Federico Canessi

Federico Canessi del Campillo (1905 – 1977) was a Mexican sculptor, and muralist. He is one of the founders of modern figurative sculpture in Mexico.

Biography
Federico Canessi del Campillo was born on September 25, 1905, in Mexico City, Mexico. Canessi studied sculpture at the Academy of San Carlos, and was a student of. In 1924, he received a scholarship and travelled to the United States on behalf of the Mexican government. There he worked in New York City and Chicago, and with the Croatian sculptor Ivan Meštrović.

In 1930, Canessi returned to Mexico, and taught at the Central School of Plastic Arts (Old Academy of San Carlos). He was a founding member of the Academia de Artes (Academy of Arts) in 1968. From 1934 to 1940 he lived in Jiquilpan, Michoacán. He was awarded the Brussels World Grand Prize in 1940.

Canessi created numerous sculptures made of wood, stone, clay, and bronze; including busts, and bas reliefs. In 1934, he worked with sculptor Oliverio Martínez on the Monumento a la Revolución. He carved a monumental stone relief into a rock face, 25 m-high and 240 m-wide at the Nezahualcóyotl Dam in 1964. He collaborated with David Alfaro Siqueiros on the sculpture paintings of the rectory of Ciudad Universitaria, Mexico City.

Canessi died on August 29, 1977.

Works

 * Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla
 * Vicente Lombardo Toledano
 * B. Traven
 * Salvador Allende
 * Lázaro Cárdenas, Arcelia-Ciudad Altamirano highway, in Tierra Caliente, Guerrero
 * Flag Monument, 1940, Iguala; with architect Jorge L. Medellín
 * Monument to Teodoro Larrey, 1950, Puebla
 * Monument to the Hero of Nacozari, 1950, Toluca
 * Monument to the Flag (Monumento a la Bandera Nacional), 1951, Dolores Hidalgo
 * Monument to the Family, 1963, Tlatelolco
 * Man Controlling the Forces of Nature for the Benefit of the Land and Industry, 1964, stone relief at the Nezahualcóyotl Dam