Jorge Wilmot, the ceramic artist said to have put Tonala on the map, died last week. He was 83 years old and reportedly suffered a heart attack in his sleep after years of declining health.
The art community’s regard for this Mexican with a German name, a Monterrey-born teacher, philosopher and artistic investigator, has done nothing but increase since his death, with accolades abounding in the media and among people he knew.
“He was a generous person,” said Wilmot’s long time friend and former student Teresa Duran, who has a ceramic workshop in Tonala. “It may have been with a cup of tea, advice, or his profound concepts about life. He read a lot. He pushed people to grow.”
Indeed, Wilmot was well known for his prolific reading in art, philosophy, history and sociology, said to have begun when he studied as a young man in Europe. Wilmot’s reading accelerated in his last years, when his age dictated an ascetic lifestyle.
Over and above his intellectual prowess, Wilmot was revered as a great innovator and promoter of Mexican pottery, stoneware and ceramics, of which Tonala is the undisputed center. Indeed, Wilmot turned Tonala into the “navel of the world” of ceramics, his friend Alberto Diaz de Cossio said in the Guadalajara daily, Milenio.
“He gave Tonala life through his presence, his designs, his rescue of traditional ceramics,” said Paco de la Peña, a well known Guadalajara artist who counts himself among Wilmot’s friends and students.
Wilmot married a French woman, but he was widowed many years ago. The couple had a son, who lives in Germany.Even outside his intimate circle, Wilmot will be missed. That is because his pots, plates, vases and non-utilitarian pieces, with their sculpted animal forms and masterfully painted decorations, grace numerous private collections.
“Jorge Wilmot did a very great deal for Mexican clay artisans,” said U.S. collector Jan Hatfield, who lived many years in Guadalajara. “His designs were inventive, often a bit quirky — his macho, mustachioed suns, for example — but always intriguing and original. With Ken Edwards, he demonstrated that high-fired stoneware could combine traditional motifs in a form that would compete very well in the international market.”
In addition to collections, museums are replete with Wilmot’s work. They include the house and studio he donated to the city of Tonala, now transformed into the Museo Nacional de la Ceramica. While Wilmot lived there, it was a center of his investigations into high-temperature ceramics and enamel glazes and a nexus of his collaboration with fellow innovator Edwards.
Wilmot is legendary for winning countless prizes on the local, national and international circuit as well as for his wide knowledge of ceramic technique and ceramic history, not only of Prehispanic Mexico, but of Europe, China, Korea and Persia.
“All the ceramic artisans in Tonala are in mourning because of the death of this valuable artist,” said De la Peña.
The Museo Nacional de la Ceramica, which Wilmot founded, is at Constitucion 104 in Tonala. (33) 3283-4765, 3683-2519 ext. 1194 and 36. Open Monday to Friday 9 to 5, Saturday and Sunday 9 to 3.