Founder of the National Museum of Fine Arts, cultural promoter and researcher, Fernando Gamboa conceived museography as an art, rather than as the act of exhibiting pieces. I remember him as a man of light and shade who was both loved and hated in the cultural world. However, respect for his work was something that always earned him the adjectives of passionate, visionary and categorical.
The adventures of the prestigious specialist both in Mexico and abroad to spread the artistic legacy of the nation were legendary. He was a man who, as I mentioned, was both esteemed and hated in the visual arts world for his critical attitude and his vision that often hurt sensibilities.
During the breakaway movement, there were even artists who printed posters attacking it. I still remember a poster in a museum that said: Here Gamboa and his little snakes exhibit.
However, Gamboa’s passion for art gave our country great prestige in the world. We only have to remember that he gave design an entrance into the Mexican exhibition circuit.
Many aspiring museographers complained that he did not teach courses on his specialty. He said that a museum, like a theatre, is a space for representation, where the main symbols of our country should be displayed.
Many people remember his time at the Museum of Modern Art as a treasure chest of secrets that kept formidable projects in complete silence. Among them, the creation of the Rufino Tamayo Museum.
I remember that when the aforementioned facility was inaugurated, he lasted 17 days in the position of director, due to problems with the painter’s heirs, which confined him to his house for two years, until Fernando Solana recommended him to direct the Fomento Cultural Banamex collection.
Since 1983, he has held more than 24 exhibitions at the Palacio de Iturbide, in addition to a traveling program with more than 100 shows in the states of the Mexican Republic.
Since the mid-20th century, Gamboa has been known for bringing abroad the best artistic examples of Mexico’s greatness in the pre-Hispanic world.
But he did not bring small pieces, his vision was on a grand scale, he showed large-scale creations, monuments weighing hundreds of tons, which of course were a success in Europe. Just to mention the famous Olmec head that he brought to the old continent in the mid-sixties, using the rudimentary museum methods of the time.
Gamboa believed that one of the main purposes of a museum was to reach out to the public, as well as to be an active participant in the life of the nation.
Regardless of the esteem in which he was held by museum professionals in Mexico, his work motivated people to explore new areas and conceive an international vision of the importance of art for our nation.
He also firmly believed in the use of documents as a historical and bibliographical support, which is why he is also remembered in the media as the great creator of beautiful exhibition catalogues. He knew that installations and exhibitions are ephemeral and that is why he was very careful with documentation, and he also took care to take photographs and to present future researchers with a broad frame of reference for his work.
Gamboa lived in a time when the organization of exhibitions was also a political issue, becoming a guardian of Mexico’s image in cultural matters. He was undoubtedly the czar of museums in our country. He had networks and groups of collaborators everywhere. During the founding six-year period of the INBA, in 1942, he became the key man in hierarchizing the artists who should be promoted.
Few people also remember that he was a man of the cultural system who was responsible for the classification of the four greats: Rivera, Siqueiros, Orozco and Tamayo. For this reason, the new generations should know more about his work. We are going to motivate the young people to do so. I leave them a kiss.