Generación de la Ruptura

It began with the criticisms of José Luis Cuevas in the early 1950s, followed by others who thought the established art had become dogmatic, formulaic and nationalistic and the artists too deferential to the government.

[2] Despite the opposition from established artistic and official circles, the young generation of the post-WWII era continued to challenge the status quo.

[5] However, the Mexican government controlled many venues where art could be promoted and it was directly censured by the ruling Partido Revolucionario Institucional party.

Along with José Luis Cuevas, these include Francisco Corzas, Fernando García Ponce, Roger Von Gunten, Edmundo Aquino, Francisco Toledo, Arturo Rivera, Leonora Carrington, Alberto Gironella, Ricardo Martínez, Arnaldo Coen, Lilia Carrillo, Vlady, Manuel Felguérez, Gastón González César,[9][circular reference] Myra Landau, Gilberto Aceves Navarro, Gustavo Arias Murueta, Luis López Loza, Luis Almeida, Peggy Espinosa, Adolfo Falcón, Efraín Herrero, Rafael López Castro, Bernardo Recamier and Pablo Rulfo.

[5][7] The movement had influence in other areas such as literature, with authors such as Octavio Paz, Carlos Fuentes, Juan García Ponce and Jorge Ibargüengoitia.

[10] Prominent members of the movement include José Luis Cuevas, Vicente Rojo Almazan, Francisco Corzas, Roger von Gunten, Alberto Gironella, Vlady, Juan Soriano, Lilia Carrillo, Arnaldo Coen, Pedro Coronel, Enrique Echeverria, Manuel Felguérez, Fernando García Ponce, Brian Nissen, Gabriel Ramírez, Kazuya Sakai and Gustavo Arias Murueta.

Painters who were forerunner to or sympathized with this generation included Carlos Mérida, Rufino Tamayo, Günther Gerzo, Mathias Goeritz, Myra Landau, Wolfgang Paalen.

[citation needed] José Luis Cuevas is considered as the leading artist of the "Ruptura" (Breakaway) as he was an early and very outspoken critic of the social-realist aesthetics of the Mexican muralist tradition.

[10][11] His main critiques focus on how the "Muralists" depict the Mexican social composition and lifestyle and how much their works were actually influenced by then-government patronage.

[10][12] This has earned him the nickname of "l'enfant terrible" ("Bad Boy") of Mexican fine arts[13][14] Pedro Coronel was born in Zacatecas achieving fame in the 1950s.

Mathias Goeritz was born in Germany and although it is recognized as an architect and sculptor, studied at the Bauhaus, his inspiration comes from the drawings and art from other artists.