Pre-Columbian art
Mexico draws crowds for its vestiges inherited from pre-Columbian civilizations. Mayan and Aztec sculptures and frescoes, made from natural pigments (insects, obsidian, plants and resins), evoke civilizations that remain shrouded in mystery. Recognition of pre-Hispanic art began with the discovery of colossal Olmec heads dating from at least 900 BC. For the Aztecs, the Stone of the Sun, dated to 1479 and carved from a block of lava, provides precious references to their cosmogony. Discovered by chance in 1790, it can now be admired at the National Museum of Anthropology alongside a myriad of other ancient paintings and statues. And while museums are ideal places to contemplate these artifacts, it's also possible to find pre-Columbian works in pre-Hispanic sites such as Teotihuacán, Bonampak, Uxmal or Cacaxtla, to name but a few. The scenes depicted often glorify the gods and the human sacrifices dedicated to them, as well as anthropomorphic figures. This first period of Mexican pictorial art was followed by the artistic influence of the Spanish.
Colonial art
The arrival of the Europeans in the country marked a significant evolution of the codes of the aestheticism of the New World. Baroque art soon developed everywhere in the territory. Churches and monasteries were erected in record time, and their facades, walls and partitions were covered with biblical scenes. New techniques of painting, engraving, coloring and construction were introduced and talented Métis artists, now Christians, specialized in fine arts inspired by the Italian Renaissance. Pictorial representations remained above all an art at the service of religion. At this time, Juan Correa (1646-1716) and the Zapotec painter Miguel Cabrera (1695-1768) are considered the most influential artists of New Spain. The most beautiful examples of monuments from this period are probably the Cathedral of Zacatecas in Mexico City, the Templo Santo Domingo in Oaxaca and the church of the same name in Puebla. It was finally at the dawn of the Mexican revolution that Catholic traditions began to lose influence.
Pictorial revolution
The third period in the history of Mexican painting follows the revolution of 1910. Easel painting was abandoned in favor of murals. This pictorial phenomenon was supported by the government, which financed young artists to decorate the walls and facades of public buildings. Three muralists stood out: Diego Rivera, David Alfaro Siqueiros and José Clemente Orozco.
The emblematic Diego Rivera (1886-1957) trained at the Beaux-Arts in Mexico City and then in Madrid. From 1913 to 1918, Rivera was inspired by Cubism in his classical paintings, but he soon broke with this movement to return to figuration. In 1920, in Italy, he discovered the art of fresco painting, which revolutionized his approach to painting. Back in Mexico, he produced immense murals using traditional pigments from pre-Hispanic times. His first fresco, The Creation, was painted in 1922 for the Escuela Nacional Preparatoria(Antiguo Colegio de San Ildefonso). A prolific painter, Rivera responded to official commissions. Together with José Clemente Orozco, David Alfaro Siqueiros and Rufino Tamayo, he created brightly colored works in a simplified style on vast walls. This convinced Marxist intended to show the people the extent of the ills that were eating away at Mexico. Through their social and political commitment, the muralists helped build a new Mexican identity.
José David Alfaro Siqueiros (1896-1974) was actively involved in the Mexican revolution, and put his work at the service of his political commitments. Unlike other artists of his generation, he remained optimistic about Mexico's future.
Less committed than the latter, José Clemente Orozco (1883-1949) strove to convey the universal condition of man, regardless of frontiers. For Orozco, it was a matter of showing the world the suffering caused by war and all forms of violence. In his dark works, he uses metaphors to protest against war, corruption and injustice.
Around the muralists
Rufino Tamayo (1899-1991) belongs to the second generation of Mexican muralists. It was during a stay in New York that he discovered modern painting and decided to teach this new trend in Mexico City. In his work, the political message fades away in favor of abstract and decorative forms. His painting underlines the difficulty of Mexicans to define their identity.
The fate of Frida Kahlo (1907-1954) is intimately linked to Diego Rivera. A free and modern woman, she was only 18 years old when she met her future husband, Diego, twenty-two years her senior, who encouraged her on her artistic path. From then on, they united their pictorial and political commitment around their attachment to Mexico. They got married in 1929. André Breton described Frida Kahlo's art "like a ribbon around a bomb Despite the attempts of the pope of surrealism, Frida categorically refuses to be assimilated to his group. Famous for her self-portraits, Kahlo is an artist with a recognizable style, reflecting her mixed and complex personality. The Casa Azul (Blue House), or Frida Kahlo Museum, located in downtown Coyoacán, is the painter's birthplace.
The couple's friend and American photographer Lucienne Bloch often immortalized the two artists, together or separately. Of all those who have portrayed Frida Kahlo, Bloch has captured her humor and the solitude of her suffering.
Photographic tradition
Mexico's urban and rural population soon became enthusiastic about photography. Such was the case of Hugo Brehme (1882-1954), who used his daguerreotype to document the traditions and daily lives of Mexicans, by delving into their intimacy. He is notably credited with important portraits of Emiliano Zapata, the main protagonist of the revolution. It was Zapata who inspired Manuel Álvarez Bravo (1902-2002) to take up photography. Self-taught, he invented a genre that combined documentary and imaginary narrative to reflect collective identity. We also think of photographer and activist Tina Modotti, whose work was hailed by the French Surrealists. Her poetic images depict the customs of Mexican women in the early 20th century and highlight the struggle for social change. Following in his footsteps is Pedro Meyer (1935), a pioneer of contemporary photography, who in 1994 created the ZoneZero portal, the first website dedicated to photography. Also on the list of influential image hunters is photojournalist Pedro Valtierra (1955), who witnessed the Central American civil wars of the 1970s-80s and the waves of migration heading for Chiapas. This experience led him to take a keen interest in the situation of ethnic minorities. Finally, there are the famous shots by the brilliant New Yorker Spencer Tunick of over 18,000 people stripping naked in the middle of Mexico City's Zócalo: purism (or modesty?) at its most purist. In a word, the 8th Mexican art seems far more engaged than glamorous, as it exposes the major collective issues of our contemporary history.
Street art
Muralism slowly established itself as a popular art form. In the 1950s, the "Generación de la Ruptura" rejected the values of muralism in favor of new, more cosmopolitan themes. Their aim was to broaden creative freedom and achieve pictorial universality by building bridges with their European counterparts. Of course, urban art is a direct descendant of the first Mexican muralists. Rooted in popular culture, it is anything but a fad. In every Mexican city, it continues to serve everyday reality. Street art exploded in Mexico City between 2010 and 2012. It is now driven by the neo-muralists led by Saner, Cix and Spaik, artists of international renown. Their frescoes draw on the colors and patterns of textiles, handicrafts and local legends. Today, the Roma Norte and Condesa districts are home to the nuggets of urban art. You can enjoy collages by Groenewold, frescoes by Simtheone and the acclaimed Jorge Tellaeche. His dreamlike landscapes, painted in pastel tones around dark faces, are highly sensitive. The artist is involved in charitable associations, in parallel with commissions he carries out for major brand names. In the streets of the city, tributes to women follow one another in every possible form. Messages left by Mexico City native Cristina Maya and top-notch calligrapher Cuatrosiete combine words and images.
Many of the murals are the result of official competitions. For this occasion, the municipality allocates a space to Mexican artists with the mission of raising awareness on essential themes, notably the environment and indigenous peoples. Most of the hundreds of murals created in this way are supported by sponsors, which explains the presence of brand logos inside them.
Contemporary art
The generation of artists born in the 1960s, led by leading contemporary artists such as Gabriel Orozco and Francis Alÿs, has shaken up the Mexican art scene. The country is distinguished by its many artists' collectives, which are very active on the national and international scenes. Their concerns and work may be closely linked to the emergency situation in certain regions of the country, but they also develop more general themes. Finally, in recent years we have witnessed a revival of grafica (engraving, lithography, xylography) in a number of workshops, continuing the legacy of the grafica popular of the 1930s and 1940s, but this time to create works that are more detached from the social struggle that prevailed at the time. In terms of the local scene, Mexico City and Monterrey remain the strongholds of the national market, but the northern border cities (Tijuana, Ciudad Juárez) and Oaxaca have been increasingly active since the 2000s.
At the end of the 1980s, Orozco set up the Taller de los viernes or Friday Workshop, which helped train innovative artists. Among them are Damián Ortega and Abraham Cruzvillegas, who recently exhibited at the Carré d'Art in Nîmes. Subsequently, artists shunned by institutions set up independent spaces. The first, since closed, was Panadería, by Yoshua Okón and Miguel Calderón.
The next generation included Minerva Cuevas, Tania Pérez Córdova, Mario García Torres and Martin Soto Climent, all of whom are present on the international scene. Little by little, the contemporary art market evolved and saw the emergence of Mexican collectors.
One of the galleries that set the tone was Kurimanzutto, founded in Mexico City in 1999 at Orozco's instigation. Run by the couple José Kuri and Mónica Manzutto, it began by representing the artists of the Taller de los viernes. A mix of recognized artists and typically local dynamism.
In addition to galleries, fairs, private museums and alternative venues are multiplying these days. These include Jumex, the Zona Maco fair, which brings together the cream of the galleries, Proyectos Monclova and Labor. The young Parque Galería was set up by two thirty-somethings eager to give a voice to artists who had no say: their star artist Yoshua Okónmais, but also Allen Ruppersberg and Didier Faustino. The Bikini Wax collective symbolizes the formidable energy that has made Mexico City an epicenter of the visual arts. Since 2013, the space run by Cristóbal Gracia has invited artists from all over to take over the premises. The aim? To show art differently. Because in Mexico, all styles flourish!
Popular art
The richness of the indigenous art deserves to be seen for a moment. For those who have never had the chance to see Huichol paintings or sculptures, please consider visiting the Museo de Arte Huichol Wixárika in Guadalajara and the Museo de Arte Popular in Mexico City. If you want to take some works home, we recommend the Mercado de Artesanías or the Yawí Gallery in the capital. One thing is certain, there is nothing like the multicolored and symbolic composition of these psychedelic paintings and sculptures. One thinks, for example, of the work of the painter and embroiderer Emeteria Ríos Martínez (1952-1994), which perfectly evokes the fantastic and mystical vision of this complex art. Huichol (or Wixárikas) art comes from the states of Jalisco, Zacatecas, Nayarit and Durango. According to anthropologists, each work evokes shamanic rites and symbols and allows contact with the gods and the supernatural world. This is why their thread paintings, beaded sculptures and famous alebrijes, small figurines representing imaginary beasts (the latter, however, come from Oaxaca) can be found throughout the country.
