Lot 412: Jose Chavez Morado Large O/C Painting, Ancianas

Jose Chavez Morado (Mexican, 1909-2002), “Ancianas,”  oil on canvas painting depicting four elderly peasant women hunched over various tasks in the midst of a village setting. Signed lower left and dated 1967. Label en verso for Merkup (Merl Kuper) Gallery, Mexico.  Narrow giltwood frame. Sight: 47 1/2 in. W x 37 1/2 in. H. Frame: 48 1/2 in. W x 36 1/2 in. H. This lot is accompanied by the original sales receipt from MerKup Gallery, 1968, and a 1968 authenticity certificate signed by Jose Chavez Morado to the original buyer (the consignor’s parents). Biography: Jose Chavez Morado was born into a humble family of mineworkers in the town of Silao, Guanajuato. His grandparents were avid book collectors and from an early age he had access to their library which contained books on science and philosophy, as well as illustrated magazines, from which he copied images. In 1925 Chavez Morado boarded a steam train and left for the United States to seek work. His first jobs included menial labor, working with prisoners and illegal immigrants. The money he earned enabled him to travel to Los Angeles where he studied at the Chouinard Art Institute. He then returned to Silao, where his father opened a shop to sell his work. The enterprise was not entirely successful, so Chavez Morado then moved to Mexico City in the hope of selling more of his work. In 1931 he won a scholarship to study at the Escuela Central de Artes Plasticas. Fueled by his commitment to social change, Chávez Morado joined the Mexican Communist Party in 1937. As a member of the TGP, until 1941, he produced leaflets and posters on political themes which he posted in the streets at night, a risky endeavor at the time. Chavez Morado also painted murals, in particular a mural at the Alhondiga de Granaditas in Guanajuato, a history museum of which he was Director during the 1960s. This depicted Miguel Hidalgo, the initiator of the Mexican Independence movement in 1810, and was inaugurated during the independence celebrations of 1955. In 1974 he received the Premio Nacional de Artes in Mexico. The home he shared with his wife, fellow artist Olga Costa, in the city of Guanajuato, is now a museum devoted to their work. 

PROVENANCE: Private Memphis collection. Acquired by consignor’s parents from Merl Kuper (MerKup) Gallery, Mexico City, 1968. 

CONDITION: Overall excellent condition.