An exhibition at the Casa de la Cultura Jalisciense – titled “Echar Raíces” – detailing the life and work of internationally-renowned Guadalajara-born painter and sculptor Juan Soriano is up and ready for viewing, just as soon as the Jalisco government gives the okay for museums in the state to reopen.
This month, Mexico is commemorating the centenary of Soriano’s birth (August 18, 1920) with a series of – mostly digital – events. Soriano, who died in 2006 and is arguably Guadalajara’s most influential artist together with Jose Clemente Orozco, was a child prodigy who had his first individual exhibition at Guadalajara’s Museo Regional in 1934 at age 14. He subsequently moved to Mexico City, where he fine-tuned his craft, mixing and creating lifelong friendships with artists, intellectuals and poets.
His large body of work includes painting, sculpture, ceramics, graphic works, illustrations, tapestries and set and costume design. Calling himself a “perpetual rebel,” Soriano was never one to be cubbyholed into a single genre. He lived for periods in Rome and later in Paris, where classical and mythical themes forged a central theme of his work. He is perhaps most renowned for his self-portraits and portraits, and, in his later years, for his monumental sculptures, usually done in bronze and most often featuring abstract birds.
Upon his return to Mexico from Rome, he founded the Poesía en Voz Alta (Poetry Out Loud) theatrical project with author Octavio Paz, British artist Leonora Carrington and essayist and poet Jaime García-Terrés. In 2003, Soriano returned to Guadalajara for a period to undertake tapestry design with a death theme for the Gobelinos Workshop.
Frequently honored both domestically and internationally (he was awarded the Chevalier des Arts et Lettres and membership in France’s Legion of Honour), Soriano was one of Mexico’s first celebrities to come out, and enjoyed a 30-year relationship with Polish dancer Marek Keller, who has meticulously managed his partner’s legacy since his death.
In June, 2018, the Museo Morelense de Arte Contemporáneo Juan Soriano opened in Cuernavaca, Morelos, housing 1,200 of his works, including sculptures, paintings, drawings and photographs.
When cultural reopenings permit, the exhibition “Echar Raíces” can be found in the Galeria Juan Soriano located in the Casa de la Cultura Jalisciense, Constituyentes 21, facing the entrance to Guadalajara’s Agua Azul Park.