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The muralist, painter and sculptor Jorge González Camarena (1908-1980) was born in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico. He attended the Fine Arts Academy of San Carlos (“Escuela Nacional de Artes Plásticas”) in Mexico City. In 1928 headed a movement to promote Diego Rivera to be the dean of the Fine Arts Academy of San Carlos.Jorge was part of the Second Generation of the Mexican School of Painting. He was a member of the Seminar of Mexican Culture (“Seminario de Cultura Mexicana”), the Arts Academy, member of the Commission to Protect and Preserve the Murals of Mexico of INBA (“Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes”), and president of the Mexican Association of Plastic Arts (“Asociacion Mexicana de Artes Plásticas AMAPAC.”)Throughout his career González Camarena earned many coveted awards, such as “Insignia Jose Clemente Orozco” from the Congress of Jalisco State in 1956, second prize at the “Salon Annual de Pintura del INBA” sponsored by the National Institute of Fine Arts in 1962, Gold Plaque from the Government of Jalisco in 1964, “L’Ordine al Merito de la República Italiana” from the government of Italy for painting a portrait of Michael Angelo, located at the Italian artist’s house in 1967, and the National Prize of Arts in Painting in 1970.The artist’s murals are included in public collections such as the library at the Technological Institute of Monterrey, Main building of the Social Security Institute, National Museum of Anthropology, Fine Arts Palace, Mexican Senate building, the Museum of Modern Art, and the National Museum of History in Mexico City, The Bank of Mexico, Veracruz.

Presencia de América Latina (Presence of Latin America), also known as Integración de América Latina (Integration of Latin America) is a mural painted by Jorge González Camarena between November 1964 and April 1965. The 300-square-meter mural, painted in acrylic on rough stucco, is located in the lobby of the Casa del Arte of the University of Concepción (Ciudad Universitaria de Concepción), in Concepción, Chile. Its principal theme is the unity and brotherhood of the different Latin American cultures.

“Presencia de América Latina” (Presence of Latin America), is located in the lobby of the Casa del Arte of the University of Concepción (Ciudad Universitaria de Concepción), in Concepción, Chile. Its principal theme is the unity and brotherhood of the different Latin American cultures. The mural is divided into three parts: a flat, central panel measuring 20 by 6 meters, and two sides panels set off at oblique angles to the central part. Each panel measures 7.6 by 6 meters. The mural as a whole is 211.2 m². In addition to this, the mural makes use of a staircase with right angles leading up to a second-story art gallery, increasing the total area to 300 m².

The University of Concepción (in Spanish: Universidad de Concepción), also known for its acronym UdeC, is one of the most prestigious universities in Chile. It was the first University founded in the South of Chile, and the first to become a private-law corporation. In 2010, the University of Concepción was classified as one of the most important architectural pieces of the first half of the 20th century in Chile.

 The mural describes the history of Latin America through the use of angular, symbolic images, which emphasize the value of fraternity between the different ethnicities of the Spanish American world. The work is read chronologically from right to left.

On the left panel of the mural there is a nopal, which merges with the vines of a copihue (the national tree and flower of Mexico and Chile, respectively).

Left panel with the nopal entwined with the copihue and the national flags

The nopal is pierced by daggers, symbolizing the historic mistreatment of Latin Americans, and its roots entwine cadaverous warriors, who nourish the nopal and give it life.

The work is read chronologically from right to left. Pre-Columbian culture

•The sea woman and Tlaloc begin the story of the mural.

•The Spaniard fighting for conquest.

•Zontemoc, the twilight of pre-Columbian culture.

The right panel represents pre-Columbian America. On the lower part a woman with fish in her hands emerges from the Aztec pantheon, symbolizing the riches of the sea. The woman is accompanied by the green mask of Tlaloc, god of rain. Before her is Quetzalcoatl, the serpent-shaped deity who symbolizes culture and who is depicted coiling around the staircase to the art gallery.

The sea woman and Tlaloc begin the story of the mural.

(Tlaloc was an important deity in Aztec religion, a god of rain, fertility, and water. He was a beneficent god who gave life and sustenance, but he was also feared for his ability to send hail, thunder and lightning, and for being the lord of the powerful element of water)

Crowing the entire mural are the verses of the Chilean poet, Pablo Neruda:  …There is no beauty like the beauty of America spread out in its hellsin its mountains of rock and power, in its atavistic and eternal rivers…

(…Y no hay belleza como esta belleza de América extendida en sus infiernos / en sus cerros de piedra y poderío, en sus ríos atávicos y eternos…)

At the tail of Quetzalcoatl one can read "Pablo Neruda," ending the quote of his poem

On the upper part one can see Zontemoc ("The Falling Sun"), a god who symbolizes the twilight of pre-Hispanic culture. Completing this first panel of the mural, at the right is a mounted Spanish soldier, wearing armor and carrying a dagger, fighting against an eagle-man armed with a mace, symbolizing the battle of the conquest.

Zontemoc, the twilight of pre-Columbian culture

Guerreros

The Spaniard fighting for conquest

The central panel begins a bit to the left of the first part with the Spanish soldier and a Native woman, the principal creators of miscegenation.

Jorge González called this part The Original Couple ("La pareja original"), who walk over layers of coal, in which there are imprisoned, sleeping women, symbolizing the riches of the earth: silver, gold, iron and copper.

The

Orig

inal

Cou

ple

On the surface of this swarm of bodies and precious stones, sprouts a pregnant woman covered with vines, representing the fertility of the earth. From her surge American corn and Old World wheat, nourishment that sustains the bases of industrialization, technology and science, represented as an intricate steel machine on the upper part of the panel.

layers of coal, in which there are imprisoned, sleeping women, symbolizing the riches of the earth: silver, gold, iron and copper.

At the center of the panel there are several overlapping faces, which symbolize the fusion of the races: the largest in red, represents the American race.

Below these faces a life-sized, naked woman has a map of Latin America on her lap. She constitutes the principal subject matter of the mural. On the woman one can see a capital that symbolizes the Greco-Roman contribution to Latin American culture; and a bit to the left, great blocks of solid rock, which create a great, vertical structure, symbolizing Mesoamerican architecture.

Along with the clock tower of the University of Concepción, the mural Presencia de América Latina is a true symbol of the culture of Concepción. It is frequently visited by foreign and domestic tourists and reproduced in souvenirs, book covers and catalogues, among other products. In 1994 it was depicted in a postage stamp to commemorate the seventy-fifth anniversary of the University

All along the top of the mural, the flags of the different Latin American nations wave in sequence. The sequence begins at the right with the flag of Chile and a condor, the national bird, and ends with the flag of Mexico next to an eagle and a serpent, important national symbols of Mexico. The flags are organized from right to left, following the geographical placement of the nations from south to north.

Thus the sequence begins with Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Bolivia, Brazil, Peru, Ecuador, Venezuela and Colombia of South America; continues with Haiti, Cuba, Panama, Costa Rica, Honduras, Nicaragua and Guatemala of Central America and the Caribbean; and ends with Mexico of North America.

The only peoples excluded are those who are not sovereign, that is, the French colonies of Clipperton Island, Guadaloupe, French Guiana, Martinique, Saint Barthélemy, and Saint Martin—as well as the United States territory of Puerto Rico.

“Latin-America Presence”: epic work of Mexican muralist Jorge González Camarena inaugurated in 1965 at the University of Concepción Fine Art Museum (Pinacoteca Casa del Arte) whose outstanding characteristic is how the mural piece is an integral part of the building´s architecture. In an unprecedented manner, the architectural design was adapted to the specifications of the mural. This fact together with its pictorial conception represents one of the most significant examples of permanent public installations in Chile in addition to what has been its transcendence in time.

Text and pictures: InternetCopyright: All the images belong to their authors

Presentation: Sanda Foişoreanuwww.slideshare.net/michaelasanda

Sound: Lila Downs- - La Martiniana