Saturnino Herrán
Saturnino Efrén de Jesús Herrán Guinchard
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He was born on July 9, 1887. He was the son of José Herrán y Volado, a writer and playwright, and Doña Josefa Guinchard.
Saturnino completed his preparatory studies at the Aguascalientes Institute of Sciences beginning in 1901. Two years later, his father died, and the family, in difficult financial circumstances, moved to Mexico City to seek their fortune.
Saturnino found a job at the National Telegraph offices, enrolled in evening classes at the School of Fine Arts, and in 1904, formally entered the advanced drawing classes at the San Carlos Academy.
Thanks to his talent, he earned various awards that allowed him to lead a more comfortable life and focus his efforts on painting. In 1905, he was named a meritorious student in the Inspectorate of Fine Arts and Industrial Arts; a year later, he became a meritorious student in the Inspectorate of Musical Education; by 1907, he was working on various projects as a draftsman for the National Museum.
In 1909, he was appointed interim professor of drawing at the Academy of Fine Arts. In 1915, the National School of Fine Arts appointed him full professor of nude drawing, while also teaching drawing classes as a full professor at the National School of Teachers.
Regarding his pictorial style, "Labor", signed in 1908, is the work that truly marks the beginning of Herrán's pictorial production. From this date on, he would define himself as a social painting with particular emphasis on the working class and the elderly.
Saturnino Herrán, considered the precursor of Mexican muralism, died in Mexico City at the age of 31, on October 8, 1918.
* Learn more about the work of Saturnino Herrán, "the most painter of Mexicans and the most Mexican of painters," in the permanent galleries dedicated to his work at the Museo Aguascalientes.
