Alejandro Rangel Hidalgo

Alejandro Rangel Hidalgo was born in 1923, living and working most of his life at his family's property called the Nogueras Hacienda in Comala, Colima, Mexico. Rangel was the eldest of three sons, who grandfather acquired the hacienda, converting it to producing sugar cane and processed sugar.^[1]

However, the economy and the sugar cane mill collapsed after the Mexican Revolution, and Rangel's parents did not have the money to send him or his brothers to school. The boys were homeschooled, being taught to read and then subscribing to many magazines devoted to culture and mechanics. Father and sons learned metalworking skills to keep the hacienda running and worked with carpenters to make and repair furniture. The family also set up a store selling toys and other objects created by family, often painted by Alejandro. At the age of six, he announced that he would be a painter.^[2]

Later, Alejandro was able to attend middle and preparatory school in Guadalajara. After graduation, he spent time in the workshops of architects Ignacio Díaz Morales and Luis Barragán. In 1947, Rangel won a prize with a scholarship for the illustrations he made for the book Pedro Páramo, written by his friend Juan Rulfo. The scholarship allowed Rangel to travel in Europe for two years, where he worked as a scene illustrator for ballets and operas. When he returned to Mexico, he continued to illustrate books.^[2]

Rangel was an artist, graphic designer and artisan. Rangel's painting and design work has a distinctive style which has been dubbed “Rangelino”.^[2] Much of his artwork reflects his views of nature and cultural themes related to Mexico.^[2] Rangel's painting shows an obsession with dividing light and shadow, with works focusing of overall forms and eliminating details with the aim of conveying the essence of the object. His works are highly stylized. His painting style was not appreciated during his lifetime in Mexico.^[1] Many of his paintings are based on the natural landscapes and vegetation of the Nogueras area, synthesizing leaves, flowers, fruits, insects and birds along with backgrounds and plays of light and shadow. Much of his work involved nature but he never painted landscapes. Much of his work focuses on small things, almost microscopic size at times. For a commercial label for tomatoes, he simulated a botanical label with detail given to the image of the divided fruit. However, he never painted landscapes.^[3][2]

Rangel's career is marked by periods of production interspersed with periods of reclusion. After each period of activity, Rangel would isolate himself from the world at his hacienda, with a fresh flurry of activity at the end of these fallow periods. Often the new work would be distinct than the former. One phase featured images of children from the 19th century posed in their rooms with their toys.^[3]

Rangel's first major commercial success was designing posters for the first Grand Fair of Jalisco. For these, he created a stylized version of the Guadalajara cathedral, consisting of two triangles tied to the base of a semi circle. This design is still used to symbolize Guadalajara to this day.^[2][4]

His best known work involved the designing of Christmas cards for UNICEF and the New York Graphic Society, which gave him international recognition.^[1] The cards were designed starting in 1963 and achieved record sales for the United Nations’ children's agency. One series was named “Christmas through the Ages” with historical scenes from the fifth to nineteenth centuries such as Spain under Philip II, the Renaissance, French Gothic, Mexican colonial, Victorian England, Puritan America as well as scenes from Germany, Norway and Russia. Another was titled “Angels of this World” featuring child angels in various ethnic dress, based on work previously shown in 1958 in Los Angeles. Each angel was dressed in traditional costume from various countries accompanied by objects and products typical of that country. One last series focused on traditional Mexican dress and motifs. This series also included one representing Colima, called El Niño Dios de Colima.^[3][2]

In his native Colima, he designed the colors and interiors for the remodeling of the historic center of the city of Colima, Villa de Alvarez and Nogueras. He also designed restaurant interiors in Colima north into San Francisco.^[2] While involved with the University Institute of Fine Arts, he created the work called “Coro de Niños Cantores” (Choir of Child Singers). He also designed the international image for the Folk Ballet of the University of Colima.^[2] He did a series of screen prints, based on a plant locally called “croto” (Codiaeum), which have been described as a kind of magical realism.^[3]

At the hacienda, Rangel continued to design and make furniture, attracting collectors of fine pieces. This furniture was also popular with embassies and presidential suites, because of its clean lines, its details and the use of fine tropical hardwoods such as mahogany and a local wood called “parota.”^[2]

Rangel was involved in community activities for the Nogueras area. When the sugar cane economy collapsed he worked to help local families start new businesses such as stores and restaurants. He sponsored a school for local children, with basic education such as hygiene, along with medicine and hospital care. He also used his earnings to sponsor local Catholic festivals and traditions and invited priests to the hacienda and give mass at the facilities 16th century Franciscan chapel. He had this chapel remodeled and it still gives services to this day.^[2]

In 1975, Rangel and one of his brothers obtained federal funding and founded the School of Artesans in Comala, where he taught design, painting and furniture making. Over six years, the school taught about three hundred local artisans adding classes such as wood working, iron working, leather working, gold leaf application and furniture finishing. During this time, he also created designs for blown glass for artisans in Tonalá and Tlaquepaque in Jalisco and founded Colima's first school for social workers along with his wife Margarita Septién Rul. The couple also financially supported the Vasco de Quiroga Institute, which continues to operate today with about 250 students.^[2]

Rangel was one of the main founders of the Schools of Architecture at the Universities of Guadalajara and Colima in the 1980s.^[4][2]

Following the tradition set by Rangel earlier in his life, the Centro Nacional de Capacitacion y Diseno Artesanal was founded in 1995, a few years before Rangel's death in his hometown of Nogueras. Similar to the School of Artisans, it helps to preserve and promote traditional handcrafts which many families in Colima still depend on for their living.^[5]