| Mexican draughtsman, printmaker and painter. He showed early
artistic talent and briefly attended the Escuela Nacional
de Pintura y Escultura ‘La Esmeralda’ in Mexico
City, which he left because he did not agree with its teaching
methods; he was thus essentially self-taught.
He studied graphic arts at the Institución de Enseñanza
Universitaria in Mexico City c. 1948. At the Galería
Prisse in Mexico City he joined a group of young artists,
including Alberto Gironella, Enrique Echeverriá,
Pedro Coronel, Manuel Felguérez and Francisco Icaza
(b 1930), who were opposed to the socialist artists favored
by the Government and whose rebellion against the official
mural art was instrumental in modifying the contemporary
artistic panorama. Cuevas conducted an aggressive polemic
against David Alfaro Siqueiros and his more dogmatic followers,
publishing the manifesto ‘La cortina de nopal’
(Novedades, 1957).
In 1953 he had his first exhibition at the Galería
Prisse; its success led to its being shown the following
year at the Pan American Union, Washington, DC, and later
to Cuevas’s receiving worldwide exposure and recognition
as a draughtsman and graphic artist. He was subsequently
invited to work in various workshops worldwide, including
the Tamarind Workshop in Los Angeles, CA, and Poligrafa
in Barcelona in 1981, while in Mexico he worked at
the Taller Kyron, among others.
1934 Born in Mexico City, Mexico.
1944 Began art studies.
1948 Studied engraving.
1955 Jean Cassou and Philippe Soupault published the first monograph onCuevas.
1973 Worked with Jose Gomez-Sicre on his biography.
1977 Worked as a Resident Artist at the University of Seattle, WA
1978 Received a special tribute from the O.A.S.
1982 Was invited by the Committee of the 40 Bienale of Venice to exhibit at the main Pavilion.
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