrolled in the Escuela Nacional de Pintura, Escultura y Grabado La Esmeralda (National School of Painting, Sculpture and Engraving La Esmeralda) (Mexico) and became muralists in the 1930s, 40s and 50s. The article is an excerpt of the master's research Muralism, Muralisms – Mexican Muralism and its impact on Latin American Art, an iconographic and bibliographic survey of mural art in Latin America that allows us to analyze the impact that Mexican Muralism had on Latin American art and artists. Some artists who studied at La Esmeralda became pioneering muralists once back in their countries of origin. Based on various articles, all the Latin American artists who studied at La Esmeralda were surveyed and the most important texts on the work of the following muralists have been analyzed: the Salvadoran Violeta Bonilla; the Costa Rican Francisco Amighetti; the Venezuelan Pedro León Zapata; the Guatemalan Rina Lazo; and the Canadian-born Mexican Arnold Belkin, who has lived and worked most of his life in Mexico.