Anhelo Hernández Ríos

Anhelo Hernández Ríos (21 November 1922 – 11 March 2010) was a Uruguayan plastic artist and teacher.
Anhelo Hernández Ríos was born on 21 November 1922, the son of María Ríos and José Hernández. He attended primary and secondary school at the Elbio Fernández School, and studied preparatory architecture at the Alfredo Vásquez Acevedo Institute (IAVA). From 1935 to 1941, he studied sculpture and drawing with Alberto Savio, a disciple of Aristide Maillol. In 1941, he entered the School of Applied Arts and studied with Antonio Pena, Edmundo Prati, and Federico Moller de Berg [es]. In 1942 he entered the newly formed National Institute of Fine Arts [es] as a fourth-year student and attended the workshop of the sculptor Severino Pose [es]. At the end of 1942 he entered the workshop of Joaquín Torres-García, of which he was a part until the master's death in 1949.
In 1947 he held his first solo exhibition as a member of the Torres-García Workshop at the Tacuarembó Club. In 1969, he won the scholarship of the Uruguay Union of Plastic Artists to study and work at the Superior School of Art in East Berlin, where his mentor in engraving studies was professor Arno Mohr.
Between 1944 and 1953 he worked as a drawing teacher at the Liceo Departamental de Tacuarembó. From 1954 to 1957 he was a drawing teacher at the Industrial School of San Ramón Canelones.
In 1964 he married computer scientist Ida Holz. In 1976 they went into exile in Mexico where, for 11 years, Anhelo worked as a cover designer for Siglo XXI Editores. From 1983 to 1987 he was also a professor in the Postgraduate Division of UNAM's National School of Plastic Arts.
In 1989 he became a Grade 5 teacher for the Fundamental Workshop of Free Orientation of Aesthetics at the National Institute of Fine Arts (IENBA), Montevideo.
Hernández Ríos was invited to participate as a juror at several engraving biennials of the IENBA's National Salon of Plastic Arts, to participate in round tables and to give lectures and seminars on topics of his specialty at the Autonomous University of Mexico, the National School of Plastic Arts of Mexico, the Autonomous University of Puebla in Mexico, the Museo Torres García in Montevideo, and the Uruguay Association of Psychoanalysts, among others. In 2003 he received the Figari Award for his career. On 2 December 2005, he was declared an Illustrious Citizen by the Departmental Board of Montevideo.
He wrote several essays on Uruguayan and Mexican artists, including Joaquín Torres-García, Augusto Torres, Eva Díaz, Francisco Matto [es], and Myrna Soto, as well as multiple articles and essays on theory and artistic practices.
His last major exhibition was in August 2008 at the National Museum of Visual Arts in Montevideo, "Antológica. Ahnelo Hernández", where numerous paintings, digital prints, etchings, and documents were exhibited.
Anhelo Hernández Ríos died in Montevideo on 11 March 2010.
His works are held by the National Museum of Visual Arts, National Historical Museum, Collection of the Senate of the Republic, Juan Manuel Blanes Museum and Municipal Museum of San José, as well as the Pushkin Museum in Moscow, the Hermitage, and important private collections.