Alfredo Guati Rojo National Watercolor Museum

The museum was founded and run by artist Alfredo Guati Rojo from its beginnings in 1964 until his death in 2003. It is dedicated to the preservation and continuance of watercolor painting both in Mexico and abroad, with its permanent collection of 300 works donated by Guati Rojo and his wife, classes in watercolor and drawing, its annual Premio Nacional de Acuarela (National Watercolor Prize) and various temporary exhibits both at the museum and abroad.

• Illustration — Poem dedicated to the museum on outer wall The museum and the modern history of watercolor in Mexico is the work of artist Alfredo Guati Rojo. He studied art at the San Carlos Academy in the 1930s, graduating with a master's in 1940. While he studied all aspects of art, he stated that he was always drawn to watercolor painting. After graduation, he decided to teach short courses for those with inclination but not the means for a formal art education. This became an art institute which offered courses in ceramics, fashion design, furniture design, and jewelry making as well as the fine arts. In 1957, it rented a large house in Colonia Roma. In the 1940s and 1950s, watercolor began to be recognized as a technique with its own particular qualities with artists such as Ricardo Sierra, Carmen Jimenez Labora and Luis G. Serrano dedicated to it. However, many art gallery owners at the time refused to show watercolor works, as it was considered to be a minor art, especially compared to oil painting, as it was associated with lithographs, and small portraits. Guati Rojo established a space in the institute in Colonia Roma dedicated to the showing of watercolors in 1964, called the Salon Anual de Acuarela (Annual Salon of Watercolors). These shows began to attract attention and favorable reviews, and allowed artists to sell paintings. It was renamed the Salon Nacional de Acuarela (National Salon of Watercolors) in 1967 and dedicated itself to the promotion of both Mexican and international watercolor painting. • Illustration — Part of the gardens of the complex Since graduating from the San Carlos Academy, Guati Rojo and his wife Berta Pietrasanta, collected watercolors and other artworks, starting with Guati Rojo's teachers and companions from the academy and later from his own students and from trips to Europe. By 1977, they had amassed a collection of 300 watercolors, and approached the Secretariat of Public Education with the idea of creating a more formal museum if the agency would provide a site. However, nothing came of this. Soon after, the coupled formed a private society with the aim of founding the museum without government help. This society raised money for two years by presenting shows and concerts. The museum was formally established at the Colonia Roma site, with Guati Roja as first director, but also providing much of the needed money from his own funds, along with the initial 300 pieces. This gave it the name of Museo Nacional de la Acuarela (National Watercolor Museum). In 1985, the arts institute, along with the watercolor museum, was destroyed by the 1985 Mexico City earthquake. In 1987, the city government bought the house on Salvador Novo Street in Coyoacan, the present site, and donated it to the watercolor museum. However, the government also stated that it could do no more to support the project. The museum continued on private donations and the efforts of Guati Rojo's work. He not only provided much of the funding, but his popularity helped to promote the museum along with Mexican watercolor painting in general. In 2003, Guati Rojo died, a few weeks after his wife. At the time, he was working on two books, one about the museum and the other an autobiography, both left unfinished. His funeral was held at the museum with his ashes on display under the work called El circo de la vida ("The circus of life"). His death sparked concerns about the future of the museum, along with the legal status of the museum site. However, the museum still remains on the same site.

Associated with the museum, but legally separate is the Sociedad Mexicana de Acuarelistas (Mexican Society of Watercolor Artists). This society was established in 1964 by Guati Rojo with twelve other original members: Gustavo Alanís, Edgardo Coghlan, Manuel Arrieta, Aguirre Tinoco, Jesús Ochoa, Teresa Miranda, Cristina Romero, Luis Canales, Rodolfo Vankurzyn, Carlos Sommer, Angel Mauro Rodríguez and Joaquín Martínez Navarrete. The society was moved to the Coyoacán site in 1988 and part of its work is to support the museum. Today, the Society has 83 members, most of whom are in Mexico City. Among them: Sebastián Canovas. It sponsors watercolor shows both at this museum and in others around the world including INTER ART in Germany, Galería Nacional and the Instituto de México in Bogotá, and in the Contemporary Museum in Saint Petersburg.