Jose Manuel SCHMILL Biography
Mexico, born 1934
1934
Jose Manuel Schmill Ordoñez was born on April 21st in Mexico City.
1939
He attends his first school in Mexico City
1940
Already at a young age, he discovered that what he liked and what excited him the most was to make drawings, lines, colours, shapes, and he only asked for paper and pencils.
He did not like school or studying or anything related to discipline.
1948
He drops school and enters the circle of Bellas Artes in Mexico to take painting classes in classical technique with the spanish painter Jose Bardasano, who founded and presided over the circle of Bellas Artes in Mexico for mexican and spanish painters.
From then on, he would never give up painting again
1952
First marriage to Leticia Herrera. Their children Leticia and Vidal were born from this marriage.
1956
First solo exhibition in the Velazquez hall in Mexico City
1957-1959
Publication of the book "La Obra Pictorica de Schmill". Prologue by the poet Uwe Frisch.
"Schmill's drawings" by Ecuador publications
Illustration of the book "Facial Defects" by Mario Gonzalez Ulloa
Illustration and cover of the book "The portrait of Dorian Gray" by Oscar Wilde
Illustration and cover of the book "Crime and Castle" by F. Dostoievski
Illustration of the book "Equis City" by Fernando Rodriguez
Gallery illustration number 1 of Evildoers by E. Queen
1960
He frequented on a daily basis a circle of artists and intellectuals with whom he shared his days at exhibitions, concerts, evenings of conversation and cultural talks. Some of his new friends included, Salvador Novo, Rufino Tamayo, Jose Luis Cuevas, Jorge Saldaña, Jacobo Zabludovsky, Pita Amor, Luis Filcer, Anguiano, Gutierrez Tibon, Juan Jose Arreola, Alfonso de Neuvillate, Leonora Carrington.
1961
First international exhibitions organised by the plastic arts section of the OAS together with other great painters of Mexico, such as Rufino Tamayo, Francisco Toledo, Leonora Carrington, Remedios Varo, Juan Soriano, David Alfaro Siqueiros, Rafael Coronel and Jose Clemente Orozco.
1962
First international exposition in Washington DC - Pan American Union
1963
Participation in the Third Biennale de Paris at the Musee d'Art Moderne in Paris. There he obtained 3rd place with three of his works: the Cannibal, Resurrection and the Mutilated.
1964
Winner of the prestigious Guggenheim fellowship award from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation - Guggenheim Museum, New York.
Solo exhibition of prints at the American Association of Artists (AAA) - New York
Solo exhibition at the Weyhe Gallery - New York
1972
Solo exhibition at the MOMA - Museum of Modern Art – New York
1976
Solo exhibition in rooms 4 & 5 of the Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City.
1980-2018
Publication of his work and interview in the Fangoria magazine – New York
Exhibits and Exposes at the following places and galleries:
Last Rites Gallery 5th year anniversary – New York
Tangent Gallery – New York
Hr Giger Museum Tour - Switzerland
Horror and Fantasy Film Festival - San Sebastian, Spain
Atelier Art-Ig Solingen - Germany
Copro Gallery - Santa Monica, USA
2018
On March 7th, Jose Manuel Schmill died of cancer at his home in Mexico City in the arms of his beloved granddaughter Michelle.
