Adolfo "Fito" Best Maugard
Born	June 11, 1891(1891-06-11) Mexico City
Died	August 25, 1964 (aged 73) Athens
Nationality	Mexican
Field	painting
Training	Europe, United States
Works	caricatures

Adolfo Best Maugard also known as Fito Best (b. June 11, 1891 – d. August 25, 1964^[1]) was a Mexican painter, film director and screenwriter.

[edit] Life

In his early life Best made some detailed illustrations of prehispanic excavation findings in the Valley of Mexico for Franz Boas.^[2] He completed his art studies in Europe where he met Diego Rivera for his first time, of whom he was portrayed in 1913. This oil painted portray belongs to the current collection of the Museo Nacional de Arte^[3]

In 1914 he removed to Mexico where he taught at the upcoming open air painting schools. He faced up to the Mexican folk art and added modern and rational stylistic elements to his paintings, which are often including figurative caricatures. In the middle of the year 1919 he continued his studies in the United States and returned to Mexico in 1920. At the Secretariat of Public Education he was director of the department for art education between 1921 and 1924. His drawing methods found their way into art education at Mexican schools in 1922 and over 200,000 pupils got his drawing manual "Manuales y Tratados: Metodo de dibujo: tradition, resurgimiento y evolucion del arte mexicano" in 1923. Also he wrote some books of art history in this years. In 1931 he was commissioned by the Mexican government to assist Sergei Eisenstein at filming "¡Qué viva México!" whereby he got influence on Russian cinematics. In 1932 Best got member of the Consejo de Bellas Artes (Council of Fine Arts) as well as a member of the Consejo de Asuntos Culturales (Council of Cultural Affairs) in the Distrito Federal de México. Also he was a member of the Society of Geography and Statistics (Sociedad de Geografía y Estadística) and of the Mexican Union of Film Directors. In 1933 he was representative of the department of fine arts of the council for primary education. From 1932 to 1935 he worked in the marketing branch of the National Lottery for Public Benefits. In 1933 he directed the filming of "Humanidad" (Humanity) and in 1937 at "La Mancha de Sangre" (The blood spot) based on his own script, which was performed first in June 1943.

Best was a good friend of Rosa and Miguel Covarrubias and had several contacts to artist and poetry groups in the United States^[4]

[edit] External links

• Adolfo Best-Maugard at the Internet Movie Database

[edit] References