Mexico.- The Mexican muralist, draftsman and engraver Guillermo Monroy Becerril, disciple of
Frida Kahlo (1907-1954) and who resided in the state of Morelos, neighboring Mexico City, died at the age of 102 in the city of Cuernava, capital of the state.
“Morelos bids farewell to a great of art: Guillermo Monroy Becerril,” noted in a message on social media the state government.
«Exceptional muralist, disciple of Frida Kahlo and assistant to Diego Rivera, whose life and work were linked to the pillars of Mexican art. Our solidarity and respect for his family and friends,» he added.
‘The Fridos’
Monroy Becerril, who turned 102 just last January 7th, was a member of the group of artists known as ‘Los Fridos’, for being disciples of Frida Kahlo.
The artist was a muralist, draftsman, and engraver, a graduate of the National School of Painting, Sculpture, and Engraving La Esmeralda, and precisely a student of Frida Kahlo in addition to prominent artists such as Diego Rivera, Feliciano Peña, Raúl Anguiano, Agustín Lazo, José Chávez Morado, and Everardo Ramírez.
In September 2024, the Government of Mexico, through the National Institute of Fine Arts and Literature (Inbal), awarded Monroy Becerril the Gold Medal of Fine Arts in Visual Arts along with the sculptor Geles Cabrera and his colleague Arturo Estrada.
On that occasion, upon receiving the award, he pointed out that, as a leftist fighter, the social struggle “is completely part of me with a revolutionary and plastic sensibility that I carry in my gut. I could not paint if I were not in the social struggle,” he said, recalling his training alongside Kahlo, Rivera and other muralists.
“To all of them, thank you very much, because they are part of me, of my fight for the Mexican peasants, workers, for the students, for all those who fight to be well,” he said on that occasion.
Artwork exhibited in different locations
Monroy Becerril’s work has been presented at the Palacio de Bellas Artes, the Galería de la Plástica Mexicana, the Anahuacalli Museum, the Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo House Studio Museum, as well as in Poland, Czechoslovakia, Germany, Russia, China, and the United States.
Among his works are the murals ‘Belisario Domínguez’ and ‘Mexico 1847’, at the Belisario Domínguez Elementary School in Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Chiapas; and ‘The benefit of communication routes on earth’, at the Secretariat of Infrastructure, Communications and Transportation in Mexico City.
