page_title: Jorge González Camarena
section_title: Career
hierarchical_section_title: Jorge González Camarena / Career
caption_attribution_description: English: Mural work depicting Francis of Assisi San Buenaventura and Anthony of Padua in the Sala de Profundis of the cloister of the San Miguel Arcangel monastery in Huejotzingo, Puebla, Mexico
context_page_description: Jorge González Camarena was a Mexican prominent painter, muralist and sculptor. He is best known for his mural work, as part of the Mexican muralism movement, although his work is distinct from the main names associated with it. His major works include the mural on the main administration building of the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Studies and a mural created for the Universidad de Concepción in Chile. He also created easel works, one of which, La Patria, was well known in Mexico as it was used on the cover of free textbooks from the 1960s into the 1970s. Recognitions for his work include the Premio Nacional de Arte, membership in the Academia de Artes and the Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana, grade Commendatore from the Italian government.
context_section_description: González Camarena began his career working as an assistant to Dr. Atl, coloring the images of church in the book Las iglesias de México. Dr. Atl became one of González Camarena's mentors until his death.
  After he finished with school, González Camarena first became noted for his work in publicity. In 1929, at age 21, he worked writing and drawing for publications such as Revista de Revistas and Nuestro México. He also worked into the 1930s creating images for calendar for the Editorial Casa Galas, along with calendars for Cemento Cruz Azul.
  In 1933, painter Jorge Enciso, then director of the Dirección de Monumentos Coloniales, commissioned him to restore the 16th-century frescos on the walls of the former monastery of Huejotzingo, Puebla. The project took two years and the project made him sensitive to the area's indigenous people and Mesoamerican art. He used some of the money he earned from the project to research indigenous painters, especially Marcos Cipactli, identifying him not only as one of the contributors to the original Huejotzingo work but also as the painter of the original image of the Virgin of Guadalupe. The latter assertion caused him some controversy. He also did a study on the presence of demon and devil images in Mexican art and folklore.
  González Camarena began creating mural works in 1939, with twenty six of the works still remaining. The first was created in the town of Zimapan, Hidalgo at the Hotel Fundación called Alegoría de Zimapán. At the time, the town was a crossroads for traffic between Tamaulipas and Nuevo León, but a new highway changed that later. The hotel was abandoned but the mural remains in good condition.
  His second mural was a pair of oil an wax panels on stone for the Guardiola Building in 1941 called La vida, la mujer y el hombre (Live, woman and man), commissioned by friend and colleague Carlos Obregón Santacilia. The work was controversial because the images of the man and woman were nudes, considered immoral by the bankers that sponsored the work. As a response, González Camarena founded the first Mexican Nudist Society to promote the use of nudes in artwork. The work remained on the building until 1957, when the earthquake of that year caused damage to the piece, and instead of being rescued, it was demolished. In response, muralists from Mexico and other countries founded the Commission of Mural Painting of INBA to protect murals and other art under censorship threat. INBA also proposed that González Camarena replace the work with a mural at the Palacio de Bellas Artes. This resulted in a mural called Liberación de la humanidad, finished in 1963.
  Other of González Camarena's early murals include Águila en Vuelo  for the Banco de México building  in Veracruz and the La Purísma Church.
  In 1950 and 1951 he created murals and sculptures for the Instituto Mexicano de Seguro Social building on Paseo de la Reforma in Mexico City. The mural is done in vinylite, and is accompanied by two groups of sculptures called El Trabajo and Maternidad. He worked on this project with architect Obregón Santacila, with whom he also founded a movement called Artistic Integration, with the aim of strengthening ties between builders and artists on architectural projects.
  In 1954, the founder of the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Studies, Eugenio Garza Sada, commissioned González Camarena to create a mural for what is now the main administration building for the university system. The project consisted of applying Italian mosaic on a relief. This project had him spent much time in Monterrey, and become involved in the artist community there, leading to the creation of the Arte, A.C. cultural group. This mural remains today as a symbol of the institution, even reproduced on class rings.
  In 1959 Emilio Azcárraga Vidaurreta commissioned him to decorate the facade of Televicentro, today Televisa, resulting in a 900m² mural called Frisos de la television. This outside wall was later damaged, requiring the building to be remodeled.
  In 1965, he was commissioned by the Mexican government to cre
caption: Mural work depicting Francis of Assisi San Buenaventura and Anthony of Padua in the Sala de Profundis of the cloister of the San Miguel Arcangel monastery in Huejotzingo, Puebla, Mexico
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