View Jose Luis Cuevas Gallery of Works
José Luis Cuevas (Mexican, 1934–2017) was born in Mexico City in 1934. Cuevas studied at the National School of Painting & Sculpture at age 10. He developed a unique aesthetic depicting disfigured and disproportionate people and objects.
Cuevas was a controversial figure, especially in Mexican art and politics at the time. He was affiliated with the post World War II movement known as Generación de la Ruptura, or Breakaway Generation. Cuevas and other members of the Generación were vocal opposers about Mexican muralists and artists they believed were mainstream and overly deferential to the Mexican government. The artists they spoke out against included Diego Rivera, José Clemente Orozco, and David Alfaro Siqueiros.
Cuevas also opened a museum in an old monastery in 1992 that still shows his eccentric artwork and reveals his open lifestyle. Cuevas represented Mexico in 1982 at the Venice Biennale. His works can be found in major museums such as the Art Institute of Chicago, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, LACMA, and many others. José Luis Cuevas died in Mexico City in 2017.
