Mexico Modern: Art, Commerce, and Cultural Exchange 1920-45

Though Mexico and the U.S. may not have had the most amicable relationship throughout history, one positive cultural phenomenon that came out of their contentious relationship was the emergence of modern Mexican art. 

The upcoming exhibition “Mexico Modern: Art, Commerce, and Cultural Exchange, 1920–1945” at The University of Texas at Austin not only reveals the cultural exchange between Mexico and the U.S, but also exhibits how Mexican art and design gained international attention. Curators of the exhibit explain that “the exhibition demonstrates how, in the 1920s and 1930s, Mexican art that was initially received as avant-garde gained mainstream acceptance.”

Though a variety of over 200 books, articles, paintings, photographs, jewelry ,and decorative arts, the exhibition “highlights the important history of 20th-century art… and how both countries instigated a cultural phenomenon by creating and promoting art that pioneered a synthesis of indigenous traditions and international aesthetics,” explained the curators. 

Among the vast array of artists in this exhibit are painters Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo, José Clemente Orozco, David Alfaro Siqueiros and Jean Charlot. Many of these artist have traveled back and forth between the two nations are an important part of Mexico's historical narrative.

The exhibition is on display from Sept. 11 through Jan. 1 in the Harry Ransom Center at The University of Texas at Austin.