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A R T A N D C U L T U R E

The Life of MorelosA Paradigmatic Mural

América Gabrielle*

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When sculptor GuillermoRuiz finished the hugestatue of Don José María

Morelos y Pavón on the island of Ja -nitzio in the middle of Pátzcuaro Lake,he invited Ramón Alva de la Canal,Diego Rivera, José Clemente Oroz co,Luis Sahagún and Fermín Re vueltasto decorate its five-floor interior. Ne v -ertheless, when Mexico’s pre sidentat the time, Lázaro Cár de nas, sawAlva de la Canal’s proposal he was sofavorably impressed that he commis-sioned him for the entire work. Thepainter’s first visit to Pátzcuaro wasto leave an indelible mark; he wouldforever remember the landscape, the

deeply rooted traditions, the colorsand the customs of a town that re -fused to lose its identity and clunglovingly to its thousand-year-old cul-ture.Alva de la Canal moved into a

house on the edge of the lake near thecity of Pátzcuaro with his wife andchildren in 1935. Every day he wouldtake a boat to the island of Janitzio.But, the daily trip became so un com -fortable that he decided to move hisfamily to the island itself. Life therewas very difficult at that time: therewas no electricity, running water orother services. Painting the walls wasexhausting because of the sheer sizeof the area to be covered with no as sis -tants, because he had to paint under* Painter and director of Spaces for Art.Interior of the monument to Morelos.

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The island of Janitzio.

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candle light, and because of the tech -ni ques used. The project was fas ci -nat ing, however. Alva de la Canaldelighted in discovering the details ofthe life of Morelos, “the Servant of theNation,” as he covered 250 squaremeters of the interior of the statue.He painted 56 panels on five differentlevels, using mixed techniques withgreat mastery: frescoes, encaustics andtempera.The forms, colors, lines, subtleties

and transitions of light of The Life ofMorelos reflect Alva de la Canal’s in -tense artistic personality and his abil-ity to combine the individual’s lifestory with the most transcendentalmoments of our nation’s history. DonRamón began his day at sunrise and

almost always stayed on his scaffold-ing until he could hear the 8 p.m.train go by, when the sun had longsince gone down. During his stay inJanitzio, in addition to family membersand curious tourists, he had many dis -tinguished visitors who came to watchhim paint, among them Diego Ri ve -ra, Generals Lázaro Cárdenas andFrancisco Múgica and Leon Trotsky.An excellent host, Alva de la Ca -

nal invariably surprised his guests witha snifter served from a Cour voi sierbottle. But instead of cognac, the bot -tle held a local spirit, charanda, mixedwith raisins. Alva said that the mix-ture tasted just like cognac and sworenone of his visitors ever guessed whatthey were drinking unless he told them. The mural has 56 panels painted in different techniques.

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Patzcuaro fishermen in their picturesque boats.

When the mural was finished, PresidentCárdenas was so pleased with it that hecommissioned Alva to do other works: Ga -leana,Melchor Ocampo, Don Vas co de Quiro -ga, Juárez, Dr. Silva and Meeting of GeneralManuel Ávila Camacho and Roosevelt. Whenhis term was over, Cár denas —popularlyknown as “El Tata”, or grandfather— usedto go to Alva’s studio to watch him paintbecause he greatly ap pre ciated him as bothan artist and a friend. Today, the mural isnot only an homage to Morelos as a his-torical figure, but a testimony to the tech-nique and artistic qualities of one of theinitiators of the Mexican muralist move-ment whose name is sometimes forgottenwhen “the big three” (Diego Rivera, JoséCle men te Orozco and David Alfaro Si quei -ros) are mentioned.

BRIEF NOTES ON THE PAINTER’S LIFE

Ramón Alva de la Canal was born in 1892,the oldest of 10 children. His father wasa wealthy Morelia merchant related toThomas Alva Edison, and his mother, Ma -

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Alva de la Canal delighted in discovering the details of

the life of Morelos, “the Servantof the Nation,” as he covered

250 square meters of the interior of the statue.

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ría Teresa de la Canal Fernández de Jáure -gui, was a descendent of the Count De laCanal. As a very small child, he showed aproclivity for painting. When he was stillin primary school, his father took him tothe San Carlos Academy where years laterhe would meet the great masters of histime and become part of the teaching staff.Alva de la Canal worked in art educationfrom a very young age.From 1920 on, as a painting teacher at

the San Carlos Academy, he illustratededitions of the classics published by theMinistry of Public Instruction. The min-istry, headed up at that time by José Vas -concelos, carried out an intense culturalcampaign that included not only publish-ing classic books for mass distribution, butalso support for historic mural painting,which gave rise to the muralist movement.Alva de la Canal would participate enthu-siastically in both programs. In 1922, inthe entryway of the National High School,he painted the 56-meter-long The CrossComing Ashore, the first fresco in the his-tory of Mexican muralism. He worked onit at the same time that Fermín Revueltas

The forms, colors, lines, subtleties and transitions of light of The Life of Morelosreflect Alva de la Canal’s intense artistic personality.

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was painting The Allegory of Our Ladyof Guadalupe in encaustic in theschool’s hallway. Thus, both are con-sidered the initiators of the muralismwith historic and social themes that“the big three” and other muralistswould later continue. In his fresco,Alva de la Canal used “the Saint John’swhite” that would be used later onlyby Orozco. Subsequently, De la Canalbecame part of the “stridentist” mo ve -ment, that aimed to renew and mo -dernize Mexican letters. Icono clasts,the lively “stridentists” Maples Arce,List Arzubide, Arqueles Vela and Alvade la Canal adopted the language ofthe international avant gardes. Theirwork was accused of being influenced

by cubism and futurism, seen forexam ple in a series of book coversand posters done by Alva de la Canalbetween 1925 and 1927, as well as inhis oil painting Nobody’s Café, cur-rently on display in Mexico City’s Na -tional Art Museum.After painting The Life of Mo re -

los, Alva de la Canal did a triptych inthe workshops of the Ministry of theNavy and the mural at Mexico City’sCervantes Library (1957). In 1981,he became a full member of the Mex -ican Academy of the Arts, and oneyear later, he founded the movement“Spaces for Art” together with Alfre -do Zalce and myself. Ramón Alva dela Canal died in 1985.

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A street in Janitzio.