Guillermo Meza
Mexican, 1917-1997

Abstract of Trees, 1964
oil on masonite
13 3/8 x 10 1/8 in.

SBMA, Gift of Charles A. Storke
1994.57.21



Undated photo of Meza

COMMENTS

Of Tlaxcalan Indian descent, Meza left school at fourteen to become an apprentice in his father’s tailor shop. He attended Worker’s Night School in Ixtapalapa until 1937, when his teacher took him to Morelia as his assistant. In Mexico City by 1938, Meza was “discovered” by Diego Rivera who brought him to the attention of Galeria de Arte Moderno. They gave him his first solo exhibition. His “expressionist-surrealist” paintings, on themes often drawn from Indian mythology have associated him with such artists as Frida Kahlo and Agustin Lazo.

SBMA CURATORIAL LABELS

In this work, Guillermo Meza presents a strange landscape that appears almost extraterrestrial with its trees of red and green, shrouded in a foggy haze. Void of any figures, human or otherwise, the trees nevertheless possess a certain anthropomorphic quality in the way their wiry limbs reach and bend like dancers.

- SBMA title card, 2013