Luz Jiménez

Mexican model, educator and storyteller (1897–1965)

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Luz Jiménez or Luciana (born Julia Jiménez González; 1897–1965) was an indigenous Mexican model and Nahuatl-language storyteller and linguistic informant from Milpa Alta, D.F.

As a young woman she witnessed the Mexican Revolution, and was present when Emiliano Zapata and his revolutionary army entered Milpa Alta in 1911. Her eyewitness account is one of the only testimonies of Emiliano Zapata speaking Nahuatl. In 1916 most of her male relatives were killed in a massacre by the Carrancistas.

In the 1930s she served as a linguistic informant to linguists working to document the Nahuatl language. Among others she worked with Benjamin Lee Whorf who credits her in his description of Milpa Alta Nahuatl. She also worked as a model for artist Diego Rivera and her portrait can be seen in at least three of his murals, one of them the famous Tlatelolco market scene.

In 1942 she started work as a model at the Escuela Nacional de Pintura, Escultura y Grabado "La Esmeralda" (National School of Painting, Sculpture and Printmaking) in Frida Kahlo's classes.^[1]

In her old age she told her life's story to anthropologist Fernando Horcasitas who published it with the title "Life and Death in Milpa Alta".

As the godparents of her daughter Concha, Jean Charlot and Anita Brenner were her compadres. Luz died in 1965 after being hit by a motorist in Mexico City.

Works in which Jiménez appears

Jiménez as a model appears inter alia in the following works:

Fuente de los Cántaros ("Fountain of the Jugs", by José María Fernández Urbina) in Parque México, Condesa, Mexico City
Diego Rivera:
- La Creación, (1922), San Ildefonso College, then the National Preparatory School^[2]
- La molendera (1926)^[1]
- Weaving (1936) The Art Institute of Chicago
Portrait by photographers Edward Weston and Tina Modotti (1940)^[1]
Drawing of Luz Jiménez (April 1924) by Jean Charlot^[3]

Tribute

On 28 January 2023, Google Doodle celebrated Luz Jiménez’s 126th Birthday.^[4]^[5]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c "Aspectos de la carrera de Luz Jiménez como modelo", El Universal, 1999-11-23
^ "Diego Rivera (1886-1957): La Creación, 1922", Antiguo Colegio de San Ildefonso
^ "1924 Drawing of Luz Jiménez—Jean Charlot".
^ Desk, OV Digital (2023-01-28). "28 January: Remembering Luz Jiménez on Birthday". Observer Voice. Retrieved 2023-01-29.
^ "Luz Jiménez's 126th Birthday". www.google.com. Retrieved 2023-01-29.

Sources

Charlot, John. "Jean Charlot and Luz Jiménez". English original. Published in Spanish as: Charlot, John (2007). "Jean Charlot y Luz Jiménez". Parteaguas: Revista del Instituto Cultural de Aguascalientes. 2 (8): 83–100.
Horcasitas, Fernando, ed. (1972). Life and Death in Milpa Alta: A Nahuatl chronicle of Díaz and Zapata. Narrated by Luz Jiménez. Norman: Oklahoma University Press. ISBN 0-8061-1001-5.
Karttunen, Frances (1994). Between Worlds: Interpreters, Guides, and Survivors. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press.
Karttunen, Frances (1999). "The linguistic career of doña Luz Jiménez". Estudios de Cultura Náhuatl. 30: 267–274.
León-Portilla, Miguel (1978). Los manifiestos en náhuatl de Emiliano Zapata (in Spanish). Cuernavaca, Mex.: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Instituto de Investigaciones Antropológicas. OCLC 4977935.
Luz Jiménez, símbolo de un pueblo milenario, 1897–1965. México, D.F.: Consejo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes, Inst. Nac. de Bellas Artes. 2000. ISBN 970-18-3776-2. OCLC 46321349.