Revolutionary Art

One of the results of the Mexican Revolution of 1910 was a generation of great mural painters who decorated public buildings across the country with paintings extolling the Revolution and the history of Mexico.  Even though their murals tended to be propagandist in theme, these Mexican painters were among the most important artists of the twentieth century.

The most famous and controversial of the muralists was Diego Rivera.  Rivera was an on-again, off-again member of the Communist Party, and the subject matter of his paintings sometimes got him into trouble with his patrons.  (Last year I wrote about the mural he did for Rockefeller Center.  The Rockefellers ended up destroying the painting.) 

Tourists to Mexico are most familiar with the paintings that he did in the National Palace in Mexico City.  Those murals are a vivid pageant of Mexican history, and are less blatantly political in tone.  However, the Palace has been closed to visitors since last autumn.  During one of the rallies protesting the disappearance of 43 students in September, an attempt was made to burn down one of the doors of the Palace.  There is still debate as to whether the perpetrators were a group of anarchists or government infiltrators who were attempting to discredit the protestors.  In any event, the National Palace has been closed until further notice.

Visitors who wish to see Rivera's art may go instead to the Secretariat of Public Education (SEP) just a few blocks away.   In the 1920s the education department set up headquarters in the former "Convento de la Encarnación".  Diego Rivera was commissioned to do a series of murals in the two courtyards.  There are more than 200 panels by Rivera here.

The paintings are beginning to show their age, but art conservationists are at work restoring the murals.

  
The paintings on the first floor deal with the everyday life of the Mexican people... their work and their fiestas... and are not generally political in nature.

 

However, on the third floor of the building, Rivera, filled with the fervor of the recent revolutions in Mexico and in Russia, makes no attempt to hide his political inclinations.  He scathingly portrays the decadence and materialism of the upper class "fat cats"...

  
... and contrasts them with the decency of the common people.

In Rivera's vision of the future, the workers and the peasants will unite...

...and Rivera's wife, Frida Kahlo, a famous artist in her own right, is there handing out weapons in the class struggle of the proletariat.

One can only wonder what Rivera would have to say about his nation in the 21st century.

Pyramids in the City

Because the Spanish razed the Aztec city of Tenochtitlán, and built Mexico City upon its ruins, there is very little left today of Aztec architecture.  However, in the northwestern suburb of Tlalnepantla two Aztec pyramids have survived.  Many years ago I visited these sites with a teaching colleague.  Last Sunday Alejandro and I drove out to Tlalnepantla so that I could revisit them.

First we visited the pyramid of Tenayuca.

Tenayuca was an important settlement in the Valley of Mexico long before the Aztecs arrived in the region.  Its temple pyramid was probably begun around 1300.  Typical of pre-Hispanic Mexico, later pyramids were built on top of it.  Archaeologists have tunneled into the structure and have found that there are six successive layers.  By the time that the third pyramid was built, the Aztecs were in control of the region, and the architecture shows strong Aztec influence.  The subsequent pyramids built on top were all purely Aztec in style.  The latest layer, which is what we see today, was built in 1507.

In the small museum next to the pyramid, there is a model of the pyramid as it may have appeared before the Spanish conquest.  The double staircase leads archaeologists to believe that, like the Templo Mayor in the center of Tenochtitlán, the Tenayuca pyramid was crowned with twin temples.  One would have been dedicated to Tlaloc, the rain god, and the other to Huitzilopochtli, the god of the sun and of war.

 
On three sides of the pyramid are 138 carvings of serpents.  These carvings would have originally been covered with plaster and painted.

Just a mile or two from Tenayuca was the pre-Hispanic town of Acatitlán... today the parish of Santa Cecilia Acatitlán.  Behind the parish church is an amazing sight, a small, but beautifully intact Aztec pyramid.  In truth, the pyramid was reconstructed in 1962, and the temple on top was rebuilt based on what is known of Aztec architecture.  Still, it is marvelous to come upon this pyramid which transports us back to the days before the Conquest.

Visitors are allowed to climb the steep steps of the pyramid.

At the top of the pyramid human sacrifices were performed.  To the left of Alejandro is a sacrificial stone.  (I'm not sure if it is original or a replica.)  The victim would be held by his arms and legs over the stone.  The victim's chest would thus be elevated by the stone, and the priest could cut under the rib cage and remove the heart.   To the right of Alejandro is a figure known as a "chac mool".  (Due to its deteriorated condition, I suspect that it is an original.)  The human heart would have been placed in the bowl of "chac mool" as an offering to the gods.  The carving at the edge of the staircase was a brazier upon which incense would have been burned.

These two sites within the urban sprawl of Mexico City are rarely visited by foreign visitors, but they offer a glimpse into the world of the Aztecs.

The Museum of Popular Arts

On Saturday, after we had visited the San Juan Market, we walked several blocks to the Museum of Popular Arts.  I had been there a couple years ago, but Alejandro had never seen it.

Mexico City boasts a vast number of museums.  Some are huge and spectacular, others are small and of limited interest.  I think the Museum of Popular Arts is perfect, and I would highly recommend it to any visitor to Mexico City.  The museum is small enough that in can be thoroughly seen in a couple of hours or less... but its superb collection showcases the wide variety and brilliance of Mexico's handicrafts and popular arts.

The museum is housed in an art deco building that was originally built as the city's police headquarters.

There are displays of Mexico's beautiful pottery, ceramics and laquer ware...

 and textiles and traditional native apparel.

Masks, worn in traditional dances and celebrations, have been a part of the country's folklore since pre-Hispanic times.

Alejandro strikes a fierce pose in front of the paper mache Judas figures that are traditionally burned the day before Easter.

 
There is a large collection of "catrines", the skeleton images that are so popular around the "Day of the Dead".

In this delightful bullfight scene, everyone... the audience, the matador, and even the bull... are skeletons.

There is a beautiful collection of the elaborate clay figures known as "Trees of Life".

The museum also has a number of "alebrijes", the whimsical animal figures which I wrote about when I was in Oaxaca.  

This exquisitely painted "alebrije" of a serpent was created in the workshop of Jacobo and María Angeles, the workshop that Jane and I visited when we were in Oaxaca.

On the ground floor in the courtyard there were a number of entrants from last year's Parade of Alebrijes, an event which is held annually in Mexico City.

Alejandro was in agreement with me that the Museum of Popular Arts is definitely worth a visit.  It is located on corner of Independencia and Revillagigedo, one block south of the Alameda Park.

A Different Kind of Market

I have visited a number of markets in Mexico City, but on Saturday, Alejandro took me to a market that I had not seen before.  The San Juan Market is located in a somewhat scruffy neighborhood a few blocks to the south of the more touristy area along Juárez Avenue.  At first glance, the market, with its colorful displays of fruits and vegetables looks like any other Mexican marketplace.

But upon closer inspection, one sees that this is not the typical market.  The San Juan Market specializes in exotic foods.  Gourmet chefs come here to find ingredients that they will not find elsewhere.

The pile of young goats in this stall is not extremely exotic for Mexico... but read the sign and see what else this stall has to offer.

They also have venison, wild boar, ostrich, pheasant and crocodile, among other things. Here you can also buy ant larvae,  maguey worms, and grasshoppers!  Yummy!

Want to make a really big omelet?  How about some ostrich eggs?

Other stalls sell Oriental vegetables, unusual herbs and spices, and edible flowers.

Imported cheeses, sausages and other foods are for sale.

There are parts of the San Juan Market which are not for the squeamish, but it is an interesting place to visit.

The Flyers of Papantla

On Friday as I left the Anthropology Museum I heard pre-Hispanic music of a flute and drum.  I followed the music, and a short distance away from the museum I found that the ritual of the "Voladores de Papantla" (Flyers of Papantla) was about to be performed.  This ceremony was praticed throughout pre-Hispanic Mexico, but today it is most associated with the Totonac tribe from the town of Papantla in the state of Veracruz.  

In this ceremony a tall pole, perhaps 100 feet high, is set up.  The five participants climb to a framework at the top of the pole.  One of the five is the musician who plays the flute and drum throughout the ritual.  The other four tie long ropes to their ankles.  They throw themselves from the top of the pole. The ropes unwind, and the flyers swirl around the pole and gradually descend to the ground.

Back to Oaxaca... Sort of

This afternoon I took a two mile walk from my apartment to the National Museum of Anthropology.  I have lost track of how many times I have been to that museum, but it is so large and so outstanding that I always find things of interest that I haven't noticed before. 

Jane and I were in Oaxaca earlier this month and visited several archaeological sites there, so I thought it would be appropriate for me to visit the Oaxaca Hall of the museum in Mexico City.  Usually, when I go to the Anthropology Museum, I am already getting tired by the time I get to the exhibits on the Oaxacan cultures.  This time I decided to start with Oaxaca and take a more thorough look at the objects on display.

The most impressive archaelogical site that we visited in Oaxaca was Monte Albán.  This large mural in the hall shows what the site looked like 1500 years ago when it was the mighty capital of the Zapotec tribe.

  

Showcases are filled with beautiful pieces of Zapotec ceramics and sculpture.

This sculpture combines of the Zapotec rain god and the corn goddess, showing the interconnection between the two.

There is a life-size replica of one of the tombs of Monte Albán just as it looked when archaeologists found it.

I was very interested in seeing the treasures of Zaachila while I was in the Oaxaca Hall.  Jane and I had visited the largely unexcavated site, and our driver told us that archaeologists had discovered a couple tombs there.  All of the contents of the tombs were taken to the Anthropology Museum.  The residents of Zaachila were very upset with this, and have refused to allow archaeologists to return to the site until the tomb treasures are returned to their village. 

The treasures include gold jewelry, jade masks, and pottery.

I can understand why the villagers want their treasures back, although they are probably better taken care of here at Mexico's premier museum.