Saturnino Herrán

Who was Saturnino Herrán?

Saturnino Herrán Guinchard was a Mexican painter. His mother's name was Josefa Guinchard. In 1897 he took private drawing lessons in his native city and in 1901 entered the Aguascalientes Academy of Science. He took classes with José Inés Tovilla and Severo Amador, who taught him drawing and painting. In 1903, his father died. Two years later his family se traslado Mexico City, where his fellow pupils were Diego Rivera and Roberto Montenegro. In 1906 he attended classes given by Leandro Izaguirre and Germán Gedovius in the National School of Fine Arts.

Herrán did majestic paintings of Mexican indigenous people, giving them heroic strength and dignity. In 1910 he participated in the exhibition commemorating the Centennial Anniversary of Mexico's Independence. His figures have been associated with the traditions of Spanish art, particularly the work of Velázquez and José de Rivera, and also the Catalan modernism. Due to Herrán's quality as a colorist, it is not surprising that he occasionally designed stained-glass windows and was a seasoned book illustrator. The ambition to be a mural painter appeared at the end of his brief career, and in 1911 he completed large-scale paintings in the School of Arts and Crafts. In 1912, at 25 years old, he met Rosario Arellano, his future wife. In 1914 they were married and had a son, José Francisco. He died on October 8, 1918, at the height of the aesthetic revival of Mexican art.