Rodolfo Hurtado
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Rodolfo Hurtado (full name Rodolfo Hurtado Duhart) (b. 1940 – d. 2005) was a Mexican artist, considered to be part of the “Intermediate Generation” or that which came to prominence after the Generación de la Ruptura. His works are abstract but maintain a strong link to the figurative, which gives them a dream-like quality. Although he won awards and was a member of the Salón de la Plástica Mexicana during his lifetime, his work is not well known now in part because he did not do as much to promote it as other artists did.
Hurtado was born in Mexico City in 1940, one of five children.[1][2] He showed an early aptitude for painting and taught himself various techniques.[1]
Despite his talent, he entered the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México to study architecture. In 1969, he won a grant from the French government to study in Europe where he learned graphic design with Paul Colin and lithography in Stanley William Hayter’s Atelier 17.[1] He also studied at the Pratt Institute and at the Escuela Nacional de Pintura, Escultura y Grabado "La Esmeralda", where he met Irma Palacios.[2]
Hurtado was a very shy and reserved person, although his humor could be ironic and caustic. He was also emotionally fragile, heavily affected by the death of his mother, who he adored and kept in her wheelchair for years afterward. His insecurity prompted him to seek psychological treatment with limited success.[2] He also studied shamanism and supernatural practices.[3]
During his art career he had a studio in the Colonia Condesa neighborhood of Mexico City.[1]
Hurtado died of lung cancer in 2005, but the exact date is not known. He did not speak publicly about his illness, although rumors spread among intellectual circles. It was originally diagnosed as diabetes but when it was cancer, he still did not give up smoking cigarettes.[2][3]