Referred to as “the best representative of the Mexican sculptural movement at the time” by Diego Rivera, I chose to do my research on Guatemalan painter and sculptor Rafael Yela Günther. I am attracted to his work because long before I knew who he was I saw some of his sculptures personally in Guatemala and I was truly impressed. Naturally my interest to know more about his artwork grew when I learned that Rivera had some influence on him during their time working together in Teotihuacan.
Rafael Yela Günther was born on September 18, 1888 in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala. Günther’s first mentor in creating sculptures was his father, Baldomero Yela Montenegro; he was a sculptor and marble-carver. Afterwards Günther studied under the talents Venezuelan Santiago González, and Italian Antonio Doninelli (who taught him bronze casting techniques). Günther also knew and worked with other great artists like Diego Rivera, Carlos Mérida, Carlos Mauricio Valenti Perrillat and Pablo Piccasso’s close personal
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Diego was so fascinated with Rafael work that he even wrote about him in the March 2nd El Democrata paper in 1924. It wasn’t until Rafael moved to Mexico that he was first introduced to Maya and Aztec art via anthropologist, Manuel Gamio. It was during that time frame that he created one of his most important works, Triptych of the Race. Created in 1922 for the Museo Arqueologico in Teotihuacan but then demolished in the 1960’s.
During his time in Teotihuacan Rafael Günther worked on several different tasks aside from the Triptych of the Race. Günther was in charge of not only building the "Tríptico de la Raza" sculptor but also the ancient native motif decorations. However, his work shows the influence from one of Los Tres Grandes…Diego Rivera. After the Auditorium project was completed Yela continued working in Mexico for the old Secretariat of