Ixca Farias

When Lifes Love is to Work

by

Ixca Farías, perhaps the most sagacious of don Heraclios five boys, followed in his fathers footsteps as an innovator of men and ideas.
Born in Guadalajara in 1873, Ixca studied at the Art Institute of Chicago and travelled extensively through Europe before finally settling down in his native city to become Jaliscos first 20th century curator.
In 1916, while working as an inspector of the citys artistic and colonial monuments, Ixca became interested in the collections of objects and artwork being held in government buildings like the Hospicio Cabañá, Galerías del Estado, Museo Industrial and others. He travelled to Mexico City and met with Dr. Atl during that time, where together they selected 105 paintings from the Academia de San Carlos, which Farias brought back to Guadalajara. In 1918, he inaugurated the Museum of Fine and Ethnographic Arts (Museo de Bellas Artes y Etnografia), today the Museo Regional de Guadalajara, using pieces from these different institutions. He held the position of Museum Director up until his death in 1948.
Farias also taught art and wrote. Among books he published are: Biografia de Pintores Jalisciences, 1882-1940; and Artes Populares (released in 1938). Years later, Dr. Pedro Rodriguez Lomeli released a collection of correspondence and witty, yet biting, insights by Farias chronicling life during the late 1800s and early 1900s. Titled Casos y Cosas de mis Tiempos: Articulos Costumbristas sober Guadalajara, Ixcas jottings offer an interesting look at the people and history of Jaliscos capital city during the turn of the century.
Farias, who was born Juan Farias y Alvarez del Castillo, changed his name to Ixca at an early age. The word means potter. O

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