Alfredo Guati Rojo

Alfredo Guati Rojo Cárdenas (December 1, 1918 – June 10, 2003) was a 20th-century Mexican artist who worked to restore the reputation of watercolor painting as a true art form. His preference for the technique came from seeing Diego Rivera’s work and helping with a fresco mural in his hometown of Cuernavaca as a child. When he was 16, he went to Mexico City to study law, but switched to art. He learned the various classic art techniques but kept his preference for watercolor. His career began by teaching art, founding an art institute in the Colonia Roma section of Mexico City. In the 1950s, he tried to get the area's art galleries to show watercolors but they refused, considering it to be a minor art form. He began to host exhibitions of watercolor works at his art institute with success which led to the formation of the Museo Nacional de la Acuarela or National Watercolor Museum in the 1960s. The museum remained in Colonia Roma until the 1985 Mexico City earthquake destroyed the building and led to its relocation to the Coyoacán borough, where it remains. During this time, Guati Rojo also had a career showing and selling his own artwork, almost exclusively watercolors, in various parts of the world. Most of his income from this painting went to support the museum.