Mexico: Art Before the Mexican Revolution (1865-1910)

Background 

In the second half of the 19th century, Mexican Academic painting adopted the modern styles of romanticism and realism. Painters Tiburcio Sánchez and José M. Jara are representative of this period with the rise of the costumbrismo movement, which presented scenes of local daily life and group portraits of powerful families. Their work contains the figurative canons of the time: elegant children in bucolic garden settings and the baroque chapel as a secluded retreat. The treatment of facial features, clothing, and accessories makes these works the very expression of naturalism: personification, colors, and atmospheric lighting. The portrayal of contrasting realities lays bare a racially, economically, and culturally diverse Mexico. Jara’s El Velorio was associated with the principles of French realism and won a bronze medal at the World’s Fair in Paris in 1889 as one of the paintings presented in the Mexican Pavilion.

 

The National School of Fine Arts, previously known as the Academy of San Carlos, underwent reform in 1897 and 1903, along with other educational institutions. Events such as the arrival of Antonio Rivas Mercado as its director and the creation of the Secretariat of Public Instruction and Fine Arts in 1905 fostered the Academy’s modernization and improved the education of promising young Mexican artists, such as Diego Rivera, Saturnino Herrán, Roberto Montenegro, Ángel Zárraga, and Dr. Atl (Gerardo Murillo). These artists renewed the iconographic and landscape motifs of the 19th century through vanguard movements such as realism, decadentism, symbolism, neo-impressionism, and art nouveau. The lessons of young teachers such as Julio Ruelas and Germán Gedovius were significant, bringing to the Academy their experiences at the heart of German symbolism. In step with the rhythm of international modernism, these Mexican artists sought to develop subjects that revolved around national archetypes.

The roots of modern aesthetic language in Mexico lie in the previous century. In 1867, the government of the Restored Republic saw the need to unify and justify a relatively new state by promoting a shared history and sanctioning specific artistic genres, including historical subject matter, portraiture, and costumbrismo. This aimed to provide legitimacy to all populations. At the same time, efforts were made to gain recognition for Mexico within the international art nouveau and symbolist movements popular in Europe. Julio Ruelas was one of the great representatives of these modernist trends. The Academy provided its most promising artists with a wide range of artistic education and training and sponsored grand tours through Europe. During these journeys, artists contributed to and reinterpreted European avant-garde movements. This is especially evident in Diego Rivera’s and Angel Zárraga’s interest in cubism—to which they added their own touches—and their subsequent return to pictorial order, which reflected international trends.

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