Born Carmen Mondragón, Nahui Olin was the wildest, most daring (and most obscure) member of the early 20th century avant-garde. She was a prolific poet and painter as well as a muse to some of the most influential artists of her time (Edward Weston took a stunning portrait of her in 1924 in which she is so timelessly surly and fierce that I honestly thought the portrait was of a current-day punk rocker the first time I saw it). Rumor has it she enjoyed staring into the sun as meditation. (Felicia Luna Lemus)
I'd like to meet:
During her heyday from the 1920s to the 1930s, unconventional artist Carmen Mondragón was demonized in much the same way as the fire-breathing creature of legends past. A defiant voice in the midst of a repressive era, she was mischaracterized as a madwoman and even a witch. So pervasive were these falsehoods that even after she faded from the limelight, it was difficult to disentangle Mondragón's real story from the lore surrounding her.
It has only been in the past decade or so that Mondragón's life has been reexamined and the myths dispelled. In recent years, she has been heralded for the role she played in her country's history: both as a figure in the art scene of the 1920s and as an uninhibited woman who paved the way for female liberation in Mexico. Born at her parents' home in the Tacubaya district of Mexico City on July 8, 1893, Carmen was the fifth offspring of General Manuel Mondragón and Mercedes Valseca, who had a total of eight children. The military activities of General Mondragón, who specialized in artillery design, would lead the family to live in Europe on two occasions: once on a mission to France ordered by then-president Porfirio DÃaz and later as a result of Mondragón's exile from Mexico after his involvement in the violent uprising known as la Decena Trágica. Perhaps this uprooting of the family from Mexico to Europe planted the seeds of individualism in a young Carmen Mondragón, who would later disregard the social norms of a conservative Mexican society.
During the family's stay in France from 1897 to 1905, the young Mondragón's prose made such an impression on one of her schoolteachers that the woman appeared years later in Mexico to bestow some of Carmen's old notebooks upon her former pupil. The preserved texts would appear in 1924 as the book A dix ans sur mon pupitre (From my desk, at 10 years old). These early writings of Mondragón reveal much about her intellect, as even at the tender age of 10, she had already begun writing about the oppressive destiny she stood to inherit as a woman and had come to the realization that she would never be understood by the world around her.
Even marriage at a young age did little to stifle Mondragón's unrestrained spirit. On August 6, 1913, 20-year-old Mondragón wedded Manuel RodrÃguez Lozano, a military cadet who attended the same Colegio Militar from which Mondragón's father had graduated. That same year, Manuel Mondragón was exiled to Europe and was accompanied by all family members except Carmen and her husband, who traveled to Paris, France soon after.
Little has been written about this period of Mondragón's life, but it is widely believed that she and RodrÃguez Lozano met some of the most influential artists of the 20th century while in France, including Pablo Picasso and Diego Rivera. Thus, it was in Europe that Mondragón seemingly had her first taste of the bohemian existence, which would come to dominate her life less than a decade later.
After their stay in France, RodrÃguez Lozano and Mondragón moved in with her extended family in San Sebastián, Spain. There, Carmen's brother Manuel ran his own photography studio and her sister-in-law Guadalupe wrote plays. The creativity extended to Carmen and her husband, as they both began painting on a regular basis during the family's exile in Spain. This period commenced a lifelong involvement with art for the pair, who both went on to become notable figures in Mexico's creative community.
Most members of the Mondragón family reestablished themselves in Mexico in 1921, including Carmen and Manuel RodrÃguez Lozano. This year marked a new chapter in Mondragón's life, as she reunited with her home country, liberated herself from marriage and ignited a relationship with one of Mexico's most famed painters.
Upon their return to Mexico, Carmen and Manuel went their separate ways. And although it is not clear whether or not they ever divorced, the couple never lived together again.
It was around this same time that Mondragón encountered the notorious artist and writer Gerardo Murillo, more commonly known as Dr. Atl. The two embarked on a journey of passion and creativity together, albeit in a relationship that was also marred by violence and scandal. Mondragón and Dr. Atl lived together in the ex Convento de la Merced (former Mercy Convent) in Mexico City, where their tempestuous union resulted in a prolific artistic period for both of them. During this time, Mondragón published two works of her poetry entitled Óptica cerebral, poemas dinámicos (Cerebral perspective, dynamic poems) and Calinement je suis dedans (I am tender inside).
Throughout her relationship with Atl, Mondragón also produced a significant number of paintings in her unstudied technique that has since been categorized as in the style of naïf or naive art. Most art critics agree that a concise definition of the naïf genre does not exist, although many point to shared characteristics such as a flattened perspective, the inclusion of vibrant colors, a focus on quotidian themes, and the employment of an instinctual style that flows from an untrained, yet skilled, hand.
Indeed, Mondragón's paintings incorporate all of the elements listed above, although she never labeled herself a naïf artist. Depictions of rural life are wrought out more through the use of color than elaborate detail in Mondragón's works of art. Through her eyes, we are introduced to the traditions, people and landscapes that formed the Mexican pueblos of her era, as well as the friends and lovers that surrounded her, and finally, Mondragón herself. Though many of Mondragón's published paintings are undated, there appears to be a continuity in regard to form and subject matter that spans the entire course of her work. It is a testament to her singular spirit that Mondragón's style remained true to her own inherent manner of painting, despite her exposure to artists such as RodrÃguez Lozano, Atl and others. In fact, Mondragón herself characterized her painting as intuitive.
Among the most powerful of Mondragón's pieces are the ones in which she captured herself on canvas. A striking beauty, her luminous green eyes were the focal point of her face. And in all of Mondragón's self-portraits, those sparkling pools of green take command of the canvas, standing out even against the colorful backdrops of her paintings.
Those enchanting green eyes were not only immortalized by Mondragón, but also by an assorted bevy of painters for whom she modeled in the 1920s, including Roberto Montenegro, Diego Rivera and of course, Dr. Atl. Mondragón's fiery charm was caught on film as well, with the glint of her unabashed sensuality recorded in Edward Weston's portraiture and Antonio Garduño's nude series of her.
With a spirit as fierce as her beauty, Mondragón proved to be a volatile match for Atl and the pair broke up by the mid-1920s. Atl bestowed her with a lasting gift, however, as he christened her with a new name: Nahui Olin. She embraced the pseudonym and thus, it became as much a part of her identity as her birth name.
The name Nahui Olin seems a fitting one for this uninhibited and charismatic woman. . .(Erin Cassin)
The National Museum of Mexican Art in ChicagoJune 22 – September 2, 2007
Nahui Olin: A Woman Beyond Time/Nahui Olin: una mujer fuera del tiempo
This exhibit showcased the artwork of Nahui Olin, a woman of great intellectual and creative capacity. These qualities quickly made her a prominent figure in the
course of a Mexico that was headed toward modernism. These pieces helped the public gain a better understanding of how Nahui Olin opened the roads to freedom for other women artists and allowed them to walk freely and with great dignity throughout the 20th century within Mexico’s cultural scene.
(1893–1978) Olin is one of those fascinating creatures whose life is easily what makes her art compelling. Born Carmen Mondragon, the daughter of a general under DÃaz, she was renamed by painter Dr. Atl (the professional moniker of Gerald Murillo). Mexico City curator and art historian Tomás Zurián became smitten with Olin, of whom there was scant documentation, after coming across a photograph of her in the late 1970s, an arresting close-up taken by Edward Weston in 1924 that showed her fierce beauty. Olin “hated that image,†Zurián says, and demanded that Weston give her the negative. That photo (shown above) is included here, as well as more glam shots like the ones taken at MGM when Olin briefly flirted with the idea of being a Hollywood starlet. But mostly the walls are filled with paintings, many from the 1920s and ’30s, of her favorite topics: sex, herself, sex, folk customs, sex and cats. Olin’s paintings, which have a Naïve flavor, feel rushed, and Zurián says there is a reason for that. “She had to invent a system that permitted her to work with great speed so she would have more time to dedicate to love,†he says. He was only half joking. Olin was more comfortable and open with her sexuality than most people ever are. (Ruth Lopez)
Eran los años veinte, y el México macho se escandaliza ante un grupo de mujeres que, aún sin tener derecho a voto, rompen moldes y convenciones: Tina Modotti, Lupe MarÃn, Lupe Rivas Cacho, Nellie Campobello, MarÃa Dolores Asúnsolo (Dolores del RÃo), Frida Kahlo, Clementina Otero, Antonieta Rivas Mercado. De todas ellas Nahui Olin es la más atrevida, la más libre y rebelde. Pero la sociedad de su época prefiere calificarla como descarada, libertina y perturbada. Nahui prodiga su cuerpo, se retrata desnuda, habla sin prejuicios, rompe esquemas. Y la “gente de moral y buenas costumbresâ€, incapaz de comprender, le dice loca. “En mis medias hay algo que es mi carne, que miran sintiendo placerâ€.
A tono con su magnética inteligencia, publica en 1922 el libro Óptica cerebral, en 1923 Calinement, Je suis dedans y en 1924 A dix ans sur mon pupitre. Aparece en exposiciones colectivas con los más grandes pintores de su tiempo. Pero toda su obra es opacada por su belleza y por los escándalos que protagoniza. “Sé que mi belleza es superior a todas las bellezas que tú pudieras encontrar. Tus sentimientos de esteta los arrastró la belleza de mi cuerpo, el esplendor de mis ojos, la cadencia de mi ritmo al andar, el oro de mi cabellera, la furia de mi sexo, y ninguna otra belleza podrÃa alejarte de mÃâ€.
La musa que inspiró a Edward Weston una de sus mejores fotografÃas, la que posó para Diego Rivera y ofreció la perfección de su cuerpo a la cámara de Antonio Garduño, la gran anfitriona en torno a cuyos ojos y conversación giraba el mundo, empieza a quedarse sola conforme se marchita su belleza. Una beca de Bellas Artes le permite vivir con estrechez pero, decidida a ser independiente incluso de su familia, realiza trabajos modestos para pagarse una vez al mes una comida francesa. El resto del tiempo deambula por la Alameda y por San Juan de Letrán vestida con harapos y rodeada de gatos callejeros. Nadie reconoce en aquella estrafalaria anciana de 85 años a Nahui Olin, la mujer más bella de México durante los años 20. Nadie cita su nombre cuando muere en 1978.
Publicado por Hernando Hernández Pérez
Music:
Nahui Olin es un nombre azteca que designa el poder con que el sol hace girar a los planetas, el movimiento renovador de los ciclos del cosmos. También se conoció con él a Carmen Mondragón (1893-1978), una de aquellas mujeres mexicanas de las primeras décadas del siglo XX que, como Frida Kahlo o Dolores del RÃo, marcaron su época con una huella imborrable. Nacida en una familia de la alta burguesÃa, Carmen desde muy joven empezó a frecuentar los ambientes bohemios de México capital. Entre los muchos creadores que por entonces hacÃan de esta ciudad un centro histórico de primer orden se encontraba el Dr. Atl, un excéntrico pintor quien bautizó a Nahui; juntos vivieron una tórrida historia de amor al margen de las convenciones. La espectacular Nahui Olin -pintora, poeta, musa y modelo- se convirtió asà en un auténtico sÃmbolo de su generación: una figura deslumbrante cuya poderosa belleza aún nos sorprende en los frescos de Diego Rivera o en las fotografÃas de Edward Weston. (Adriana Malvido)
Movies:
La musa ~En 1922, Nahui fue retratada por Diego Rivera. El primer mural que realizó el pintor en México fue La creación, de casi 900 metros, en el anfiteatro BolÃvar de la Escuela Nacional Preparatoria. Nahui representó La PoesÃa Erótica. Más tarde la pintó en los murales DÃa de muertos y La buena mesa de la SecretarÃa de Educación Pública en el Palacio Nacional y en el mural del teatro Insurgentes, donde aparece atendiendo a un enfermo. No sólo los pintores cayeron bajo su embrujo. En 1923, Nahui conoció a los fotógrafos Tina Modotti y Edward Weston; este último realizó los mejores retratos de su carrera con Nahui como modelo. Ella, mientras tanto, se volvÃa a enamorar, ya separada del tremendo Atl; en pareja con el pintor y caricaturista MatÃas Santoyo, partió hacia Hollywood y decidió dejarse fotografiar desnuda. En 1927 organizó, ante la mirada atónita y escandalizada de México, una muestra de sus desnudos para el fotógrafo Antonio Garduño. Pero dos años después, ya estaba fuera de México: se enamoró de un capitán de barco, Eugenio Agacino. Nahui pintó el romance: la pareja en el barco, bailando en la proa del navÃo anclado en Nueva York, desnudos frente a Manhattan, sobre el Atlántico. Durante un viaje, en 1934, Agacino se intoxicó y falleció en Cuba. Ella nunca lo olvidó: hasta su muerte, colgó en su casa una sábana donde habÃa pintado a su amante capitán; dormÃa abrazada a ella. (Mariana Enriquez)
Television:
La loca ~Nahui Olin expuso por última vez en 1945. En los últimos años de su vida, vivió con sus gatos en la casa de la calle General Cano que heredara de sus padres. Amaba especialmente a uno de ellos, Menelik, con el que tenÃa una relación simbiótica. Cuando algunos de sus gatos morÃa, Nahui acudÃa al peletero, y con la piel de los animales hacÃa alfombras.
Andaba por la calle vestida con harapos, y decÃa que era la dueña del sol: cada mañana, lo hacÃa salir con su mirada, y cada noche lo devolvÃa al ocaso. Se convirtió en un personaje triste para todos, menos para ella, que seguÃa orgullosa de su cuerpo y su pasado, e invitaba a los jóvenes poetas a su mansión semiderrumbada para mostrarles su pasada gloria y la de México; con el escaso sueldo que le ofrecÃa el Estado daba de comer a sus animales y de vez en cuando todavÃa se daba un banquete. A su muerte no le dedicaron siquiera un obituario.
...la recuerda el escritor Andrés Henestrosa, que la conoció: “Nahui era de esas personas, como Frida, que se desconocen, que no se encuentran, que no saben quiénes son, que se fotografÃan y autorretratan para verse a sà mismas. Hizo su vida como le dio la gana. Yo le tenÃa miedo. Por su fÃsico, sus tremendos ojos, su mirada. No era una persona normal. Era extrañÃsimaâ€. (Mariana Enriquez)
Books:
En sus cartas a su amante, el Dr. Atl, Nahui escribÃa: “Perfora con tu falo mi carne, perfora mis entrañas, desbarata todo mi ser, bebe toda mi sangre y con la última gota que me quede escribiré esta palabra: te amoâ€.
Heroes:
No hay pintor mexicano importante de la década del 20 que no haya retratado a Nahui Olin. Su nombre no es tan popular como el de Frida Kahlo o el de Tina Modotti pero esta mujer de familia patricia y seudónimo azteca, fue una de las mujeres que revolucionó a México con su talento, su belleza y su valentÃa para ir contra las normas sociales. (Sergio S. Olquin)
Carmen Mondragón, called Nahui Olin, was one of the most breath-takingly beautiful women in Mexico City during the 1920s. A truly celestial creature, sorceress of mirages and visionary dreams, she was deemed an erotic temple where scandal, rebellion, madness, daring mysticism and tragedy flowed together in a magnificent torrent of profound intelligence and passion. The beauty and mystery concentrated in her green eyes forced "mere mortals" to fall prey to their luminosity. (Jorge Reyes)
Nahui Olin, fascinante et vacillante
ADRIENNE NIZET
C’était une belle jeune femme, indépendante et révoltée. Elle posait nue à une époque où c’était une pratique scandaleuse et aimait les hommes autant qu’elle les effrayait. Son père le premier, devant lequel elle avait effrontément dévoilé un sein avant de lui annoncer qu’elle se mariait.
C’est aujourd’hui une vieille folle, qui erre dans les rues de Mexico en regardant le soleil dans les yeux, vendant des cartes postales la montrant telle qu’elle était avant que la vie ne l’amoche. C’est ainsi que le poète Homère Aridjis la rencontre, un jour, par hasard. Stupéfait.
Nahui Olin était presque tombée dans l’oubli. Par la voix du poète, l’Italien Pino Cacucci l’en sort dans ce très beau livre-portrait qui porte son surnom, Nahui. La dame s’appelait en réalité Maria del Carmen Mondragon Valesca.
Fille du général Manuel Mondragon, inventeur d’armes et ministre de la Guerre sous la courte présidence de Victoriano Huerta, elle se marie le 6 août 1913, à l’âge de vingt ans, avec un autre Manuel, un ambitieux cadet du Collège militaire, qui a vu une belle promesse de carrière dans ces noces. Mais le couple ne survit pas aux années d’exil de la famille Mondragon, consécutif à la chute de Huerta, ni au décès de leur enfant, dans des circonstances douteuses. Un deuil qui restera la légende noire de la jeune maman, soupçonnée de l’avoir étouffé.
Mais à son retour au Mexique en 1921, cela n’empêchera pas Carmen de faire tourner des têtes. Elle deviendra Nahui Olin (un surnom qui indique le renouvellement des cycles cosmiques dans le calendrier aztèque) sous le regard du Docteur Atl, artiste violent et caractériel. Avec qui elle entretiendra une relation fusionnelle puis destructrice.
D’autres hommes la verront de près. Dont le peintre Diego Rivera et le photographe Edward Weston. Les lumières d’Hollywood l’attireront ensuite, pour finalement la dégoûter. Et la ramener à la maison familiale, vide. Dans laquelle elle peignait, écrivait et jouait. Mais ce n’est pas ce que l’histoire a retenu d’elle. Ni ce qu’on retiendra du livre.
Son amour pour le capitaine Eugenio Agacino aura raison de son bon sens. L’homme auquel elle se vouera totalement disparaîtra de façon tragique, et si ironique qu’elle ne s’en remettra jamais. Au point de le peindre sur un drap de lit, et de s’en envelopper chaque nuit.
Celle qui disait « j’ai un corps si beau que je ne pourrais jamais priver l’humanité du droit d’admirer cette ,,uvre », ne ressemble plus à grand-chose lorsque nous la découvrons, au début du roman. Pino Cacucci lui fait revivre ses beaux jours. Nous montre une flamme qui s’agite sans cesse et sans but.
Tous ceux qui se sont brûlés à ses côtés sont décrits avec précision. Passé, physique, caractère. Pour chacun, l’auteur fait naître une image. Qui s’anime. Tremblote parfois à la lumière de la flamme. Puis disparaît quand Nahui s’en éloigne. Avant qu’elle ne parte elle-même. Après avoir décidé que le soleil n’a plus besoin d’elle pour se lever.
