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Lithographs by Pablo OHiggins at the Utah Museum of Fine Arts |
| February 22nd, 2010 01:35:04 am |
SALT LAKE CITY, UT.- The Utah Museum of Fine Arts presents Pablo OHiggins: Works on Paper, an exhibition of lithographs by an artist who though virtually unknown in his home state of Utah is widely celebrated throughout Mexico. Born in Salt Lake City in 1904, Paul Higgins studied under acclaimed local artists, James T. Harwood and LeConte Stewart at East High School. By the age of twenty, the gifted art student had moved to Mexico City, changed his name to Pablo Esteban OHiggins, and secured a position as a mural assistant for the famed Mexican muralist, Diego Rivera. On view through 19 September, 2010.
 OHiggins joined the Communist Party in Mexico and never spoke of his bourgeois childhood in Utah, nor of his fathers role as the sentencing judge in the controversial death of union organizer, Joe Hill, in 1915. Biographers have speculated that OHigginss political views and lifelong commitment to social justice were reactions to injustices he observed during his childhood.
After assisting Rivera on several mural projects, O'Higgins made the decision to leave and create his own work. He continued to live in Mexico where he founded the anti-Fascist printmaking workshop, Taller de Grafica Popular (Peoples Graphic Workshop), with artist and political activist, Leopoldo Mendez, in 1937. The Taller de Grafica Popular was created to promote the graphic arts, enabling the widespread distribution of politically inspired images to often-illiterate audiences.
OHiggins became an official citizen of Mexico in 1961. The only non-native Mexican whose work was included in the New York MoMAs 1940 exhibition, Twenty Centuries of Mexican Art, his work was exhibited to wide acclaim in Mexico, the United States, and Europe throughout the remainder of his life. OHiggins died in Mexico City in 1983, and El Palacio de Bellas Artes held a funeral in his honor.
Pablo OHiggins: Works on Paper offers a focused look at OHigginss sustained commitment to Mexicos working class and their struggle for emancipation. The exhibition consists of twenty-six lithographs from local private collections, all of which feature heroic depictions of Mexican laborers.
Organized by Donna Poulton, Associate Curator of Utah and Western Art, Pablo OHiggins: Works on Paper is the first of four exhibitions at the UMFA that will celebrate the art and culture of Mexico in 2010.
The Utah Museum of Fine Arts is Utahs primary cultural resource for global visual arts. It is unique in its dual role as a university and state art museum. It is Utahs only visual arts institution that collects, exhibits, interprets, and preserves a comprehensive collection of original art objects. Visit The Utah Museum of Fine Arts at : http://www.umfa.utah.edu/ |
Source Reference
http://www.artknowledgenews.com/2010-02-22-00-41-44-lithographs-by-pablo-ohiggins-at-the-utah-museum-of-fine-arts.html |
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