Adolfo Best Maugard

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Adolfo Best Maugard , also known as Fito Best (born June 11, 1891 in Mexico City , † August 25, 1964 in Athens ), was a Mexican artist and film director .

biography

At a young age he made detailed illustrations for Franz Boas of pre-Hispanic excavation finds from the valley of Mexico . He completed his artistic studies in Europe, where he met Diego Rivera , who portrayed him in 1913. The oil painting is now in the Museo Nacional de Arte .

In 1914 he returned to Mexico and worked at the emerging open-air painting schools. He dealt with Mexican folk art and allowed new elements to flow in by combining modern and rational style elements in his pictures. His pictures are often figurative caricatures .

In mid-1919 he went to the United States to study and returned in late 1920. From 1921 to 1924 he was head of the department of art education under the direction of José Vasconcelos , who at that time was Secretario de Educación Pública . His drawing method, also known as the "best method", found its way into art education in all Mexican schools in 1922. During this time he also wrote several art history books.

His work "Manuales y Tratados: Metodo de dibujo: tradition, resurgimiento y evolucion del arte mexicano" published in 1923 was distributed to over 200,000 students. In 1931 he was part of Sergei Mikhailovich Eisenstein's adaptation of the unfinished film “ ¡Qué viva México! “Commissioned by the Mexican government with the assistant direction, whereby he also had an influence on Russian cinematography.

In 1932 he became a member of the Council for Fine Arts (Consejo de Bellas Artes) and the Council for Cultural Affairs (Consejo de Asuntos Culturales) in the Federal District of México . He also became a member of the Society for Geography and Statistics (Sociedad de Geografía y Estadística) and of the Mexican Association of Film Directors. In 1933 he was representative of the Department of Fine Arts in the Council for Primary Education and from 1932 to 1935 in the Marketing Department of the Lotería Nacional para la Beneficencia Pública .

In 1933 he directed the film adaptation of "Humanidad" ( Spanish for "humanity") and in 1937 his script for the film La mancha de sangre ("The Blood Stain"), which was premiered in June 1943, based on texts by Miguel Ruiz . He was close friends with Rosa and Miguel Covarrubias and had ties to writing and artist groups in the United States.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Historia de una mancha ( Memento from July 22, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) (Spanish), article in La Jornada Michoacán .
  2. ↑ From a Mexican Perspective - The Vision of Adolfo Best Maugard (English).
  3. ↑ Diego Rivera Retrato de Adolfo Best Maugard (1913) ( Memento from January 15, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
  4. ^ Adolfo Best Maugard 1891-1965 (Spanish), biography.
personal data
SURNAME Best Maugard, Adolfo
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Best, Fito
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Mexican artist and film director
DATE OF BIRTH June 11, 1891
PLACE OF BIRTH Mexico city
DATE OF DEATH August 25, 1964
Place of death Athens