Mexican artist who was one of the first to challenge the then dominant Mexican muralism movement as a prominent member of the Generación de la Ruptura (Breakaway Generation). Within a career that spanned over seventy years, Cuevas was a painter, writer, draftsman, engraver, illustrator and printmaker. He was a mostly self-taught artist, whose styles and influences are moored to the darker side of life, often depicting distorted figures and the debasement of humanity.
He had remained a controversial figure throughout his career, not only for his often shocking images, but also for his opposition to writers and artists whom he considered corrupt or motivated only by money. In 1992, the José Luis Cuevas Museum was opened in the historic centre of Mexico City holding most of his work and his personal art collection.
He married twice and had three daughters. Despite being married, he gained a reputation as a womanizer, nicknamed “gato macho” (male cat) or seducer of women, which he took advantage of to promote himself. In a Mexico City newspaper column written by him, he claimed he had over 650 erotic encounters.
Despite his predictions that he would live beyond a hundred years because various tarot readings had told him so, Cuevas died on 3 July 2017 in Mexico City at the age of 86.
Link to Wikipedia biography