Ángel Zárraga (1886-1946)

Alberto Bernat, Mexico City
Clotilde Bernat, Mexico City
Álvaro Fuentes Bernat, Mexico City
Private Collection, Mexico

Born in Durango, Mexico, Angel Zárraga lived most of his life in France. He studied at the Academia de San Carlos in Mexico City with such luminary alumnae as Diego Rivera and Saturnino Herrán. Zárraga departed for Europe shortly thereafter where he spent over thirty years as part of the Parisian School.

Desnudo con caracol (Nude with Seashell) reveals a recurring theme in the artist’s oeuvre—the female bather. Painted in a manner reminiscent of the Neo-classical figures of the French painter Ingres and evocative of the stylized renderings of Art Nouveau, this work was originally created as part of a national competition in France to adorn the walls of the main salon of the luxury passenger ship, the Ille de France.  Desnudo con caracol came in third of twenty-five submissions in the competition. Zárraga went on to do frescoes for such transatlantic passenger vessels as the Normandie and the Queen Elizabeth and is perhaps best known for his murals in the Cathedral of Monterrey.