Juan O'Gorman: A Confluence of Civilizations
(Hardback)
Publishing Details
Juan O'Gorman: A Confluence of Civilizations
By (Author) Catherine Nixon Cooke
Trinity University Press,U.S.
Trinity University Press,U.S.
15th November 2016
United States
Classifications
General
Non Fiction
700.92
Physical Properties
Hardback
140
Width 254mm, Height 203mm
652g
Description
To create the Confluence of Civilizations in the Americas mural commissioned for the 1968 World's Fair in San Antonio, Texas, Juan O'Gorman collected natural stones from all over Mexicotwelve colors in allfield stones that the artist knew would never fade or change their hue. Juan O'Gorman: A Confluence of Civilizations
follows the life of O'Gorman and covers the creation of this spectacular piece of midcentury public art, which stands the test of time not just in vibrancy but as one of the most influential works created by a Mexican artist.
Juan O'Gorman was a not only a painter and a muralist, a mosaic artist, a critic, and a professor; he was also an architect and a revolutionary, possibly most famous for his close friendship with Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo and as the designer of their two-house studio in Mexico CityCasa Azullinked by a symbolic bridge.
To celebrate San Antonio's HemisFair Exposition in 1968, O'Gorman created the giant mosaic mural that still adorns one wall of the Lila Cockrell Theater along San Antonio's famed River Walk. The five-ton mosaic measured 2,600 square feet and consisted of 540 numbered panels, each weighing about 90 pounds.
Reviews
Local author and world explorer Catherine Nixon Cooke has written a book to awake the slumbering mural -- Rivard Report
With an extensive bibliography, excellent index and a lyrical narrative style that draws the reader into every facet of O'Gorman's rich and complex life, the book strikes many conuent chords that will resonate in the hearts and minds of readers on both sides of the US-Mexico border. -- San Antonio Express-News
Author Bio
Catherine Nixon Cooke is former president and CEO of the Mountain Institute, an international nonprofit with four field offices in the Himalayas, and former executive director of the Mind Science Foundation. The author of Tom Slick, Mystery Hunter and The Thistle and the Rose: Romance, Railroads, and Big Oil in Revolutionary Mexico, she lives in San Antonio, Texas.
