A Survey of Mexican Art

I visited several museums in the last months of 2024, and I did not have a chance to write about them.

First is the Foro Valparaiso, housed in the former colonial mansion of the Counts of Valparaiso.  The building is owned by Banamex (Bank of Mexico) and, like the Palace of Iturbide which is also owned by Banamex, it is a cultural center for art exhibits.  From June of last year through January of this year there has been an excellent show of Mexican art drawing from the collections of Banamex and the Sura Insurance Company.

The exhibit is divided into numerous galleries with different themes.

The first gallery showcases some of the biggest names in 20th century Mexican art.

"Cupboard with Doves"

by María Izquierdo

1954

Maria Izquierdo was the first woman painter from Mexico to have her work exhibited in the United State.

"Portrait of Isola Pineda"

by Frida Kahlo

1929

One of Kahlo's early works

"Arrest"

by Leonora Carrington

1978

Carrington was a British born surrealist artist who lived most of her life in Mexico City.

José Clemente Orozco, Diego Rivera, and David Alfaro Siqueiros are considered the "Big Three" of Mexican mural painting.  However, they also did smaller works.

"War Criminals"

by José Clemente Orozco

1944

"Children Lunching"

by Diego Rivera

1935

"The Handing Out of Toy"

by David Alfaro Siqueiros

1961

Two society matrons are shown handing out Christmas toys to the poor.  But the vast crowd of poor extends to the horizon.

Here we have works by artists who studied at the Academy of San Carlos, Mexico's oldest school of art.

"The Patio of the School of Vizcainas"

by Agustín Ylizaliturri

1874

"The Hacienda of Coapa and the Valley of Mexico"

by José María Velasco

1897

"The Hill of Bells"

by José María Velasco

1868

Velasco is my favorite Mexico landscape painter.

"Self Portrait"

by Saturnino Herrán

1917

Scenes of everyday life

Market scenes

by José Agustín Arrieta

Cosmopolitan and vanguardist art from the early 20th century

"Self Portrait"

by Francisco Goitia

undated

"Women"

by Rufino Tamayo

1930

"Head of a Man"

by Manuel Lozano

1926

"Gushing Springs"

by Joaquín Clausell

1918

Clausell was the leading Mexican impressionist painter.

"Holy Saturday"

by Diego Rivera

1929

Rivera portrays the traditional burning of Judas figures on the day before Easter.

More from this exhibit in the next post.

       

 

Under Renovation

Pisa, Italy, has nothing on Mexico City.  Here there are dozens of colonial buildings tilting at crazy angles as they subside into the spongy soil.  One of the worst is the the Church of Our Lady of Loreto.

The church was begun in 1806 and completed in 1819 just two years before Mexico's War of Independence came to an end.  Thus, it is the last church to be built during the colonial era.  The builders made a serious mistake.  They constructed the church of two different kinds of stone, of two different weights.  By 1832 the church had begun to tilt to the east.

The oversize dome of the church is the largest of any built during the colonial era.

I had previously visited the church a couple of times.  Each time I crossed my fingers that an earthquake did not hit while I was inside.  Church authorities said that the building was in danger of collapsing.  I returned on a recent visit downtown because I had seen a poster touting the government's restoration of buildings in the "Centro Histórico".  One of those listed was the Church of Loreto.

The last time I was in the church there was heavy scaffolding inside the church's nave.  I thought it was to keep the building from caving in, but apparently it was part of the restoration process to stabilize the church.  That is now gone, but there is scaffolding in one of the side chapels.

In spite of its deterioration, the interior, with its massive proportions, has always been impressive.

The dome and the ceiling were once covered with frescos, but most of the paint has flaked off.

I talked with an employee at the stand selling religious items inside the entrance.  He said that the paintings are also going to be restored.  In the dome, the stained glass windows have been replaced.

When restoration work is completed, this could be one of the most impressive churches in a city of innumerable churches.  I look forward to seeing that, although I will probably always feel a bit nervous entering this tilting church.

Swiss for New Year's Eve

I already mentioned that I bought a fondue set as a Christmas gift for Alejandro's family.  On New Year's Eve we got it out of the box to use it for the first time.  It's a nice set with a "lazy Susan" base and five bowls in which to place cubes of bread, or what ever food you are dipping into the pot.

 Alejandro and I have eaten a number of times at a fondue restaurant not far from the apartment.  However, for the rest of the family, this was a new experience.

Alejandro's father tries fondue for the first time.

Along with the fondue, we had "picadillo", a hash made with ground beef, fruit and nuts.  Alejandro's sister made it, and it was very tasty.

The fondue cheese that Alejandro had found at Sam's Club had a bit too much wine for my taste.  I had also bought some vacuum-sealed packages of cheese imported from Switzerland.  We'll use that the next time and see if that tastes better.  It also seems that the bread should be allowed to dry out before using.  The bread we bought was very fresh and soft, and it had a tendency to fall off the skewer into the pot.

Our first attempt was imperfect, but we will try again.  We might try vegetables dipped in cheese, or I might look up a recipe for chocolate fondue.

A New Year... A New Calendar

Every year I have a custom calendar made which features photos that I have taken on my travels.  Each year has had a different theme.  Over the years I have done calendars with photos of Mexico, Spain, Ohio, Switzerland, and Austria.  For 2024 the theme was Mexican art, the year before that paintings from the Cleveland Museum of Art, and before that photos of parks and gardens that I had visited in different countries.

The theme of the 2025 calendar is Mexican archaeology.

The photograph on the cover of the calendar is of the Pyramid of the Magician in the Mayan city of Uxmal in Yucatán.

January's photo is of the Great Pyramid of Cholula.  In terms of volume, it is the largest pyramid in the world.  Although not as tall as the Egyptian pyramid of Khufu at Giza, its base is nearly twice as large.  It was constructed in six stages between the 3rd century B.C. to the 9th century A.D., and it was dedicated to the feathered serpent god Quetzalcoatl.  Although Cholula remains inhabited to this day, the pyramid was eventually abandoned.  By the time the Spanish arrived it was overgrown and looked like a large hill.  In the late 16th century, the Spanish built a church on top of the pyramid.   The pyramid holds personal memories for me.  Fifty years ago, I studied at the University of the Americas in Cholula, and on more than one occasion I would climb the pyramid, sit up there, enjoy the view, and do my class reading.

To all of my readers, best wishes for a happy New Year of 2025!