One of Mexico’s most iconic paintings, Raul Anguiano’s “La espina” (the thorn), is on display in Guadalajara, the artist’s birthplace, until May 31.
“La espina” depicts a Mayan woman digging a thorn out of her foot with a knife and was painted during an expedition to the Bonampak archaeological site in 1949. The work gained fame after being used for many years to illustrate public school textbooks.
Appropriately, the painting is on show at Guadalajara’s Museo Raul Anguiano (Mura), as part of “La espina. La expedición a Bonampak de 1949,” an exhibit chronicling the artist’s well-publicized trip to the Lacandonan jungle.
Born in 1915, Anguiano attend Guadalajara’s Escuela Libre de Pintura, where he learned basic artistic techniques and became interested in pre-Hispanic and popular art.
He eventually made his name in Mexico City, where he painted many murals, while also producing works at his studio in the suburb of Coyocan. He is considered a leader of the “second generation” of Mexican muralists which carried on the tradition of Diego Rivera, Jose Clemente Orozco and David Alfaro Siqueiros. Among his 50 murals are several in California, as well as in Jamaica and the Vatican.
Anguiano illustrated a number of books and produced many catalogs of his work, including the tome “Expedicion a Bonampak,” first published in 1959.
Excerpts from the book, as well as blow-up panels of newspaper articles, are featured in the current exhibit at Mura.
The exhibit is part of a series of events to mark the 100th anniversary of Anguiano’s birth.
The museum opened in 2003 to provide a space to store and exhibit over 1,000 works the artist donated to the state of Jalisco before his death in 2006.
Mura is located at Mariano Otero 375, across from the Niños Heroes monument. Open Tuesdays to Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sundays, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.