Celebrating 100 years since the birth of the neo-baroque painter Jorge Sánchez Hernández

Who is the artist behind the enigmatic paintings of Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz? Or the author that illustrates the Nican Mopohua?

Jorge Sánchez Hernández was born in 1926 and died in 2016 in Mexico City, at 90 years of age.

If he would continue to be alive today we would be celebrating his 100 year birthday this year on April.

For this occasion, we proudly present his personal history published on our BLOG, divided in parts, retold by the memories of his daughter Susana Elena Sánchez Pruneda (1959) and written down by her and her husband Felipe Pietrini León (1947-2021). Thanks to them we were able to collect this information, photographs and other documents.

This is the first time that the history of Jorge Sánchez Hernández is shared from a close and personal perspective, from his family members to the world.

Childhood of glass and song | Infancia de vidrio y canto

My grandfather, Jorge Sánchez Hernández was born on April 23, 1926, in Mexico City, Mexico. His birth occurred on Saint George's Day, which is why he was named after him: San Jorge, in Spanish.

Born into a Catholic family, he was the youngest of six children, only three of whom survived to adulthood. His father, Ramón Sánchez, of Spanish origin, was a banker and belonged to the upper middle class. He owned two properties in one of Mexico City's most prestigious neighborhoods: Colonia Juárez. He was 20 years older than his wife, Elena, and soon left her a widow when Jorge was just eleven years old.

From a young age, he began to show a tendency to fracture his bones, which is why his mother tried to isolate him from any risk. He wasn't allowed to play outside with other children or participate in sports, so Jorge got used to entertaining himself by reading and drawing. Another symptom was added to what he was later in life diagnosed with osteogenesis imperfecta. The white blood cells in his eyes were actually bluish. Jorge suffered from a genetic disorder that affects collagen production, which impacts bone strength and causes brittle bones.

Despite his physical frailty, Jorge Sánchez found boundless strength in other imaginary worlds. He was fascinated by the legends told on his cousins' ranch in Toluca. He began illustrating booklets with the adventures they recounted there, about ghosts, witches who leaped like fireballs over agave plants, and folklore shape-shifters called nahuales. We still treasure this booklet.

At the ranch, since he couldn't ride or rope cattle, Jorge found another talent that was also practiced there at the hacienda: to sing serenatas like Jorge Negrete (1911–1953), a towering figure in the Golden Age of Mexican cinema.

Jorge Sánchez would memorise Negrete's songs and dress up like "El Charro Cantor". He adopted the elegance of his idol and dressed up as a charro, with spurs, a sombrero and even... a mustache!. By just listening to him, he learned to sing beautiful traditional songs and developed a profound powerful voice. He jokingly called himself Jorge "Sánchez" Negrete from a young age.

His childhood was also marked by the educational policies of General Cárdenas's government, so he did not attend school until the sixth grade.

During the administration of General Lázaro Cárdenas (1934–1940), Christian persecution in Mexico, particularly against the Roman Catholic Church, continued as a byproduct of the "socialist education" reforms and the anti-clerical laws inherited from his predecessor, Plutarco Elías Calles. By 1938, Cárdenas began to phase out the most radical aspects of the socialist education reforms and relaxed the intense, open persecution of the Church, shifting his focus to economic issues such as land reform and oil expropriation.

Jorge continued to have a childhood isolated from his peers and, under the tutelage of two governesses, learned the basics of mathematics, reading, writing, geography, among other subjects. Because of Cárdenas persecution to Catholic communities, Jorge Sánchez received his First Communion in the basement of their home, hidden from those who could harm him or his family for their beliefs.

Maybe this explain why he became so devoted to depict religious subjects in his paintings later on, as an act of resistance and resilience from what he witnessed since his early age.

When his father died, at 11 years old, his family sold one of his properties and he was admitted to the Simón Bolívar School of the Brothers of the Christian Schools, founded by Saint John Baptist de La Salle, and continued (1939) his secondary education at the Cristóbal Colón School of the same Brotherhood.

At the age of thirteen, Jorge drew the Virgin of Guadalupe on Manila paper, copying her from life with colour wooden pencils, a painting that we have preserved thanks to his mother who framed it and protected it with glass through out the years. This was the first image of "La Morenita", of hundreds of Guadalupes that he would paint later throughout his professional life as an artistic painter.

(We are preparing this image and will share it as soon as possible. We will keep you posted).

Jorge Sánchez Hernández finished high school with a specialization in Social Sciences and Law. His older brothers had chosen medicine: José Antonio became an anesthesiologist and José Ramón, a dentist. But Jorge didn't want to go to university; he was undecided, wanting to be a painter or a singer. But his family did not supported completely the singing career.

Fortunately, his godmother Tere Riaño, who used a wheelchair, settled him on the right track. She had an iron will that could move mountains. It was she who confronted Jorge and told him, "If you want to paint, give it your all. Study seriously. Give it your best." We are grateful to her for this little push that helped my grandfather defy his family's prejudices and pursue his dream of becoming an artist (without starving in the process).

To be continued...

Subscribe to our Newsletter to be notified when Part 2 is published.

Published by Elena Pietrini Sánchez, granddaughter of Jorge Sánchez Hernández.