Mexico Beyond Its Revolution

Mexico Beyond Its Revolution, a thematic examination of Mexican art from the past century, celebrates the centennial of the Mexican Revolution as well as the bi-centennial of its independence from Spain. Guest curated by Associate Professor of Art History Adriana Zavala, a specialist in Modern Latin American Art and author of Becoming Modern/Becoming Tradition: Women, Gender and Representation in Mexican Art [Penn State Press, 2010], the exhibition elucidates Mexico's revolutionary transformations over the 20th century while offering opportunities for viewers to think critically about the role of art in consolidating and challenging political and cultural processes. The 38 works selected exemplify the ways that artists have historically lived and expressed the "Revolution" in all its permutations, but also the ways that art and the nation have transcended the Revolution.

The exhibition includes works by 24 artists on loan from six lenders, as well as four works from the Tufts University Permanent Art Collection. Artists included are: Lola Alvarez Bravo, Manuel Alvarez Bravo, Francis Alÿs, Abraham Angel, Alberto Beltrán, Enrique Chagoya, José Luis Cuevas, Javier de la Garza, Pedro Friedeberg, Mathias Goeritz, Graciela Iturbide, Helen Levitt, Carlos Mérida, Dulce Mariá Nuñez, José Clemente Orozco, Adolfo Patiño, José Guadalupe Posada, Diego Rivera, David Alfaro Siqueiros, Melanie Smith, Gerardo Suter, Rufino Tamayo, Mariana Yampolsky, and Nahum B. Zenil. It has been organized by the Tufts University Art Gallery, under the direction of Amy Schlegel. Megan Murphy (MA'11) served as curatorial assistant and publication editor.

A related symposium, “Beyond the Mexican Revolution,” organized by Associate Professor Nina Gervassi-Navarro, director of the Latin American Studies Program at Tufts, examines the legacy of the decade-long Revolution and is planned for Friday, October 1.

An eponymous, fully-illustrated, bilingual (English-Spanish) publication with an introductory essay by Professor Zavala and catalogue entries by 10 Tufts art history students and Professor Zavala on each work in the exhibition will be available free of charge to the Tufts community and $10 to the general public. Tufts student contributors are: Robin Carol, Katherine Deane, Lauren Godles, Micah Hauser, Hannah Leshin, Lucy Nunn, Orsolya Mednyanszky, Megan E.A. Murphy, Taylor L. Poulin, and Kimberly Roberts.