Francisco Dosamantes

Art Brokerage: Francisco Dosamantes Mexican Artist: b. 1911-1986. Francisco Dosamantes (b. October 4, 1911 - d. July 18.1986) was a Mexican artist and educator who is best known for is educational illustrations and graphic work against fascism. He was a founding member of the Taller de Gráfica Popular and the Salón de la Plástica Mexicana. After he graduated, he worked with the cultural missions of the Secretaría de Educación Pública in Oaxaca, Michoacán, Guerrero, Colima, Coahuila and Chihuahua (state) from 1932 to 1937 then again from 1941 to 1945. He stated that this experience was vital to his conscience as he worked with rural farm workers and others he stated wer worthy of dignity and respect, but victims of deceit and exploitation. When he returned to Mexico City, he gave classes in high schools from 1937 to 1941. In 1945 he founded and directed the Taller Escuela de Dibujo y Pintura “Joaquín Claussell” in Campeche, Campeche. Dosamantes was a politically and culturally active artist with most of his work and affiliations related to such. He was a member of the Liga de Escritores y Artistas Revolucionarios from 1934 to 1938. He was a founding member of the Taller de Gráfica Popular, serving as administrator in 1940 and remaining a member until his death except for one short hiatus. He created posters for conferences about fascism and Nazism such as Alemania bajo bayonetas (Germany under bayonets) in 1938. In 1940 he became the secretary general of the Sindicato de Maestros de Artes Plásticas. He was also a member of the Sociedad para el Impulso de las Artes Plásticas en 1948, a founding member of the Salón de la Plástica Mexicana in 1949 and a member of the Frente Nacional de Artes Plásticas from 1952. He painted a number of murals in rural areas of Mexico generally when he was there on cultural missions. His main mural is at the former home of José María Morelos in Carácuaro, Michoacán, but there are a number at various rural schools. These were all painted between 1941 and 1946. As a book illustrator he mostly worked for the Secretaría de Educación Pública working on books for literacy campaigns. He exhibited his works, which included engravings, oils, tempuras and lithographs in Mexico and abroad.