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Francisco Eppens Helguera

Presented by The Angel Tarrac Virtual Museum


 Eppens with one of his monumental paintings, circa 1961. ATVM files

The painter, muralist, and sculptor Francisco Eppens Helguera (1913-1990) was born in San Luis Potosí, Mexico. Francisco attended the Fine Arts Academy of San Carlos ("Escuela de Artes Plásticas") in Mexico City. His work was influenced by the Nationalist ideas of the first painters from the artistic movement called the Mexican School of Painting, or Mexican Renaissance. Eppen's works are figurative, and interpret reality in a symbolic way. His smaller paintings are oil on canvas, and oil on masonite. His monumental outdoor murals use colored glass tiles. The artist's works show a parallelism to the works of his friend, and colleague Jorge González Camarena.

In Mexico, the artist was part of Second Generation of the Mexican School of Painting ("Escuela Mexicana de Pintura"). He was a member of the National Front of the Arts ("Frente Nacional de las Artes Plásticas"), and the group "Integración Plástica."

Throughout his career, Eppens earned several coveted awards, such as the first prize in a national contest to produce the exterior murals for the building of the Mexican party (PRI), in 1963. He was awarded third prize in an international contest with a theme about peace, "Por la Paz y el Humanitarismo en Contra de la Amenaza de Guerra Nuclear", organized by the Russian Ministery of Culture in 1986. He received an honorific mention in the international contest (A United Hemisphere), "Un Hemisferio Unido", organized by the Modern Art Museum of New York, in the USA, and was presented the Distinguished Service Award in the Seventh Congress of the Aerophilatelic Federation of the Americas, in 1973.

Francisco's works have been displayed in many exhibits, for example, the Museum of Modern Art of New York in 1930, the Museum of the Fine Arts Palace (INBA), in Mexico City, as well as in the Cultural Institute Cabañas, in Guadalajara, Mexico, both in 1987.

Eppen's works are included in public collections such as in the Skissernas Museum in Lund, Sweden, the Museum of Contemporary Art, at the Autonomous National University of Mexico (UNAM), the PRI building in Mexico City, the building of the National Institute of Nuclear Research in Salazar, Mexico State, the Civic Square of the "Bruno Pagliai" Industrial Park in the city of Veracruz, and the Telegraph Building in the city of Zacatecas, Mexico.

The artist's works are referred in various books such as:
-Bertelly, Carlo, "Mosaics", Gallery Books, New York City, USA, 1988.
-Enciclopedia Británica, 15th Edition, Volume 12, William Benton Publisher, (1943-1973), Helen Hemingway Benton Publisher, London, 1973-1974.
-Reed, Alma, "The Mexican Muralist", Crown Publishers Inc, New York, 1960.
-Rodríguez, Antonio, "A History of Mexican Mural Painting", Thames and Hudson, London, 1969.
-Tibón, Gutierre, "Enciclopedia de México", Volume 3, Institute of the Enciclopedia de México, 1968.
-Tovar de Teresa, Guillermo, "Repertorio de Artistas de México", Fundación Cultural Bancomer, A.C., México, 1995.
-Valdiosera Berman, Ramón, "Francisco Eppens", Colección de Arte 42, Dirección General de Publicaciones, UNAM, Mexico, 1988.
-The International Who is Who of Intellectuals, Vol 2-3, International Biographical Center, Cambridge, England, 1981.


"Arquitectura Colonial Prehispánica" (Pre-Hispanic Colonial Architecture)(C), Francisco Eppens, 1984,

oil on canvas, private collection.

 

Photograph: Jorge Sandoval Pardo/Ernesto Torres

 

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