Juan O'Gorman
Juan O'Gorman (July 6, 1905 - January 17, 1982), was a Mexican
artist, both a painter and an architect.
O'Gorman was born in Coyoacán, Mexican Federal District,
a suburb within greater Mexico City, to an Irish father and a Mexican
mother. In the 1920s he studied architecture at the University of
San Carlos. He became a well known architect, worked on the new
Bank Of Mexico building, and under the influence of Le Corbusier
introduced modern functionalist architecture to Mexico City.
An important early commission was for a house and studio for painters
Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo, built in 1927. Rivera, in turn, influenced
O'Gorman's painting.As he matured O'Gorman turned away from strict
functionalism and worked to develop an organic architecture, combining
the influence of Frank Lloyd Wright with traditional Mexican constructions.His
paintings often treated Mexican history, landscape, and legends.
He painted the murals in the Independence Room in Mexico City's
Chapultepec Castle.
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