Manuel Felguérez

Manuel Felguérez (Zacatecas, 1928 – Mexico City, 2020) was a prominent Mexican painter and sculptor, a key figure in the renewal of modern art in Mexico and a member of the Generación de la Ruptura. He studied at the Academy of San Carlos and “La Esmeralda,” later continuing his training at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris with the support of a French government scholarship. During his time in France, he worked in the studio of the sculptor Ossip Zadkine.

Upon returning to Mexico, he joined the country’s first abstract art movement, challenging the dominant muralist tradition. From 1956 onwards, he combined his artistic practice with teaching at institutions such as the Universidad Iberoamericana and UNAM, where he also collaborated with the Institute of Aesthetic Research. He was appointed a member of the Academy of Arts in 1973.

Throughout his career, Felguérez received numerous honours, including the National Prize for Arts and Sciences (1988), the Bellas Artes Medal (2015), the Guggenheim Fellowship, and the Grand Prize at the XIII São Paulo Biennial (1975). He was named an Emeritus Creator by Mexico’s National Fund for Culture and the Arts (FONCA) in 1993.

His work explored industrial and recycled materials, merging painting and sculpture with a particular emphasis on large formats. In the 1970s, he developed “La máquina estética” (“The Aesthetic Machine”), a pioneering project that incorporated computers into the creative process. His legacy endures in public and private collections in Mexico and abroad.