Image Courtesy: Google Doodle
Luz Jiménez (28 January 1897 – 11 August 1956) was an Indigenous Mexican model and Nahuatl-language linguistic informant, Luz Jiménez. Known as la mujer más pintada de México (the most painted woman of Mexico), Luz is depicted in countless works by Mexican artists of the early 20th century.
Life and Career
Julia Jiménez González was born on 28 January 1897 to a Nahua family in Milpa Alta.
As the Mexican Revolution reached Luz’s village in 1916, the Carrancistas massacred most of her male relatives. At the age of 19, Luz fled her hometown with her mother and sisters to Mexico City.
In Mexico City, Luz got involved in the art scene as a model for photographers, painters, art students, and sculptors. Although her image appeared in murals and monuments throughout the city, Luz remained relatively unknown and poor.
During modeling sessions, Luz taught the painters and muralists her native language, Nahuatl. Consequently, the artists infused their own style with Luz’s Indigenous authenticity. She served as a linguistic informant during the 1930s and delivered lectures on her culture and language. She left behind many writings, including a children’s book and firsthand accounts of the Mexican Revolution, but only two of them were signed by her, both in the Nahuatl newspaper Mexihkatl Itonalama.
Award and Legacy
Today, Luz is remembered through the books she authored, including De Porfirio Díaz a Zapata: Memoria náhuatl de Milpa Alta (Life and Death in Milpa Alta: A Nahuatl Chronicle of Diaz and Zapata) and Los Cuentos en Náhuatl de Doña Luz Jiménez (The Tales in Nahuatl of Doña Luz Jiménez). Several sculptures and murals in Mexico City remain adorned with her image, including La Creación (Creation), Fuente de los Cántaros (Fountain of the Jugs), and Cortés y la Malinche (Cortez and Malinche).
On 28 January 2023, Google Doodle celebrated Luz Jiménez’s 126th Birthday.