ALFREDO ZALCE
A Legend
He was born in Patzcuaro, in the state of Michoacan, on January 12, 1908.
During his early years he became friends with Mexico’s older great artists,
including Rivera, Tamayo, Siquieros, Orozco, and Kahlo. He founded art schools
and organizations which still function and are of current importance.
When the President of Mexico
last visited the Vatican, the one gift from Mexico chosen as a gift to the Pope was
a small painting of a Mexican village painted by Maestro Alfredo Zalce.
Unlike other artists, Zalce has spent an entire
lifetime
avoiding fame and fortune.
He simply wants to paint. His artistic
versatility is partially demonstrated by his total
mastery in producing art with oil, acrylic, batik, pencil, watercolor, engraving, serigraph, bronze, stone, ink, pastel, ceramic,
monotype, and on and on. His art has been exhibited in every country of
the free world, and his numerous gigantic murals and statues represent a vital part of
Mexican history. Zalce nevertheless remains a humble and people-loving man who would
rather draw and paint than sell art. He hasn’t dealt with art galleries because
they want him to paint what they can sell, and he paints for enjoyment rather than
money. Nevertheless, celebrities and politicians worldwide wait in line for years to
obtain an artwork from him.
Zalce has earned almost every available honor for artists, which he has usually
accepted against his will. After declining the “Premio Nacional de Arte”
(Mexico’s highest honor for artists) two times because with it came fame and
money, he finally accepted in 2001. When the Government of Michoacan changed the
name of its museum of contemporary art to the “Museo de Arte Contemporaneo Alfredo
Zalce” (pictured here) he had to be tricked into attending the inauguration ceremony
or he would not have
attended. He loved being with the people at the event, but would have declined
having his name used so prominently.
Probably the first
art that Zalce produced was at the age of 6 or 7. He had made
drawings on the white parts of a linoleum floor which featured large white and black
square patterns. He says that his drawings were not very good, but that his Mother,
a professional photographer as was his Father, had complimented the works rather than
punishing him for drawing on the floor. This encouragement from her may be what
prompted him to continue drawing. Zalce feels that if a person cannot draw with skill,
he or she cannot be a truly fine artist. He also feels that along with artistic talent,
imagination is necessary. Neither is adequate without the other---talent and
imagination. If one uses no imagination yet produces art to the perfection of a
photograph, why not just use a camera? Zalce is quite capable of producing art to the
perfection of a photograph, of course.
In
more recent years he concentrated on “batik.”
Batik was probably developed
in Java, and is normally thought of as a way to make patterns on cloth, using a wax process
to keep the colors from bleeding into one another. But with
Maestro Zalce, batik became a way of producing fine art. Since it requires days
to produce due to the wax processes, and since errors made are uncorrectable and require
that the cloth be washed and
re-used, he considers his works in batik to be as or more important than his watercolors.
Through his skills in drawing, he became one of Mexico’s first acknowledged great engravers. He has made engravings using all engraving techniques. His plates have included zinc, bronze, wood, and linoleum, but all engravings first required skill in drawing.
Zalce considers one of his hundreds of engravings,
“Mexico-Transforming into a Major City” to be somewhat autobiographical. One night on arriving at his home,
located in Mexico City at
the time, he told the taxi driver, “Let me out by that mound of trash over there.” The city
was outgrowing itself. When he left the taxi he saw a man, not drunk, talking to a dog that
was eating from a trash barrel. The man told the dog to leave that trash alone because
it could eat anywhere and he had to find food for his entire family.
This inspired Zalce, and the engraving shows hunger, crime, desperation, large buildings
under construction which caused much noise throughout the nights, as well as the man and
the dog. Zalce says he couldn’t even give this large engraving away at the time because
Mexicans love their country and didn’t like the concept of crime and poverty.
This work was produced in 1947 and is just as true today for any large city in the world.
As with all of Mexico’s revolutionary muralists, Zalce’s
murals include morals.
In his mural “Abogados”("Lawyers"), located in the Procuraduria General de la
Republica (Federal District Attorney’s building), Zalce shows lawyers hiding
their faces as they uncaringly step over the body of a losing client.
A historical
mural, which is some 280 square yards in size and is located in the Palacio de Gobierno in Morelia
(State Capitol building), pictures on one section a historic meeting as Spanish General Iturbide is
seen extending his blood covered hand in
friendship to
Mexican General Guerrero. 
Another huge 17 yard
long bronze (a section shown here) 
located in the
Camara de Diputados in Morelia (House of Representatives), shows people in poverty
and a document in the hand of Mexican General Morelos
to teach the politicians working in the building that they work for the people who need
them, not the other way around. In one of Morelia's parks stand three huge cement
columns, "The Estelas." On all four sides of each Estella, Zalce carved images representative of
Mexico's three constitutions.
Also, in Mexico City, Zalce's giant murals contribute
to the atmosphere of the world famous Museum of Anthropology.
The name “Zalce” is not a household word only
because Zalce has never promoted his art nor permitted others to promote it, including galleries.
He would not accept promotion, while many other artists relish it.
This does not mean that he is not one of the best artists, or perhaps even the all-round
very best artist ever produced by Mexico.
Zalce's accomplishments and skills are only now becoming generally recognized, and his
works are just now beginning to be considered of great value. He doesn’t like that because
he wants people to enjoy his art, not the financial value of his art. Those
purchasing his art directly from him are never his clients, but rather
are always his friends. Everyone loves the man and his acute sense of humor.
Zalce always has time for people, and is never too busy to
spend as much of his time with friends as they wish. He is and has always been surrounded
by his people, many of whom are his loving lady admirers.
Zalce has been consumed with art since his childhood and is one of the few artists that has continued painting, rather than dedicating himself to abstract art of questionable integrity. Alfredo Zalce is one of Mexico’s better kept secrets, one of its finest human beings, and is very much a living legend.
Page last modified Jan. 16, 2003
In 2001, Maestro Zalce finally accepted Mexico's National Trophy for Art, the highest honor
for an artist in Mexico, as noted in the following article, written in Spanish--with
a good picture of Maestro Zalce:
Zalce Awarded/Accepts
National Trophy for Art
(Moving Video with Audio) Zalce's Feelings Regarding Fame, Fortune, and the
National Trophy for Art.
Article in "Excelsior"(In Spanish)
In Memorium: JOSÉ CHÁVEZ MORADO
