Jorge Tovar
Jorge Tovar Santana was a Mexican painter, sculptor, cartoonist and landscape artist.
Background
Tovar was born in the Santa Maria la Ribera neighborhood in Mexico City on 1 February 1922. In 1940, the government of the State of Mexico gave him a scholarship to study at the Academy of San Carlos, graduating in 1945. He currently lives in his studio-apartment in Villa Coapa, Mexico City. Tovar turned 100 in February 2022, and died in Villa Coapa in February 2023, at the age of 101.Career
Tovar collaborated with the Excélsior newspaper, especially with journalist Ana Cecila “Bambi” Traviño, writing about art and related events, interviewing artists. He also drew political cartoons. He was a contributor to the publication La Nueva Picardía Mexicana, a book by Armando Jiménez, documenting Mexican customs in over twenty-five illustrations. He created comics called El nieto del Ahuizotle and El Nahual . His most notable sculpture is La Mujer Tehuana, related to a common theme in his work, indigenous women, and also created the Hidalgo monument located in the Independence Garden of Torreón, Coahuila. He has had numerous exhibitions of his work in Mexico, including in the Salón de la Plástica Mexicana. He worked as an art teacher in various primary and middle schools, as well as the Normal Rural de Xochiapulco de la Sierra teachers’ college and the Academy of San Carlos, from which he has since retired.Along with Mexican painter Jorge Olvera, Tovar founded the School of Fine Arts of Chiapas. He also work on various cultural projects related to the state, promoting its traditional masks, founding the Ballet Bonampark, founding Tuxtla Gutiérrez’s first carnival and more. In 1949 he was invited to become a founding member of the Salón de la Plástica Mexicana by art promoter Fernando Gamboa, of which he remains an active member. In 1955, he founded the Artistas Plásticos Asociados, along with Vargas and Liuva Kent, with the aim of supporting artists needing money.