Mexican art

Mexican art is the art of the country of Mexico and is produced by the people that call Mexico their home. It represents the rich cultural heritage of Mexico that was formed from its Indigenous roots and influenced by Spanish and European settlers. Since the earliest days of Mexico’s Mesoamerican civilization, art has been an important facet of the daily lives of Mexican people, reflecting their interest in spirituality, nature, and politics. Art forms popular in Mexican art include painting, sculpture, pottery, and architecture. Many traditional works feature geometric designs and bold colors inspired by the natural world.

Mexico has a thriving art scene with many art galleries and museums, and the capital, Mexico City, is considered one of the major art centers of the world. Art museums are some of the city’s most popular attractions, and visitors come from around the world to see in-person galleries that show off the thousands of years of art made by Mexican artists, from the time of the Mesoamerican people to the post-Spanish colonial, independently ruled Mexico.

Background

Mexican art developed as the country of Mexico evolved. The oldest known example of Mexican art is found in cave paintings and rock etchings from about 1800 BCE in Baja, California. The pre-Hispanic-conquest Mesoamerican era is considered the initial period of Mexican art. In general, this art carried religious or political significance. During this time, art was produced by the various Indigenous Mesoamerican peoples, such as the Olmecs, Incans, Mayans, and Aztecs, during a period of about 3,000 years between 1500 BCE and 1500 CE in the area that is modern-day central and southern Mexico.

During the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, the Aztec people, with their capital of Tenochtitlan, dominated Mesoamerica. However, in 1521, the Spanish conquered the Aztec Empire and this forever changed the landscape of Mexican art. Spanish missionaries built churches and converted the Indigenous population to Christianity. Art remained religious in nature and often attached to religious structures, but instead of temples depicting gods and sacrifices, they were churches and monasteries depicting Biblical scenes. The conquest also created the opportunity for Spaniards and other Europeans to immigrate to Mexico and add their artistic element to the new colony.

In the mid-seventeenth century, the Mexican Baroque style came into fashion. Art became much more elaborate and ornamental, featuring gilded details and sculpted or molded relief work. Portraiture painting as well as church-sponsored religious art were also popular during this era.

Casta paintings, which were family portraits that depicted the people of Mexico in their social and racial hierarchy, showed the mix of Spanish and indigenous people in Mexico. Casta paintings continued until 1821 after the Mexican War of Independence when legal categories relating to race were discontinued.

In 1783, the Academy of San Carlos was established, and it became the first art academy and museum in the Americas, making Mexico City a major art center. It trained artists in classical European techniques and eventually became integrated into the National Autonomous University of Mexico. This set the stage for Mexico, like other Spanish colonies, to establish its own cultural identities outside of Spain.

From 1810 to 1821, the Mexican War of Independence was fought, and this further changed Mexican art. The focus shifted from European classical themes to nationalism depicting heroes of the struggle for independence. However, the Academy of San Carlos survived the battle and was reopened after the war and continued to be the most prestigious institute for art education. It was renamed the National Academy of San Carlos, and it focused more on the popular Neoclassical art style since the Eurocentric Mexican Baroque style had come to symbolize colonial Mexico.

The Mexican Revolution (1910–1917), which led to the overthrow of Mexican dictator Porfirio Díaz, further influenced art and shifted the focus back to Mexico’s Indigenous roots with the Mexican Modernist movement. The socialist National Revolutionary Party, which was later renamed the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), held the dominant political power in Mexico from 1929 to 2000. In the early days of its influence, murals became a popular way to spread political messages, and the public art of the Mexican Muralist Movement was born.

Folk art, or artesania, also became more popular in the early to mid-twentieth century, with artists such as Frida Kahlo and Rufino Tamayo challenging the lavish designs and themes of the Mexican muralists. Reflecting the modernist art movements of the time, themes also became more socially poignant and surreal. However, the PRI controlled government sponsored art grants, and they were favorable only to artists who did not challenge the traditional religious or political climate of Mexico.

Many museums celebrating the diversity of art opened in Mexico in the late twentieth century. The Museo de Arte Carrillo Gil (MACG) opened in 1974, the Museo Tamayo de Arte Contemporáneo in 1981, and the National Museum of Art (MUNAL) in 1982. In the 1990s, the political climate changed in Mexico and censorship of art lessened dramatically. Postmodernism art also influenced Mexican artists, and different varieties of media began to be popular in Mexican artwork.

The twenty-first century saw the postmodernist expression of art in Mexico and further interest in preserving the past heritage of Mexican art and encouraging the next generation of Mexican artists. The Museum of Folk Art opened in 2006 and the Museo Universitario Arte Contemporáneo (MUAC) in 2008.

Overview

Almost every Mexican art movement is influenced by the Indigenous cultures of the Mesoamerican peoples who lived in the area that makes up the modern country of Mexico. When the Spanish colonized Mexico in the sixteenth century, they changed the culture and brought to it their artistic influence. Further, nationalistic art and Mexican folk art and handmade crafts emerged after the country gained its independence and established its own identity. Then, contemporary art movements that challenged the traditional views of art further influenced Mexican art to respond.

Mesoamerican prior to 1521

Art was always an important feature in pre-colonial Mexican civilizations. While the art varied somewhat among each ancient people, there were some artistic similarities. Early Mexican civilizations usually created art as an expression of religious devotion or political power. Ceramic pottery was used in making figurines for religious rites throughout the period. Stonework and architecture also thrived during the Mesoamerican period and were closely linked to temples and other ceremonial religious and political use. Writing was also considered by these cultures as a form of art, and symbolically decorated codices on bark paper were made to record significant astronomical events and genealogies.

The Olmecs, whose civilization was most powerful around 1200 BCE, were known for art associated with their hieroglyphic style writing, calendars, astronomy, sculpture, and jade or ceramic fertility ornaments. As with other Mesoamerican peoples, artistic themes related to nature were used in religious and political rites. Small figurines made from ceramic have been found in Tehuacán that date back to the Olmec Empire in 1500 BCE. These likenesses of women were probably used for fertility rites, and figurines of animals and soldiers later became popular. Some were quite large. These ceramics remained a common form of art for about two thousand years and have been found in many places in Central America.

Stone was commonly used in creating sculptures, with most of it being relief work for buildings, such as temples. Although the Olmec people created colossal head sculptures as large as eleven feet high carved out of single boulders, most sculptures by Mesoamerican artists were not large. Many Mesoamerican cultures also created stone ballcourts, and these were closely tied with astronomy and used for ceremonial games. The courts often featured paintings, ornamental stone carvings, and sculptures.

Mayan art often included musical instruments and whistles, along with the production of ceramic figurines used in religious worship and two-dimensional murals on buildings. They made paints for these murals from naturally occurring pigments in plants, minerals, and animal products. Humans were a popular subject of paintings, and they almost always had some indication of social status. Scenes would show people engaging in warfare, political activity, or religious ceremonies. They also may have shown people acting as gods, or just performing daily activities.

Aztecs, like other Mesoamerican peoples before them, focused their art on religious and mystic themes. They carved ceremonial human-sacrifice knives and embellished them with the heads of their gods. They also used sculpture and stone carving to decorate temples and other public buildings with significant symbols and geometric designs inspired by nature and the gods.

Colonial 1521–1821

During the Colonial period following the Spanish conquest, Indigenous stoneworkers and sculptors were compelled to build and decorate Catholic churches, which created a new type of Mexican religious art. European-style architectural church designs decorated with the Virgin Mary, the Christian cross, and angels became now commonplace in many villages. Artists used the new European styles, but familiar native motifs, such as corn, pineapples, and cacao, still found their way into borders and backgrounds. The Aztecs were known for their red and orange clay earthenware, and when the Spanish arrived bringing their traditional designs influenced by Moorish art, this eventually led to the fusion of Mesoamerican and Spanish designs of brightly colored and nature-inspired geometric designs of ceramic tiles, jugs, and pots.

Feather art, which was intricate decoration made with feathers by Indigenous people, was considered by the Spanish as very impressive and became prized. Mosaics of Christian religious scenes decorated churches and monasteries and religious vestments were adorned with feather-work trimming. However, by the seventeenth century, it declined as many of the older Indigenous masters had died off along with a decline in the bird populations that provided the feathers.

Pictorial manuscripts and paintings made by Indigenous artists also remained popular throughout the colonial period. Scribes and artists were used to depict religious scenes and historical events, such as the Spanish conquest of the Aztecs in the Lienzo de Tlaxcala manuscript and Juan Gerson’s mid-sixteenth-century Biblical paintings in the vault of the Franciscan church in Tecamachalco.

Other colonial Mexican artists were born in Spain and came to Mexico, and many of the early artists were religious leaders, such as Friar Alonso López de Herrera. Some were born in Mexico but trained in classical European art techniques, such as the Baroque style. Mexican Baroque painters, such as Sebastián López de Arteaga, focused on realistic colors, proportions, and spatial relationships. Painted folding screens inspired by those found in Asia also became popular as a symbol of the upper social class. They featured a range of scenes, from historical to imaginary events, and Juan Correa was a popular screen artist.

As art flourished, colonial artists worked in guilds that closely governed style and technique, thus preserving styles even after they were no longer fashionable in Europe. The Academy of San Carlos further trained artists of the late eighteenth century in European techniques. Many of these colonial Mexican artists’ works can be viewed in museums in Mexico City.

Independence 1821–1910

After the Mexican War of Independence was won in 1821, European style, especially Neoclassicalism remained popular. The new government commissioned fresh artwork and politician portraits, and many of the artists chosen for this were Indigenous. Also, in an attempt to separate themselves from colonial rule, Mexicans began to prefer depictions of historical native scenes and figures to celebrate their Indigenous heritage.

The Romantic style also became popular in the early nineteenth century when Romantic artist Johann Moritz Rugendas moved to Mexico in 1831. Other Mexican Romantic-inspired artists called costumbristas, such as Agustín Arrieta from Puebla, painted brightly colored Mexican scenery, which was well-received in the post-colonial nationalistic climate.

Modern Post-Revolution 1910–1990

After the Mexican Revolution, art themes returned to Mexico’s Indigenous heritage and political muralism became popular. Politician José Vasconcelos commissioned well-known painters trained at the San Carlos Academy, such as Fernando Leal, Fermín Revueltas, David Alfaro Siqueiros, and Diego Rivera, in the early 1920s to paint murals on public buildings that had a positive view of the post-revolution government. These art installations, which reached their height of popularity in the 1930s, helped to define the Mexican people’s unique identity, which was a combination of Indigenous and Spanish culture.

The wife of Diego Rivera, Frieda Kahlo, also became one of the most important artists of the Mexican Modernist School. Her artistic emphasis was on folk and feminist art, showing the Mexican culture in bold colors and unpretentious, and often surreal, designs. Her artwork, especially her self-portraits, were largely unknown during her lifetime, but after she died in 1954, her popularity grew. Eventually, she became known as one of the most influential artists of the twentieth century.

The Mexican folk-art trend continued as self-taught artists used the natural resources readily found in Mexico, such as clay, metal, wood, stones, and bold plant pigments. For example, sugar skulls and masks used as decorations for the Day of the Dead celebration are handmade by folk artists and have become iconic symbols of Mexican festivities and culture.

The Rupturists also sought to break away from the predictable, formal, and nationalist muralist movement. Rupturist artists focused on personal expression and exploration of new movements of art in the modern art world. Fighting the censorship of the PRI, these artists paved the way for more controversial postmodern art movements to follow in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. Popular Rupturist artists include José Luis Cuevas, Francisco Corzas, Remedio Varos, Pedro Coronel, Lilia Carrillo, and Gustavo Arias Murueta. Following this movement other modernist art movements built on the foundation of change, such as Los Grupos conceptual protest art, the surreal art of Neomexicanismo, and the ancestral imagery of the Mexican-American Chicano artists.

During the twentieth century, photography and cinema were also introduced to the people of Mexico. In the early twentieth century, the Mexican Revolution had been documented for historical purposes on film. As the golden age of Hollywood cinema dawned in the United States, films became popular as well in Mexico. In the 1940s, Cantinflas was a popular actor, similar to Charlie Chaplin, and Mexican traditional dancing often was prominently featured in films. However, as filmmaking progressed in the mid-twentieth century, films that focused on sensitive social issues often faced stiff censorship from the government, and Mexico struggled to keep up with competition from the United States.

Postmodern 1990 and beyond

Postmodern contemporary art contradicted Modernism’s more traditional values and encouraged more experimentation with new forms of art, innovative types of media, and different ways of experiencing art. Gabriel Orozco, one of the well-known postmodern Mexican artists, uses multiple forms of media and creates installations with everyday objects that challenge observers to create their own definition of art.

In the 1990s, Mexican cinema had a revival and New Mexican Cinema introduced a new generation of actors and actresses. Since the beginning of the twenty-first century, Mexico City has become the fourth largest producer of film and television globally. The Guadalajara International Film Festival, held in Guadalajara, Mexico, is one of the most prestigious Latin American film festivals, and it introduces independent Latin films each year to audiences.

In the twenty-first century Mexico City has been lauded as an art hub, and a global center for creativity. Prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Zona Maco festival had grown to be the largest art fair in Latin America. After the pandemic, the city continued to focus on art and growing its reputation as an international art hub and hot spot.

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