The links between surrealism and Mexican artists have been widely explored in the literature, particularly in the context of the visits of leading French surrealists like André Breton and Antonin Artaud to Mexico in the 1930s. Despite an abundance of scholarship on this issue, however, little work has been done on Mexico's first and foremost public event dedicated to surrealist art-the International Exhibition of Surrealism held in Mexico City in 1940. Using archival materials, press reviews, and photographs, this article provides a comprehensive overview of the exhibition, an analysis of its conceptual underpinnings, and an outline of its critical reception, as well as a discussion of its generative and multifaceted role for Mexican art and its institutions. In particular, we analyze the extent to which the organizers drew upon previous European exhibition discourses and display techniques, and how these practices were adapted for a Mexican audience and the context of the Mexican art scene in 1940. We emphasize the artistic dialogue and discrepancies between Mexican and international artists that led to, and were reinforced by, the exhibition. The exhibition was organized by the Peruvian poet and painter César Moro and the Austrian artist Wolfgang Paalen, at that time enthusiastic surrealists close to Breton's inner circle. It opened on 17 January 1940 at the Galería de Arte Mexicano (GAM), which by virtue of this exhibition became the preeminent private art gallery in Mexico City. The exhibition notably featured two sections: one focused on international artists and the other on Mexican artists. In our analysis, we emphasize the coexistence of the local and the international in the exhibition, and the tensions created by using this distinction implicitly as a marker of quality. A vivid debate ensued, for example, around the inclusion of Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo, and Manuel Álvarez Bravo in the international section alongside the works of Giorgio de Chirico, Yves Tanguy, Max Ernst, and Marcel Duchamp, sent to Mexico by Breton, rather than around the choices for the Mexican section that featured diverse artists such as Agustín Lazo,
Este artículo aborda el papel como ilustrador del artista mexicano Fermín Revueltas (1901-1935) en sus distintas incursiones gráficas de inicios de la década de los treinta. En estas colaboraciones editoriales el pintor evidenció su perfil más vanguardista, lo cual estaba en consonancia con los objetivos de las redes de intelectuales y políticos del régimen posrevolucionario. A partir de una carpeta casi desconocida de dibujos y acuarelas realizados por Revueltas, presumiblemente desde los años veinte y todavía con ecos estridentistas, el texto contextualiza su trabajo artístico para el Bloque de Obreros Intelectuales (BOI), mismo que actuó como vocero de las políticas estatales. Las ilustraciones y diseños ejecutados por Revueltas para el BOI sirven para contrastarlos con su producción con la editorial Cvltvra. De igual forma, estas obras nos revelan los procesos creativos del artista en distintos momentos, los cuales demuestran un trabajo profesional de vanguardia. Palabras clave: arte mexicano, artes visuales, política cultural, modernidad, cultura visual.
“Vivísimo surrealismo: notas sobre una reactivación historiográfica” REVIEW ESSAY OF: Dawn Ades, Rita Eder, and Graciela Speranza, Eds. Surrealism in Latin America: Vivísimo Muerto; Annette Leddy, and Donna Conwell. Farewell to Surrealism: The Dyn Circle in Mexico.
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