Arturo García Bustos (August 8, 1926 – April 7, 2017) was a Mexican painter and print maker. He is known as one of “Los Fridos” students who studied under Frida Kahlo at her home in Coyoacán.
Life
thumb|left|Video interview (in Spanish) with the artist done by students of [[Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education, Mexico City|Tec de Monterrey, Mexico City campus ]]
Arturo García Bustos was born in Mexico City, near the Zócalo. He grew up during the time when Mexican muralism was dominant, which drew him to art. After attending high school at the Escuela Nacional Preparatoria Núm 1, specializing in architecture, he entered the Escuela Nacional de Artes Plásticas in 1941, at age fifteen. During his career he studied printmaking as well, including courses in printmaking with Korean artist Wan Jon Ja in Pyongyang and Chinese printing in Beijing in 1957. He married her in 1949.
The couple were married for over 60 years until Arturo died. They lived in the Coyoacán borough of Mexico City in a colonial house called Casa Colorada, on Calle de Vallarta in the La Conchita neighborhood. Their home is said to be a residence of La Malinche. It was later a monastery, prison and hospital. After living there for more than forty years, in 2006, they opened part of it on the ground floor to house the Galería de la Casa Colorado. This gallery is run by the couple's only daughter, Rina García Lazo, who is an architect specializing in the restoration of monuments.
Bustos died in Mexico City on April 7, 2017. His last exhibition took place at Universidad Iberoamericana. This was a cooperative display by him and his wife, and was mounted by alumni from the Art History major.
[[File:García_Bustos_at_his_last_exhibition_in_Universidad_Iberoamericana_-_Poesía_Necesaria.jpg|thumb|On the top row, from left to right: missing information, Valentina Kelly, Cecilia Castillo, Arturo García Bustos, Arturo's wife Rina Lazo, Dina Comisarenco Mirkin and Guadalupe Falcón.
On the bottom row, from left to right: Juan Pablo Aguilar, Celeste Garduño, Daniela Barraza, Elsy Carabarin and Regina González.
Celeste, Daniela, Cecilia and Valentina were the students in charge of mounting García's and Lazo's artworks around the exhibition room.
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Career
García Bustos career began as one of four students who went to Coyoacán to study under Frida Kahlo in the Coyoacán section of Mexico City. These students became known as Los Fridos. He worked as an apprentice in mural painting with Diego Rivera and initially learned engraving and lithography working at the Taller de Gráfica Popular with Leopoldo Méndez. In 1958, he collaborated with graphic designer Miguel Prieto at the Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes.
While he was better known for his graphic work, he also did a number of murals. In 1947 he assisted Frida Kahlo with a mural at the Josefa Ortiz de Domínguez House in Coyoacán. Other projects include a fresco the Hotel Posada del Sol in Mexico City (1948), a fresco depicting Zapata at the Escuela Rural de Temixco, Morelos (1950), a series of seven murals at the Sociedad Cooperativa Ejidal, with Rina Lazo and Atilio Carrasco (1952), a fresco called Pobledores de las Siete Regiones de Oaxaca at the Museo Nacional de Antropología (1964), A series of sixteen print murals to decorate the Venustiano Carranza House Museum in Cuatro Ciénegas, Coahuila (1969), A series of nine panels for the Casa de Obrero Mundial in Mexico City (1971), Oaxaca en la historia y en el mito at the state government building in the city of Oaxaca (1980), and a mural at the cultural center of Azcapotzalco, Mexico City.