The Newark Museum will mark the centennial celebration of the Mexican Revolution (1910‱920) with an exhibition of works from the Bank of America collection. “Indigenismo: Ancient Roots in Mexican Art” will be on display from June 16 through August 9; it is organized by the National Museum of Mexican Art in Chicago and is provided by Bank of America’s Art in its communities program.
Indigenismo (Indianism) was a cultural movement that arose after the Mexican Revolution, spawned by artists and writers exploring their national heritage and proudly including their ancient Mesoamerican past. Artists participating in this movement studied and used indigenous imagery and concepts in order to express their social messages to the public.
Alfredo Ramos Martínez (1871‱946), considered by many to be the father of modern Mexican art, according to Curator Cesáreo Moreno, chief curator of the National Museum of Mexican Art, encouraged students in his open-air classes to paint real life indigenous scenes to promote the ideas of Indigenismo.
Many of Mexico’s great works of art †whether painted on walls or printed on paper †were created during the movement and remain part of a legacy that continues up to the present.
The Newark Museum’s exhibition of approximately 25 pieces of art illustrates how different artists of Mexican ancestry have used their indigenous roots as a source of inspiration. Oftentimes incorporating social messages or simply celebrating the Americas, these artists touch upon every genre of Twentieth Century art.
The exhibition contains fine examples of early Indigenismo works by well-known and not-so-well-known artists, including Rufino Tamayo (1899‱991), Gunther Gerzso (1915′000) and Manuel Álvarez Bravo (1902′002).
Also included are such celebrated artists as Diego Rivera (1886‱963), Alfredo Ramos Martínez (1871‱946), Carlos Merida (1891‱984), Martín Ramirez (1895‱963), David Alfaro Siqueiros (1896‱974), Jean Charlot (1898‱979), Francisco Zúñiga (1912‱998), Mariana Yampolsky (1925′002), Luis Jiménez Jr (1940′006), Amado Maurillo Peña Jr (b 1943), Judithe Hernández (b 1948) and Flor Garduño (b 1957).
The Newark Museum is at 49 Washington Street in the Downtown/Arts District. For more information, www.newarkmuseum.org or 973-596-6550.
