el corrrido de Jesus Enrique Emilio de la Helguera Espinoza

i remember going to the laundromat with my mom for the longest time, and they would always be giving away calendars. Lavanderia El Rio, they are a chain of family owned businesses around my neighborhood and i remember that in some of them i would see these stoic pictures of Aztec warriors cradling beautiful women, or maybe pastoral scenes with peones going about their daily routine. At that time i took them for anonymous paintings serving only to decorate the empty square on top of the dates on the calendar. He has since, however, come to be one of my personal favorite painters.

photograph of Helguera, obvio

His name was Jesus Enrique Emilio de la Helguera Espinoza and he was born in Chihuahua, Mexico on May 28, 1910. He went on to study art in Mexico and then Spain which is where he met Julia Gonzalez Llanos, who would go on to become the model for most of the women in his paintings. Most of his painting where featured in calendars because that's where he began working, painting for calendar companies. At a time when it was very rare to find positive representations of Mexicans (the 50s and 60s) Helguera's art gave people (both in Mexico and the United States where his work was very popular) what they deserved, a strong visual representation to make them proud of their heritage.

Grandeza Ateca, 1948

He had a love for depicting Aztec warriors in gallant poses, much like Frank Frazetta in his work. Helguera's work however wasn't as kinetic, it was a warmer and quieter picture, a scenic artwork where you could almost feel the light breeze. at least me. Apart from warriors, he also painted Mexican life, such as adelitas, charros and peones. Helguera also had a few painting in which he showed the Spanish culture and heritage he came from. His painting always had a romantic touch, and every man was a hero and every woman was beautiful, some even had Arab features. Unlike many of his contemporaries, Helguera never showed the downtrodden, never showed the sad aspect of Mexican life, he only demonstrated the idealized version of life, and i think that's beautiful. To me Helguera is kind of like the Mexican Norman Rockwell, and hopefully somebody reading this comes to like him as much as i.

El Rebozo, 1962

La Bamba, late 1940s

Je ne sais pas