Arrieta, José Agustín (1803–1874)

José Agustín Arrieta (b. 1803; d. 1874), Mexican painter. In an effort to explain the Mexican-ism, the rustic provincialism, of Arrieta's work, it has been judged according to a single criterion, that of popular painting. It is often forgotten that as a student at the Academy of Fine Arts in Puebla under the direction of Julián Ordóñez and Lorenzo Zen-dejas, he was competent in genres typical of the academy, such as painting historical themes or representing the human figure, in full or in half, as well as torsos and heads. Although he was not a student at the Academia de San Carlos in Mexico City, he occasionally sent work there from 1850 to 1871.

Arrieta's extensive work stresses two themes: folkloric paintings and dining-room paintings or still lifes. He took pride in an impeccable technical control. His dining-room paintings, which became popular with collectors of rustic art, are full of allusions to European art in their details as well as in some elements of their harmonious composition. His folkloric paintings depict scenes inside homes as well as in public places, such as the street. His work is replete with subtle implications of popular culture.

See alsoArt: The Nineteenth Century .

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Francisco Cabrera, Agustín Arrieta, pintor costumbrista (1963).

Fausto Ramírez, La plástica del siglo de la independencia (1985).

Additional Bibliography

García Barragán, Elisa. José Agustín Arrieta: Lumbres de lo cotidiano. Coyocán, Mexico: Fondo Editorial de la Plástica Mexicana, 1998.

Palou, Pedro Angel. Identidad de Puebla: Esencia de mexicanidad: José Agustín Arrieta (1803–1874). Puebla: Gobierno del Estado de Puebla, 2002.

                                       Esther Acevedo