Carlos Mérida (1891-1984)
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Carlos Mérida was a Guatemalan artist who spent much of his life and career in Mexico. Mérida grew up in Queltzaltenango, Guatemala to a family of Mayan and Zapotec descent. Mérida’s heritage was often a prevalent subject in his work.
Before studying art, Mérida’s passion was music. After suffering a loss of hearing Mérida became interested in the visual arts and moved to Guatemala City to study at the Instituto de Artes y Artesanias. Mérida began to meet prominent figures such as painter Carlos Valenti.
In 1910 Mérida went with Valenti to Paris, where he met Picasso and saw influential works of art. Unfortunately the trip took a bitter turn when Valenti committed suicide. Mérida returned to Guatemala alone and prepared his first exhibition.
In Guatemala Mérida met his wife, Dalillla Gálvez. Due to family tensions, the couple made their home in Mexico where Mérida became an active muralist and exhibiting artist.
In 1922 Mérida and Diego Rivera painted murals of the Anfiteatro Bolivar in Mexico City. Mérida, Rivera, Orozco, and Siqueiros worked together to found the Union of Workers, Technicians, Painters and Sculptors.
Mérida also worked as a solo muralist for a commission to paint the Children’s Library of the Ministry of Public Education “Little Red Riding Hood and the Four Elements”. Mérida also painted a mural for the Mexican President Juárez, depicting a series of Mexican creation myths.
Mérida returned to Paris where he became introduced to the work of Paul Klee and Joan Miró. When Mérida drastically changed his style, becoming one of the few non-figurative artists in Mexico. Mérida’s work combined Mayan imagery with the abstract forms he had seen in Europe.
Mérida started to use Constructivist techniques in the 1950s, integrating various materials into his paintings. Mérida made murals and mosaics with pieces of glass or an indigenous bark-wood paper called ¨papel amate¨.
Mérida spent his later life completing commissions in both Mexico and Guatemala making mosaics, murals, prints and paintings on canvas. Carlos Mérida is an important Guatemalan and Mexican artist. Mérida’s work is well known is both Europe and the Americas. Do you think you may own a print or painting by Carlos Mérida? Contact us. We are the Carlos Mérida experts.