Gabriel Fernández Ledesma (May 30, 1900 - August 26, 1983)
was a Mexican painter, printmaker, sculptor, graphic artist, writer and teacher. He began his career working with artist Roberto Montenegro then moved into publishing and education. 

His work was recognized with two Guggenheim Fellowships, the José Guadalupe Posada medal and membership in the Salón de la Plástica Mexicana.
Most of the rest of Fernández Ledesma’s career was related to publishing and education. In 1924, again with Montenegro, he illustrated an edifying book of Lecturas clásicas para niños and contributed to the El Maestro magazine and began a printing workshop to promote the development of engraving in Mexico In 1926, he started a magazine called Forma, sponsored by the government about fine arts in Mexico, remaining as its editor for several years.

 In the 1920s, he also worked as an illustrator for the weekly magazine El Universal Ilustrado. In 1935, he became head of the editorial offices at the Secretará de Educación Pública. Fernández Ledesma edited and published several books on Mexican popular art, including Juguetes Mexicanos, published in 1929.
His relationship with art education began in 1925, as a drawing teacher with the Secretaría de Educación Pública and, then in 1926 at the Centro de Arte Popular. After rejecting the director’s position at one of the Escuelas de Pintura al Aire Libre, Fernández Ledesma, his brothers and Guillermo Ruiz decided to create the Escuela de Escultura y Talla Directo a school for sculpture and carving. The school challenged the idea of art for art’s sake, focusing on handcrafts and popular art, and teaching workers and children. In 1928, he was one of the founding member of the "¡30-30!" movement along with Fernando Leal and Ramón Alva de Canal. This group was noted for its hostility to academia, trying to change how art students were taught, and its conviction that art should have a social purpose above all else.

Fernández Ledesma also organized exhibition of Mexican art abroad. In 1929, he was sent to Spain, in charge of an exhibition of work from students at the Escuelas de Pintura al Aire Libre and the Centro de Arte Popular to the Ibero-American Exposition of 1929 in Seville . In 1940, he and Miguel Covarrubias prepared an exhibition called 20 Centuries of Mexican Art which was shown in New York.

Adolfo Cantú

CYDT Collection