Mexico City, Mexico
In 1910 Lozano enrolled in the Academy of San Carlos; there he studied under the guidance of Germán Gedovius and Alfredo Ramos Martínez.
1938
Manuel Rodríguez Lozano by M. Álvarez Bravo.
Manuel Rodríguez Lozano by Alvarez Bravo.
Young Manuel Rodríguez Lozano.
1938
Manuel Rodríguez Lozano by M. Álvarez Bravo.
Mexico City, Mexico
In 1910 Lozano enrolled in the Academy of San Carlos; there he studied under the guidance of Germán Gedovius and Alfredo Ramos Martínez.
Manuel Rodríguez Lozano by Alvarez Bravo.
Manuel Rodríguez Lozano.
Young Manuel Rodríguez Lozano.
Lozano was born in Mexico City, Mexico, to a wealthy family. The exact year of his birth is unknown, but it is believed that he was born on December 4, between 1894 and 1897. He was the son of Manuel Z. Rodríguez and Sara Lozano. His parents were interested in art and music and hosted such visitors as poet Amado Nervo.
Manuel Rodríguez Lozano enlisted in the military service and took examinations to enter the diplomatic corps, when he was eleven. But he eventually abnegated both. He became interested in painting in 1910. The same year he enrolled in the Academy of San Carlos; there he studied under the guidance of Germán Gedovius and Alfredo Ramos Martínez. However, Lozano left the academy after a short time for unknown reasons.
Lozano had lived in Paris since 1913, but with the outbreak of the First World War, he moved with his family to Spain. In Europe, particularly Paris, he met several avant-garde artists, including Henri Matisse, Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso, as well as writers, such as Jean Cassou, André Salmon, and Andre Lothe, who greatly influenced his art.
Rodríguez Lozano returned to Mexico in 1921. He exhibited his artworks at the Department of Fine Arts and in San Carlos. In 1922 Lozano became a drawing teacher in elementary schools, introducing a technique developed by Adolfo Best Maugard. Roberto Montenegro introduced Rodríguez Lozano to Francisco Sergio Iturbe in 1923. Iturbe became his patron and protector.
In the early 1920s, Lozano began to teach two students, Julio Castellanos Abraham Ángel, and also promote their works. In 1925 the three artists travelled to Argentina to participate at the Museo Provincial de Bellas Artes. Then they travelled to Paris to exhibit their works at the Cercle Paris Amirique Latine. In addition, he had two other prominent students, Tebo and Nefero.
In 1928 together with Antonieta Rivas Mercado, the daughter of a prominent architect, he co-founded the Ulises Theater, the headquarters for the Contemporáneos group and an important meeting place for artists and intellectuals, including Isabela Corona, Salvador Novo, and Celestino Gorostiza. This organization not only put on plays for which Rodríguez Lozano did set design, but it also edited and published such books as Xavier Villaurrutia's Dama de corazones and Andrés Henestrosa's Los hombres que disperse la danza. At the request of Carlos Chavez, Lozano convinced Antonieta to help establish council to found a Mexican symphony orchestra, and he founded El ballet de la paloma azul.
Between 1932 and 1933 the artist painted Los tableros de la muerte, commissioned by Iturbe, and in 1935 he finished Il Verdaccio, one of his most important artworks.
Lozano's work did show some influence from European art movements, especially from the work of Giorgio de Chirico and Pablo Picasso. However, he did not follow any of the existing trends, creating his works in his unique style which had features of both Cubism and Surrealism. While his subject matter was generally connected with life in Mexico, especially its suffering, Lozano also did a number of portraits, including those of Daniel Cosío Villegas, Jaime Torres Bodet, and Rodolfo Usigli.
Lozano was appointed a director of the Escuela Nacional de Artes Plásticas in 1940. He invited such artists as Luis Ortiz Monasterio, Diego Rivera, Manuel Álvarez Bravo, Antonio M. Ruíz, and Jesús Guerrero Galván to join the staff of the school. As director, Rodríguez Lozano founded the magazine Artes Plásticas and promoted meetings which were attended by artists and intellectuals, such as Rodolfo Usigli, Alfonso Reyes, Dolores del Río, and Nelson Rockefeller.
However, due to a difficult political situation in the country, his tenure was suddenly ended as he was accused of theft. The school was requested to lend engravings by Guido Reno and Albrecht Dürer for the 400th anniversary of the founding of the Colegio de San Nicolás in Michoacán. Rodríguez Lozano fulfilled the request but then the works disappeared and he was held responsible for the theft and imprisoned in Lecumberri prison.
During his time in prison, Lozano painted a mural and worked on materials that were later published in a book. After four months he was eventually released and renounced everything he had before. The engraving later reappeared without any explanations in 1966.
During his artistic career, the artist produced two murals. The first appeared when he was in Lecumberri, entitled Piedad en el desierto, marking the beginning of a "white" stage in his oeuvre. This artwork was later moved to the Palacio de Bellas Artes and restored in 1967. In 1945 he painted the second mural, El holocaust, in Francisco Sergio Iturbe's house. For just these two murals some critics have claimed that he should be considered among the best of Mexico’s muralists.
He was invited by the University of Paris and the Musée de l'Homme to exhibit at the Musée de l'Orangerie in 1948. The artist stopped painting in the 1950s although he produced a portrait of Alfonso Reyes in 1960. The same year he published an anthology of his essay as Pensamiento y pintura.
Rodríguez Lozano made an outstanding contribution to the world of art. His works had a great influence on many other artists and they also inspired Mexican films such as La perla.
Lozano's works featured in several posthumous retrospectives; in 2011 his paintings were displayed at the Museo Nacional de Arte. The same year a book titled "Manuel Rodríguez Lozano. Pensamiento y pintura 1922-1958" was published, based on the artist's oeuvre.
Today, his art pieces can be found in numerous museums and galleries of the world. For instance, the National Museum of Mexican Art has thirty of his paintings.
Dos Muchachas De Azul Y Rojo
La Revolución
Las Tres Parcas
La Piedad En El Desierto
Rebozo Balnco
El Velorio
El Cainismo
La Tragedia Del Desierto
El Holocausto
El Alcatraz
Fatigados
Untitled
Retrato de un mexicano
Autorretrato
Presagio
Paisaje
El chismoso
Mujeres con los brazos en alto
La despedida
Monja
Estudio para mural
Mujer
El velorio y Santa Ana
Retrato de Andrés Henestrosa
Farewell
Mujer
El paraiso
La hija pródiga
Untitled
Mujeres en blanco
El encuentro
Amor
El rebozo blanco
Lozano was a member of the Salón de la Plástica Mexicana.
Rodríguez Lozano married Carmen Mondragón, later known as Nahui Ollín, in 1913. The couple met at a dance; Carmen Mondragón was charmed by him. However, at first, Lozano was not interested in her. But the fact that her father was General Manuel Mondragón, a politically powerful man, made the artist change his mind.
Shortly after the marriage of Rodríguez and Carmen, General Mondragón was involved in the Decena tragica and the assassination of Francisco I. Madero in 1913. This forced the entire family to leave Europe for eight years.
Lozano's relationship with Nahui Ollín was problematic. His wife did not like his bohemian friends and accused him of being a homosexual. The couple gave birth to a child in 1914, but the infant died soon. Rodríguez Lozano stated that his wife stifled the child but her family denied it. The couple eventually separated in 1921.
Lozano had a romantic affair with Abraham Ángel in the early 1920s, who was his student. The boy died in 1924 from a cocaine overdose. This could be a deliberate suicide.
In 1928, Rodríguez Lozano began a relationship with Antonieta Rivas Mercado. She was truly in love with him, ignoring the fact that he had relationships with men. She did much for his career but their relationship never became sexual. Antonieta Rivas Mercado committed suicide in 1931.
María del Carmen Mondragón Valseca, also known as Nahui Olin (1893-1978) was a Mexican artist's model, painter and poet.
Abraham Ángel Card Valdés (1905-1924) was a Mexican artist known under the name Abraham Ángel.
María Antonieta Rivas Mercado Castellanos (1900-1931) was a Mexican intellectual, writer, feminist as well as arts patron.
Manuel Mondragón (1859-1922) was a Mexican military officer who played a significant role in the Mexican Revolution. He designed Mexico's first semi-automatic rifle, the M1908 rifle, and a 75mm howitzer.
