El grabador checoslovaco Koloman Sokol (1902–2003) en México (Reflejos de México en su obra)

Abstrakt

Slovak graphic artist Koloman Sokol was born in Liptovský Mikuláš on December 12th, 1902, died on January 12th, 2003 in Tucson, USA. He was one of the most important representatives of Slovak visual arts and cofounder of Slovak and Mexican graphic art. Malý in Bratislava. In 1925-1932 he studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague, first at the painting school of J. Obrovský, then in the graphic specialties of M. Švabinský, J. Rambousek, T. F. Šimon (who had the greatest influence on him). After a short study stay in France in 1933, he lived in Prague. In 1937 the Czechoslovak government sent him to Mexico as a teacher at the request of the Mexican government (after an exhibition of the Prague group Hollar, at which he was represented). Here he worked in the capital at the School of Book Arts (Escuela del Arte del Libro). During the war he left Mexico (1942) for the USA. In October 1946 he returned to Czechoslovakia, where he worked as a teacher at the Department of Drawing and Painting of the SVŠT and at the Pedagogical Faculty of the Comenius University in Bratislava until 1947. In September 1948, however, he travelled to Paris, from where he returned to his family in the USA, where he lived in Tucson, Arizona with his Czech wife. Named an honorary member of the Sociedad Mexicana de Grabadores, he exhibited solo in Mexico City (1938, Palacio de Bellas Artes), and in the 1940s had exhibitions in Oaxaca, Mexico, Havana, Cuba, and in a number of cities in the USA. During his time in Mexico, he became attached to Mexican themes, which he pursued until his death. He was equipped with social themes from Slovakia and from the school of J. Rambousek. In addition to the School of Book Arts, he also influenced some of the students of the Workshop of Folk Graphics - Taller de Gráfica popular, headed by Leopoldo Méndez, which made a name for itself in Czechoslovakia after the war, especially in the Hollar Gallery in Prague. Despite the large number of books published, especially in Slovakia, there is still a lack of a thorough assessment of his Mexican phase, including its themes.