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D O C U M E N T

THE TRUE MEANING OF THE
WORK OF SATURNINO HERRÁN
THE FALSE CRITICS*

CarLos mérida

People have claimed that Saturnino Herrán’s work possesses a
nationalist character, but this claim proves absolutely false if we
study the characteristics of this painter. It is the literati who have
mistaken the true meaning of Herrán’s labor. Nothing is more dan-
gerous to painters and sculptors than the criticism of the literati.
They typically write about the personal impression that is suggested
to them by some trivial aspect of a picture or statue, and they set
themselves to the task of seeing this, that, and the other in a form
that is naturally literary. This leads them to attribute to the painter
symbols and ideologies that were quite far from his imagination,
without keeping in mind, almost ever, the essential character of a
picture, its true plastic value, its material quality, the harmony of its
tones, its drawing, its tendency, etc., all of which are qualities that
must be taken into account before any others. It is painting or sculp-
ture that is at stake, not literature. This form of criticism greatly
harms artists and is the result of the fact that the literati possess little
or no culture regarding this matter; hence, they completely distort
the meanings of works.

I have had the opportunity to read a page of the extinct newspaper

“La verdadera signifi cación de la obra de Saturnino Herrán: Los falsos críticos,” El
Universal Ilustrado 4, no. 169 (July 29, 1920): 14 and 26.

128

doi:10.1162/ARTM_a_00204

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El Pueblo, which was dedicated to Herrán and given this weighty title:
“Saturnino Herrán: The Most Mexican of Painters and the Greatest
Painter of Mexico.”1 This text has been discussed by many literati,
many of them illustrious and none of them art critics in the full mean-
ing of the term. From Mr. Mariscal, with his soporific erudition, to the
admirable López Velarde, they have written without saying a word
of truth about Herrán’s work. (This is said with apologies to my
“cultísimo”2 friend Jesús B. González.3)

In Mexico one finds erroneous criteria for what nationalist paint-
ing should be. It is believed that artists make nationalist works when
they paint either a charro, a rebozo, or a china poblana or a more or
less starched Tehuana, or even a servile copy of the Aztec Calendar
or Sacrificial Stone. Indigenous art should be nothing more than a
point of departure, and it should provide nothing more than guidance;
but it is necessary to make it evolve. For we must keep in mind that
we are no longer in that epoch, nor is our spirit the same as that of the
Indians, nor are the elements of our work the same. To make national-
ist art, we must fuse the essential part of our autochthonous art with
our current countenance and our current feeling, but not in an exter-
nal, that is to say theatrical, form but instead in an essential, spiritual
form. The spectacle of our nature alone offers us a wide field for mak-
ing nationalist painting, but by fusing that spectacle with the soul of
that nature rather than expressing it in its more or less exterior form.
Until today, with the exception of Roberto Montenego, no one, using
those elements, has produced a nationalist note. It takes little to satisfy
the public, hence the success of the many Tehuanas in the musical
review Peluquería Nacional,4 which, despite the efforts of María
Conesa,5 have been nothing more than mockeries of the character

Federico E. Mariscal, “Saturnino Herrán: El más mexicano de los pintores y el más pintor
de los mexicanos,” El Pueblo, December 29, 1918.
Translator’s note: “Cultísimo” translates as “highly cultured.” “Culto,” which means “cul-
tured,” is a word that when it appeared in art criticism in Mexico City during the 1920s
possessed derisive connotations of a class of urbanite intellectuals and amateur art
enthusiasts who saw themselves as sophisticated enough to appreciate international
avant-gardism.
Translator’s note: Jesús B. González was a poet and prominent figure in Mexico City liter-
ary circles who had written about Herrán’s work in the magazine Revista de Revistas.
Translator’s note: A musical review featuring women in indigenous costume that became
popular during the early 1920s.
Translator’s note: Although Conesa was a widely celebrated actress, the meaning of this
statement is that even despite her efforts, her Tehuana was nonetheless inauthentic.

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129

of true Tehuanas. This is the same cause for the success of the com-
mercial shows of Mr. Best [Maugard], of Mr. Garcia Núñez, and of
Mr. Fernández.

To my mind, Herrán’s work does not possess any Mexican quali-

ties except for the types that he used as motifs. Everything in his work
is anecdotal, without merit beyond its superb drawing. His work suf-
fers from a very marked Spanish influence and has likewise many
points of contact with the English Branwyng:6 his painting is essen-
tially Spanish and this is thus how he approached painting his pictures
of Mexican types, as though they could have been made in Ávila or
Segovia. His palette has no personality, no special character that dis-
tinguishes it as Herrán’s. There is a very similar case to Herrán in
Argentina: that of Jorge Bermúdez. This painter, the American whose
work is closest to that of Zuloaga, paints Argentinean types with a type
of painting that is genuinely Spanish; I recall his Santera, which had
many points of contact with the Cofrade de San Miguel by Herrán. I am
the first to understand that one must cherish Herrán, but it must be for
his precise value and without distorting the true character of his work.
Herrán should be celebrated as a superb draftsman; his paintings are
drawings with color. If the ill-fated artist had lived longer perhaps he
would have produced work that was more modern, more of our time.
Since he was an exceptional artist, we must be content with the
museum-worthy treasures that he has left.

TR ANSLATED BY HARPER MONTGOMERY

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130

Translator’s note: Frank Brangwyn (1867–1956) was a prolific English painter, print-
maker, and muralist whose works were widely known in Europe and the United States.
After studying with William Morris, he developed an illustrative, decorative style, and in
1930 was, along with Diego Rivera, commissioned to paint a series of murals for the
Rockefeller Center.

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