Mexican artist’s model, painter and poet, whose beauty was described as mesmerizing and erotic. Her nickname “Nahui Olin”, a symbol of Aztec renewal meaning “four movement”, the symbol of earthquakes, was bestowed upon her by Gerald Murillo, also known as Dr Atl, with whom she had an intense love relationship. Especially known for being depicted nude by various artists, apparently she also crossed sexual boundaries as the first woman in Catholic Mexico to wear a miniskirt. Her poetic works include Óptica cerebral, poemas dinámicos (1922) and Calinement je suis dedans (1923), and she finished several naïve paintings, and composed, yet her popularity was due more to her beauty than to her artistic and literary work.
She was the fifth of eight children of General Manuel Mondragón, Secretario de Guerra y Marina in 1913 and inventor of the Mondragón rifle. Carmen Mondragón received a privileged education in Mexico, and afterwards from 1897 to 1905 in France, learning to speak French fluently. The professional activities of General Mondragón, who specialized in artillery design, led the family to Spain in 1905, where she met cadet Manuel Rodríguez Lozano, whom she married on 6 August 1913. Although General Mondragón went into exile to Belgium after the occurrences of the Decena Trágica, Carmen Mondragón moved to Paris with her husband, where they met Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse and Jean Cocteau. Afterwards they moved to San Sebastián, Spain, where Carmen’s brother Manuel ran a photo studio. In San Sebastián, both started painting.
In 1921, both returned to Mexico, where they went separate ways. Whether they were ever divorced is unknown. Carmen Mondragón turned towards the artists’ scene of Mexico City, got contacts with José Vasconcelos and Xavier Villaurrutia, and was interested in the Teatro Ulises movement.
She became the model of several notable painters and photographers, among others posing for some of Diego Rivera’s murals, for Tina Modotti, Antonio Garduño, Roberto Montenegro, Matías Santoyo, Edward Weston and in 1928 for Ignácio Rosas at the Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes.
She had multiple sexual affairs then stepped out of public life in the 1940s. She died on 23 January 1978, aged 84, in Mexico City. As in Frida Kahlo’s case, interest in her life increased after her death. Carmen Mondragón was one of the talented and revolutionary women who influenced 1920s-1930s Mexico through their activism and creativity. Others included Guadalupe Marín, Antonieta Rivas Mercado, Frida Kahlo, Tina Modotti, Lupe Vélez and María Izquierdo.

Link to Wikipedia biography