Constantino Reyes-Valerio

Constantino Reyes-Valerio
Born(1922-01-10)January 10, 1922
Zinacatepec, Puebla, Mexico
DiedDecember 13, 2006(2006-12-13) (aged 84)
Mexico City, Mexico
Alma materI.P.N, U.N.A.M
Known forArte Indocristiano, Azul Maya, Christian Iconography
Scientific career
InstitutionsInstituto Nacional de Antropologia e Historia (INAH)

Constantino Reyes-Valerio (January 10, 1922, Zinacatepec, Puebla - December 13, 2006, Mexico City)[1] was a prominent Mexican scholar of pre-Columbian Mesoamerican cultures, particularly the Aztec and the Maya as well as the Colonial Art.

Life and career

In 1947 he arrived in Mexico City, where five years later he obtained a Master's degree in Bacteriological Chemistry and Parasitology at the National Polytechnic Institute[1].

Reyes-Valerio identified the artistic contribution of Native Mexican Indians in the Colonial painting and sculpture; he coined the term Indochristian art. Another major contribution was his seminal work on the chemical composition and process of the Maya Blue Pigment where he re-discovered the technique used by the Maya to create the famous turquoise blue pigment. He was granted a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1972 for Fine Arts Research. He corresponded extensively with major scholars in Mexico and abroad such as George Kubler, Santiago Sebastian and Enrique Marco Dorta among others. In 2000, he was named Emeritus Researcher by the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia.

In April 2009, a special edition of the INAH bulletin (Boletin de Monumentos Historicos Num 12 enero-abril 2008) was published as an in memoriam edition dedicated to Constantino Reyes-Valerio. Several important researchers, Miguel Leon-Portilla, Alfredo López Austin, Eduardo Matos Moctezuma, Giacomo Chiari, Carlos Navarrete Cáceres, Beatriz Barba Ahuatzin, Dora Sierra, Guillermo Tovar y de Teresa, Manuel Sanchez del Rio, Rosa Camelo among others contributed with articles to this bulletin.

Event at which the Photographic Archive of INAH's Coordinacion de Monumentos Historicos was named after Constantino Reyes-Valerio. On the Photograph: Natalia Fiorentini, Carlos Navarrete and Rosa Camelo and a picture of Reyes-Valerio on the far left.

He was a very active photographer and took the photographs for several books and to the general archive of the INAH. In 2009, his contribution was recognised by naming the Photographic Archive of the "Coordinacion Nacional de Monumentos Culturales" of INAH with his name.

He received several awards, including the Guggenheim Fellowship, the Rafael Ramirez Prize granted by the S.E.P., Premio Francisco Javier Clavijero granted by INAH and the Emeritus Researcher degree by INAH as well.

He died on December 13, 2006 in Mexico City[1].

Photograph of Carlos Chanfon, Constantino Reyes-Valerio, Carlos Martinez Marin and Jorge Gurria

References

  1. ^ a b c "Constantino Reyes Valerio". mediateca.inah.gob.mx (in Spanish). Retrieved 2024-11-05.