Innovative Mexican artist Ernesto Butterlin, aka Linares, sometimes Ernesto Linares, or more simply “Lin,” had close ties with Ajijic and was active in the 1940s and 1950s. Ernesto’s parents and his two older brothers were all born in Germany and moved to Mexico in 1907, sailing first class aboard the “Fürst Bismarck” of the Hamburg-America line, from Hamburg to Veracruz. The family settled in Guadalajara, but also owned a huerta (orchard) near Ajijic. Ernesto was born in Guadalajara on 4 September 1917.
By the early 1940s, Ernesto, now in his twenties and using the name Linares for his art, is living and painting year-round in Ajijic. American writer Neill James first moved to Ajijic in September 1943 and in an early article about the village described Linares as a “young Mexican abstract painter who is currently showing his works in a traveling exhibition in the USA.” That brief description shows that Ernesto had already achieved some success as an artist, even at this early age.
Linares (Ernesto Butterlin): Untitled; 1949. Reproduced by permission of the owner.
A more detailed description of Ernesto and his work comes from the notebooks kept by Victor Serge, a Russian living in exile in Mexico, who visited Ajijic in December 1944 and stayed over the New Year:
“Ernesto Butterlin reminds me of Pilnyak. Often with lacquer for car bodies, he earnestly makes surrealist or abstract pictures in jumbled lines and lively tones, sometimes decorative. He wants to make money in New York, be someone, and this method worries him, and he genuinely loves art, and he’s full of inhibitions and poses. Big, blond, pince-nez, the untroubled face of a good German.”
“Lin” (Ernesto Butterlin) in his Ajijic studio, ca 1962
Ernesto Butterlin: Untitled, ca 1950. Reproduced by kind permission of Katie Goodridge Ingram
Disappointingly little is known of what became of most of Ernesto Butterlin’s pioneering artworks, and whether any are held in public collections, though both Ernesto and his older brother Otto were among the 28 artists given a joint exhibition in June 1954, in Mexico City, at the Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes’ Salón de la Plástica Mexicana. Other artists whose work was featured on that occasion include Roberto F. Balbuena, Michael Baxte, Leonora Carrinqton, Enrique Climent, José Feher, Elvira Gascón, Gunther Gerzso and Carlos Mérida.
Ernesto Butterlin died in 1964.
This is an outline profile. Contact us if you would like to learn more about this particular artist or have information to share.
Partial list of sources:
- Colony Reporter (Guadalajara), 16 July 1964.
This article was updated on 1 May 2016 to include mention of Ernesto Butterlin’s wife. As always, we would love to receive any comments, corrections or additional information.
Related posts:
- Unraveling the story of Lake Chapala’s artistic Butterlin brothers
- Frederick W. Butterlin (ca 1905-?), photographer
- German-Mexican artist Hanns Otto Butterlin (1900-ca 1960)
Tony Burton’s books include “Lake Chapala: A Postcard History” (2022), “Foreign Footprints in Ajijic” (2022), “If Walls Could Talk: Chapala’s historic buildings and their former occupants” (2020), (available in translation as “Si Las Paredes Hablaran”), “Mexican Kaleidoscope” (2016), and “Lake Chapala Through the Ages” (2008).
4 Responses to “Mexican artist Ernesto Butterlin (1917-1964), aka Linares”
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I have to paintings signed Limares and the years 1929 and 1958 writing below name. They are of country sceneries. Who is this Linares?
There are several artists who signed their work “Linares”. Assuming the subject matter is “realistic countryside”, the two you have are highly unlikely to be by Ernesto Butterlin who was known for his abstracts. The earlier painting is clearly not going to be by him since he would have been only 12 years of age at the time. Sorry not to be of more help, TB.
If interested in selling please contact me , I’m his nephew and don’t have anything of him. As a family value I would like to have something
Thank you
Mónica Señoret
Good afternoon Monique
My family are in possession of 3 signed original Butterlin artworks. We also lived in the Chapala and other surrounding areas
Chula Vista and Ajijic. Would love to connect with you.