Jacques Gelman
Jacques Gelman (born October 30, 1909 in St. Petersburg , Russian Empire , † 1986 ) was a film producer and art collector .
Life
Gelman belonged to a wealthy aristocratic family who emigrated to Germany after the Russian Revolution . He studied film production in Berlin and founded a company for the distribution of films in Paris . In 1938 he traveled to Mexico to open a branch of his company there. Since he was of Jewish descent, he decided at the beginning of World War II to stay in Mexico for good. There he met Natasha Zahalka from the Czech Republic , whom he married in 1941. While working as a film producer, he met Mario Moreno “ Cantinflas ”, a well-known comedian . In the 1940s Jacques and Natasha Gelman bought a second home in Cuernavaca until they finally moved there.
Because of his interest in painting, he met several Mexican and Spanish artists such as Diego Rivera , Frida Kahlo , David Alfaro Siqueiros , Rufino Tamayo and Rafael Cidoncha , who portrayed his wife Natasha. Gunther Gerzso , a painter and friend of Gelman, painted a portrait of Gelman. Most of the pictures in their collection are from them. Together they built up the largest private collection of Mexican artists from 1910 to 1970. They mainly collected landscape paintings , still lifes and portraits . Other artists added to the collection included Rufino Tamayo, María Izquierdo , José Clemente Orozco, and the surrealist painter Leonora Carrington .
After the death of her husband, Natascha bequeathed the Mexican collection to the curator and current director Robert Littman. He founded the "Vergel Foundation" so that the collection in Mexico should be looked after. The “Centro Cultural Muros” museum was opened in 2004 and was supposed to show nearly 100 paintings from the Mexican collection. The paintings of European painters such as Henri Matisse , Pablo Picasso , Georges Braque , Balthus and Amedeo Modigliani , which Gelman collected , were donated to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York .
Filmography
The following films were produced by Jacques Gelman. In Ni sangre, ni arena led Alejandro Galindo directed, in all other Miguel M. Delgado.
- 1941: Ni sangre, ni arena
- 1942: El circo
- 1942: Los tres mosqueteros
- 1947: ¡A volar joven!
- 1948: El supersabio
- 1955: Abajo el telón
- 1957: El bolero de Raquel
- 1958: Sube y baja
- 1961: El analfabeto
- 1962: El extra
- 1964: El padrecito
- 1966: Su excelencia
- 1968: Por mis pistolas
- 1971: El profe
- 1976: El ministro y yo
- 1977: El patrullero 777
- 1982: El barrendero
Art collection
Among the most famous works from the Jacques and Natasha Gelmans collection are:
- 1936–1937: Autorretrato en Albergue del Caballo del Alba (self-portrait in the home of the Alba horse) - Leonora Carrington
- 1938: Caballos (horses) - María Izquierdo
- 1943: Retrato de la Señora Natasha Gelman (portrait of Natasha Gelman) - Diego Rivera (first picture from the Mexican collection)
- 1943: Vendedora de Alcatraces (saleswoman of calla lilies) - Diego Rivera
- 1943: Autoretrato con Monos (self-portrait with monkeys) - Frida Kahlo
- 1943: Diego en mi Mente (Diego in my mind) - Frida Kaho
- 1945: Libertad (Freedom) - José Cemente Orozco
- 1948: Retrato de Cantinflas (Portrait Cantinflas) - Rufino Tamayo
- 1949: Mujer con Rebozo (Woman with a Scarf) - David Alfaro Siquieros
- 1953: Los Cuatro Elementos (The Four Elements) - Gunther Gerzso
Catalog of the art collection:
- Hayden Herrera, Pierre Schneider, Raquel Tibol: La Colección Gelman. La Colección de Arte Mexicano Moderno y Contemporáneo de Jacques y Natasha Gelman . Cuernavaca, Morelos, Museo Muros 2004. ISBN 0-9722164-0-5 .
Web links
- Jacques Gelman in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- To the art collection of Jacques and Natasha Gelman, on the occasion of an exhibition
Individual evidence
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Gelman, Jacques |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Russian-Mexican film producer and art collector |
| DATE OF BIRTH | October 30, 1909 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | St. Petersburg , Russian Empire |
| DATE OF DEATH | 1986 |