They show in a biographical book the intimacy of the painter Nicolás Cuéllar

The book Nicolás Cuéllar, the painter of San Miguel de Allende, edited by Universo de Letras (Planeta), it is a biographical work carried out from the intimacy of his personal writings. Compiled and reviewed by his daughter, doctor of philosophy Hortensia Cuéllar, the work was presented last Friday at the Ángela Peralta theater in San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato.

In interview with The Day, Hortensia Cuéllar spoke about this collection of texts that reveal the sensations, loves, reflections and passions of one of the most important figures of national painting.

“It is a fantastic book. It is an important contribution that adds biography, art and cultural history of Mexico. We are based on three notebooks that we discovered in his workshop around 2021. Despite being his daughter, I did not know that he wrote everything; literally, he summarized from his childhood to his last days,” he commented.

Divided into three segments, the text is a narrative that covers their relationship and their foray into painting and sculpture, their reflections on their work, their family history and even their work with other artists. In addition, the work was selected to be part of the Master’s collection of the Planeta publishing label.

“I knew that my father was very sensitive, he was always very affectionate and sweet with us; however, this book also tells us about his facet as a person that allowed me to understand him better. Even in romantic themes. We believe that it is very valuable because we do not have much evidence of other painters who, with their own handwriting, describe their life perspectives and how they created their universes,” he explained.

Nicolás Cuéllar is embodied in the history of San Miguel de Allende. He is recognized as one of its greatest artistic figures, his paintings and murals still remain in the schools of that city, of which he captured not only its rural aspect, but the passage of time and its transformation. As an artist he ventured into nationalism, muralism, surrealism and social criticism.

“His way of narrating things was very funny, very affable, ironic. It is another face of my father that I never thought he had. When they edited the work they recommended that we think about the possibility of making a miniseries about it, because he experienced many things. He was an immigrant to the United States, where he also entered the Academy of Arts; he interacted with many artists such as Diego Rivera, Pedro Friedeberg, Peter Leventhal, to name a few,” said the artist’s daughter.

He said: “I can’t imagine his face if we could tell him: ‘Dad, we’re going to write a book with everything you’ve written.’ He reflected a lot about his life and about us.

“He had a lot of affection, but reading him is also understanding his frailties, because he was very in love. Today I see that our memories as a family are wonderful, and together with my mother he always encouraged us to write our stories,” said Hortensia Cuéllar.

Prepare sample

In 2027 will be the centenary of Nicolás Cuéllar’s birth, for which his heirs are in talks with the Museum of Modern Art, in Mexico City, in order to hold a comprehensive retrospective of his work.

In this regard, the director of the Cuéllar gallery, Carlos Cuéllar, commented: “at the end of last year we did a small, but very specific exhibition; we want to show the facets of my father’s work. Some of the pieces had not been shown to the public, such as a sculpture called The soul of Saint Michael. Nicolás was versatile: he made baked clay figures, captured them in panels, welded them, but the most emblematic thing were his paintings.

“My father always had great affection for this place; for him it was as if the energies of the universe converged here in a special way. He said that this place was the most beautiful place to be born, paint and die. He lived in many other cities, such as Mexico, New York and Montreal, but he never felt so connected to a place like this. Here he lived his nationalist and expressionist era,” explained Carlos Cuéllar.