Two Brothers

In my last post, I wrote about street murals that had been defaced by graffiti vandals.  I continued walking down Chapultepec Avenue, and I came to a junior high school called "Héroes de Chapultepec".  Along the sidewalk, on the wall surrounding the school, there were mural paintings.  Two of them, side by side, caught my attention.  They appeared to be very new, and thankfully had not been touched by vandals.  They honored two men, one a scientist, the other an artist, who shared the same last names... González Camarena.  (In the Spanish-speaking world people carry two last names.  The first one is the father's family name, and the second is the mother's family name.)  I wondered if these two men, who become famous in two very different professions, were related.  I did a bit of research later on Wikipedia, and, yes indeed, they were brothers.

Guillermo González Camarena was an electrical engineer who invented color television.  (Those of us who are old enough remember that for many years, all television broadcasts were in black and white!)  Although the technology has advanced from his invention, González Camarena's "field-sequential color television system" was used by CBS in its early color programming.  So, we can thank a Mexican scientist for color television.  Sadly, he died at the age of only 48 in a car crash.

Next to that mural is another which honors his brother Jorge.  He was a significant member of the Mexican muralist movement of the 20th century.  One of his early murals was considered immoral by some because it included male and female nude figures.  As a response Jorge promoted the use of nudes in artwork.  His work includes murals in the Palace of Fine Arts and the National Museum of Anthropology.  I will have to make point of looking for them the next time I am in those buildings.