Antonio Ruíz (painter)
[4] He studied with Manuel Rodríguez Lozano, Miguel Covarrubias, Julio Castellanos, Rufino Tamayo, Agustín Lazo, Luis Ortiz Monasterio, Gabriel Fernández Ledesma and Carlos Mérida.[1] By his own account, he was mainly influenced by Saturnino Herrán and Germán Gedovius as they were his favorite teachers at the Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes.In 1942 he began to actually teach fine arts at Escuela Nacional de Pintura, Escultura y Grabado "La Esmeralda" when he took over as director.[2] In 1941 Ruiz collaborated with other various artists from all different forms like the composer Manuel Ponce, the painter Angel Zárraga, journalist Vito Alessio Robles and Rodolfo Usigli on a publication called Mexican Cultural Weekly.[1] Ruíz showed The Orator, The Dream of Malinche during the International Surrealist Exhibition held at the Galería de Arte Mexicano in Mexico City.He also worked on scenery for "El gesticulador" in the Palacio de Bellas Artes 1947 opening season of Teatro Mexicano.[13] In 1943 he followed Guillermo Ruiz on his chair as director of the Escuela Nacional de Pintura, Escultura y Grabado "La Esmeralda".[15] Ruíz said this about "La Esmeralda": "This school's slogan is based on the present spirit of national reconstruction, and for that very reason it is, and must be, work and study, indispensable factors for spurring on a spiritual resurgence in Mexican Arts.Edward Lucie-Smith's view of the implication of this painting is that "Mexico's Indian past still slumbers beneath the trappings of the European present.