By Natalie Taylor
Walk into the courtyard of Bellas Artes, and along the back walls you will find several murals, all done by Pedro Martinez. You may not have heard about him because he never reached the status of someone like Diego Rivera or David Siqueiros, although Cossio del Pomar said, “he was born a painter.” His murals are outstanding and he is someone worth knowing about.
Pedro Martinez was born in Monterrey, Mexico in 1901 and began drawing as a small boy. But his family did not believe that art was a worthwhile career, so he went to business school to please his father. Fortunately, his talent was discovered by one of the great artists of the time, Alfredo Ramos Martinez, who convinced his father that the boy was extremely gifted and should study art. Pedro excelled at drawing and painting, but when he took up sculpture he won a major award for his work. Unable to study in Paris, as he had dreamed, he became depressed. He went to the United States instead to work at menial jobs, just to pay for his studies in an art school in Minnesota. He met Ruzia Skossowska, another student, and they married in 1928, then returned together to Monterrey. He found jobs painting portraits of society ladies, doing relief on wood, and in the publicity department of a beer producing company.
A wealthy friend, decided to turn an old hacienda in Tamaulipas into a luxury hotel and asked Pedro to decorate it with murals. Pedro brought his wife and their children and they enjoyed living in the hacienda while he painted. A big plus was an expansive orchard with oranges, grapefruits, lemons and avocados. In 1941, Pedro was invited by Cossio del Pomar to teach fresco techniques at which he excelled. He found San Miguel de Allende to be very beautiful and loved teaching at Bellas Artes.
It is here, in Bellas Artes, where he left his legacy which we can enjoy to this day. A mural called El Fanatismo del Pueblo—the Fanaticism of the Populace, most likely shows those who naively believe in superstitions. Informally, the mural is sometimes called El Vampiro, and some say the creature depicted is a chupacabras, a legendary monster that sucks the blood of goats. The faces of the characters vividly express horror and fear.
Then he began what Cossio del Pomar called “a masterpiece”—the Pulqueria. The mural shows a group of Mexican men in a tavern, drinking the authentic Mexican drink, el pulque. Each character shows distinct emotions and projects his personality. A man with a sombrero looks arrogantly down. Two man lean into each other at the bar in a conspiratorial stance. Each man at the table in the foreground shows a different emotion—anger, indifference, curiosity. Even the lone drinking man at the back seems to convey a hidden story.
In the summer of 1942, he painted The Weavers, on the wall above the landing of one of the staircases in Bellas Artes. Afterwards, he was asked to create a mural showing the heroes of Mexico’s Independence. It is called Almacigo de Patriotas—Seedbed of Patriots, and depicts the major revolutionary players. The mural is in a room off the main courtyard.
In 1943 the family moved to Mexico City where Pedro began to work for a movie company creating large landscapes, before which actors performed. He also painted posters of some of the movies of the golden era of Mexican films and continued to teach periodically at the art school in San Miguel de Allende. He also did modeling in clay, carved wooden sculptures, and made bows and arrows because he enjoyed target shooting. Often he visited Santa Engracia and did additional, lovely decorations on the walls there, some of these can still be seen today. He also did work for the cinema, such as a poster for the 1936 American movie The Last of the Mohicans, starring Randolph Scott. And he designed the covers for various magazines. Then, when he had decided to mount an exposition of his works, death came unexpectedly. He died of a heart attack on the dawn of January 1, 1961, at the age of 59. Yet his legacy remains: “Pedro Martinez was born a painter.” We are fortunate to have so many of his works in our city.
Natalie Taylor: BA in English Lit and Journalism, Loyola University, Chicago, 1995. MFA in Creative Writing, Vermont College, Montpelier, VT, 1999. Published writer, editor, journalist. Spanish teacher in the US, English teacher in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Translator. www.natalietaylor.org Contact: tangonata@gmail.com
