Students of the Open Air Schools

During the 1920s, the minister of public education created Open-Air Schools throughout Mexico focusing on art education for children, teenagers and later, adults. A number of the students of these schools went on to have successful artistic careers in the 1930s. Fernando Castillo is a quintessential example of this. Aged thirty-three and of modest origins, he enrolled at the Popular Painting Center in San Pablo under the direction of Gabriel Fernandez Ledesma in the late 1920s. Painted during his second year at the Popular Painting Center, The Black Cat is ostensibly a portrait of a boy and his pet. However, the direct gaze and imposing posture of the figures conveys a sense of presence that lends nobility, defies stereotypes and commands the viewer's attention.