Page 181 - Libro Max Cetto

In Cetto’s Proximity Bettina Cetto

34
As Heredia argues, it is likely that Cetto copied my godfather’s mosaic technique for
his studio: yes, the technique. Let us turn to Juan, who wrote:

It is certainly necessary to point out that Diego Rivera invented a very economical
procedure for obtaining plastic effects of matter and form, which consists of making
mosaics of colored stones on slabs of reinforced concrete, placing the mosaic stones
before the concrete, thus permanently attaching these pieces to the slab. 35

Actually, if Diego invented it, they developed it together at Anahuacalli. The one whose
experimentation created the black and white mosaics on the first floor was Diego. On the
second floor, we find greater richness of colors. Juan perfected the technique and managed
to obtain a wider range of colored stones, which they used on the third floor. 36
Returning to the mosaic that Cetto made for the ceiling of his studio, it is clear that he
could have taken advantage of some of the materials that O’Gorman had been collecting for
his own projects. Remember that my godfather collected small colored stones from across
the country to represent the national spirit on the exterior of the Unam Central Library, and
to cover with mosaics the dream house he was building for himself at the time on Avenida
San Jerónimo in Pedregal de San Ángel.
As seen above, Max’s pictorial representation in his own studio is far removed from
the themes of Juan and Diego, as well as from the perspective of other muralists and archi-
tects who were working on University City at the time: there are no pre-Hispanic motifs,
nothing to do with the national spirit.

Fig. 30 Detail of the
mosaic on the ceiling
of Max’s studio, Agua
130, Mexico City
(1967) © Archivo
Max Cetto, UAM
Azcapotzalco, México

34 Juan Manuel Heredia, The Work of Max Cetto, 212.
35 In Juan O’Gorman, “Diego Rivera, Arquitecto” (Mexico City: Inba, Department of Architecture, Cuadernos de Ar-
quitectura, No. 14, 1964).
36 The most detailed account of the technique employed by Juan and Diego is found in Antonio Luna Arroyo, Juan
O’Gorman (Mexico City: Cuadernos Populares de Pintura Mexicana Moderna, 1973), 142-150.

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