Pedro Nel Gómez

Colombian engineer, painter, and sculptor

Academia de Bellas Artes de Medellín
Accademia di Belle Arti di Firenze

Alma materFaculty of MinasKnown forMuralismMovementMexican Mural MovementSpouseGiuliana Scalaberni (1927—1964)

Pedro Nel Gómez Agudelo (4 July 1899 — 6 June 1984) was a Colombian engineer, painter, and sculptor, best known for his work as a muralist, and for starting, along with Santiago Martinez Delgado, the Colombian Muralist Movement, inspired by the Mexican movement that drew on nationalistic, social, and political messages as subjects.^[1]

One of Colombia's most prolific^[2] and prominent artists of his time, Gómez created 2,200 square meters of fresco murals in public buildings.^[3]^{[citation needed]}

Personal life

Pedro Nel was born on 4 July 1899 in Anorí, Antioquia, to Jesús Gómez González and María Luisa Agudelo Garcés. He attended the Academia de Bellas Artes de Medellín, where he completed his secondary studies in 1917.^[4] He then attended College of Mines of Medellín where he graduated in Civil Engineering in 1922.^[4] In 1923 he decided to move to Bogotá, where aside from working as an engineer and professor, he studied perspective and artistic anatomy with Francisco Antonio Cano.^[5] In 1925 he traveled to Europe and settled in Florence, Italy, where he attended the Accademia di Belle Arti di Firenze.^[4]^[6] While in Italy he met his future wife, and mother of his eight children, the Florentine, Giuliana Scalaberni. In 1930 he returned to Colombia,^[4] and became Director and professor of the Academia de Bellas Artes de Medellín.

Legacy

As a teacher Nel Gómez has an impact in inspiring a future generation of nationalist artists including Carlos Correa and Débora Arango.^[6]

In 2019 the National Museum of Colombia held a retrospective of his work, entitled Pedro Nel Gómez: Relatos de una Nación (Testament of a Nation).^[7]

References

^ Baker, Christopher Paul (2012). "Culture & Arts". National Geographic Traveler Colombia. Washington, D.C.: National Geographic. p. 49. ISBN 9781426209505. OCLC 769428827. Retrieved 19 August 2013.
^ Sullivan, Edward (2000). Latin American Art. London: Phaidon Press. ISBN 9780714839806. OCLC 318236357.
^ Gómez, J.C. (2013). "En los muros del Palacio: Pedro Nel Gómez en el imaginario social en Medellín, 1930-1950". HiSTOReLo. Revista de Historia Regional y Local. 5 (10): 53–91. doi:10.15446/historelo.v5n10.37039.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Escobar Calle, Miguel. "Pedro Nel Gómez: Cronología de un Período" (PDF). Universidad de Antioquia. Retrieved 19 August 2013.
^ Arango Gómez; Fernández Uribe, Diego León; Carlos Arturo (2007). Pedro Nel Gómez: Escultor (in Spanish). Colombia: Editorial Universidad de Antioquia & Editorial Universidad Pontifica Bolivariana. p. 15. ISBN 978-958-655-846-4.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^ ^a ^b Serrano, Eduardo; Olivares, Omar (2003). "Nel Gómez, Pedro". Grove Art Online. doi:10.1093/gao/9781884446054.article.T061621. ISBN 9781884446054. Retrieved 2023-01-11.
^ Ambrosia (2019-04-23). "Testament of a Nation: Pedro Nel Gómez at the National Museum". The City Paper Bogotá. Retrieved 2023-01-11.