The Newark Museum, Newark, New Jersey



April 28 - November 25, 2007

During early decades of the 20th century, Americans eagerly traveled to Mexico to discover their culturally distinct neighbor “south of the border.” During their sojourns, Americans were especially taken by Mexico’s unique and diverse craft traditions—from painted earthenware pottery, to glazed majolica, lacquer ware and textiles. To them, these objects—referred to in Mexico as popular arts—embodied their vision of Mexico as a rural, largely indigenous and pre-modern culture. Mexicana: Discovering Mexican Popular Arts, 1919-1950 presents objects and textiles, drawn from The Newark Museum’s own permanent collection, which captured American interest and explores the larger cultural context that fed the craze for things Mexican.

Interest in Mexican popular arts was fueled by many sources. In Mexico, the cultural nationalism preceding and following the Mexican Revolution (1910-1920), led many artists and intellectuals to promote crafts as the true embodiment of Mexican creativity and indigenous artistic heritage. For them, Mexico had a rich indigenous heritage, especially visible in the nation’s numerous regional craft traditions. Following the lead of their Mexican colleagues, Americans undoubtedly admired the beauty of Mexican popular arts, which they perceived grew out of a traditional and simpler society vastly different than the industrial United States. Their enthusiasm was not without critics, who believed the vogue for Mexican culture catered to tourists hungry for exotic or picturesque diversions.

This exhibition offers a critical view of The Newark Museum’s little known, yet significant Mexican popular art collection acquired or donated between 1919 and 1950, during a highpoint of interest in Mexico. Mexicana offers both insights into how museum collections reflect larger cultural trends and introduces Mexico’s varied and rich artistic traditions to new audiences.

E. Carmen Ramos|
Assistant Curator for Cultural Engagement


The Newark Museum’s little known, but significant, collection of Mexican crafts is the focus of Mexicana: Discovering Mexican Popular Arts, 1919-1950. Mexicana offers a critical view of The Newark Museum’s Mexican popular art collection by exploring the larger cultural context that fed the vogue for things Mexican, all the rage in the first half of the 20th century in the United States. Mexicana is by a related ”pop” inspired collaboration between the Museum and Aljira, a Center for Contemporary Art.

The institutions are located within a short walk of one another in the Downtown Newark Arts District. The exhibition at The Newark Museum will be on view through November 25. The Aljira exhibition closes June 30. Both exhibitions were curated by E. Carmen Ramos, Assistant Curator for Cultural Engagement at The Newark Museum.

The Newark Museum exhibit presents more than 100 objects -- the majority on view for the first time -- that were largely acquired by or donated to the Museum between 1919 and 1950 during a high point of American interest in Mexican art. To convey the important role artists played in the reevaluation of Mexican popular art, Mexicana includes several loan works by Mexican and American artists Miguel Covarrubias, Adolfo Best Maugard, Edward Weston and Tina Modotti, among others.

Concurrently, Aljira opens A Mexican Museum of Modern Art, an installation by acclaimed contemporary artist Franco Mondini-Ruiz. Marking his New Jersey premiere, Mondini-Ruiz, was invited to reflect on a time when Americans both admired and distorted Mexican culture. In response, Mondini-Ruiz commissioned piñata makers in his hometown of San Antonio, Texas, to copy masterpieces of modern and contemporary art – from Mondrian to Warhol.


Media Contacts:

- Aljira -
Sam Larson
973 622-1600
info@aljira.org
www.aljira.org

- The Newark Museum -
Lorraine McConnell
973-596-6638
lmcconnell@newarkmuseum.org

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The Newark Museum
49 Washington Street
Newark, New Jersey 07102
Tel:(973) 596-6550
www.newarkmuseum.org