With José Clemente Orozco, the grandson of the Mexican muralist José Clemente Orozco, as a tour guide, the ARLIS/Texas-Mexico chapter members went to see the murals at the museum called the Instituto Cultural Cabañas in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico on Tuesday December 2nd. The museum was once the Hospicio Cabañas, a shelter for widows, the elderly and orphans. Orozco painted his murals, including his masterpiece “Man of Fire”, from 1938-1939 when the building was still being used as a shelter.

As a museum, the different rooms in the building are used as galleries for current exhibitions. The exhibit that was on display was the Los tres grandes grandes son dos: Orozco, paintings in homage of Orozco. Orozco's grandson, Clemente Orozco had contributed a dyptich made of oil on board titled Anamorfosis that was featured in the exhibit.

After a group photo outside of the main chapel, Clemente took us to visit his grandfather’s studio, which was recently opened to the public, earlier in November. Clemente told us that we could take the subway to the studio, which none of us knew about. That was the beginning of a spontaneous adventure through the city! We walked up and down stairways and around the colorful bustling Mercado Libertad to get to the subway station and then rode the crowded subway for two stops and finally hopped into four separate taxis and were dropped off at the Monumento Los Arcos, the neoclassical triumphal arches that were erected from 1939 – 1941. Luckily for us, Clemente informed each taxi driver where we needed to go since most of us were clueless as to where it was located.

After a short walk across a busy street, we found that his grandfather’s studio was closed. Luckily, after Clemente talked with the guard, we were allowed in to see the space and the paintings and drawings in the main area on the first floor. After we left the studio we saw a statue of Orozco and another funny sculpture of a VW van with a brick wall sliced lengthwise into it.

Clemente then took us to a magical nineteenth-century mansion, now a coffee house, called Palacio de las Vacas. It's currently owned by an American, whom we had the pleasure to meet. We enjoyed the friendly service and tasty beverages and food and were awed at the furnishings, frescoes and decorations inside the mansion and the courtyards. Our group then said our goodbyes to Clemente, our endearing tour guide, and headed back to our hotel.

~Tara Spies