Borgia from the "Crime by Cuevas" portfolio

Jose Luis Cuevas

The extraordinarily beautiful Lucrezia Borgia was born in 1480, the illegitimate daughter of Pope Alexander VI. Her brother Cesare, with whom she supposedly had an incestuous relationship, and she plotted and seduced their ways to great power in 16th century. There were rumors of poisoning and murder and much incest amongst her family. Lucrezia Borgia died at age 39 giving birth to her 8th child.

Cesare Borgia, born in 1475 became a Cardinal at age 18 and reportedly had his brother Giovanni, commander of the papal armies murdered. He later became the first person to resign his cardinance in 1498 to become a military man. He was killed in 1507 fighting in Viana, Spain. He had fathered at least 11 illegitimate children. He was immortalized in Machiavelli's "The Prince."

Jose Luis Cuevas was born in Mexico City on February 26, 1934. Cuevas briefly attended the Escuela Nacional de Pintura, Escultura y Grabado 'La Esmeralda in Mexico City and later studied graphic arts at the Institución de Enseñanza Universitaria also in Mexico City.

During the 1950s, Cuevas joined a group of young artists called the "Rupture-Generation", including Juan Soriano, Alberto Gironella, Enrique Echeverri, Pedro Coronel, Manuel Felguerez and Francisco Toledo. This politically-active group became opposed to the socialist artists favored by the Mexican government and rebelled against the official social-content mural art and became active in defining the contemporary artistic panorama of Mexico.

Cuevas’ first exhibition was mounted at the Galera Prisse in Mexico City in 1953. The following year he exhibited at the Pan American Union Building in Washington, DC. Cuevas was subsequently invited to work in various workshops worldwide, including the Tamarind Workshop in Los Angeles, California; and Poligrafa Obra Gráfica in Barcelona in 1981. He also worked at the Kyron Ediciones Gráficas Limitadas Kyron in Mexico City.