COLLECTIONS
MEXIC-ARTE MUSEUM COLLECTION
The permanent collection includes more than 1500 works of historic
and contemporary Mexican, Latino, and Latin American art
and material culture. The Museum’s primary holdings consist
of The Serie Print Project Archive, the Ernesto F. de Soto Collection,
Taller Grafica Popular Print Collection, Popular Mexican
Dance Masks, and rare books within the Mexic-Arte Museum Library.
Annually, the Museum acquires contemporary Latino art
and integrates new acquisitions with exhibitions programming.
The development of the Museum’s collection continues and will
strive to reflect the pulse of Latino visual culture.
View The Collection Online
Here
IMAGE CREDIT: JESSE HERRA, LA REINA DEL HUIPIL,1988
GELATIN SILVER PRINT,
MEXIC-ARTE MUSEUM PERMANENT COLLECTION
CONTEMPORARY LATINX ARTISTS COLLECTION
The Mexic-Arte Museum is an institution that welcomes and fosters
emerging Latinx artistic talent through annual programming
such as the Young Latinx Artists exhibition and special programs
commissions. Works in all media, including installations, murals,
photographs, and sculpture from artists such as Adriana Corral,
Miguel Aragon, Marcel Moran, Paloma Mayorga, David “Shek” Vega, Diego
Huerta’s 31K Project Project are within the contemporary Latinx
art holdings of the Permanent Collection.
IMAGE CREDIT: PALOMA MAYORGA, PODEROSA (POWERFUL), 2017
MEXIC-ARTE MUSEUM PERMANENT COLLECTION
SERIE PRINT PROJECT ARCHIVE
In 2000, the Museum was designated as the official archive of
prints from the Serie Print Project, a non-profit Latinx art organization
and residency program that produces, promotes, and
exhibits serigraph prints created by established and emerging
artists. Throughout its twenty year tenure, artists such as Santa
Barraza, Ester Hernandez, Alma Lopez, Delilah Montoya, Cesar
Martinez, and Vincent Valdez have participated in the program.
Each year, the annual suite produced during the residency is on
view in the annex gallery in conjunction with the Young Latinx
Artists exhibition.
ERNEST F. DE SOTO COLLECTION
The Ernest F. de Soto collection is one of the earlier print collections
to comprise the Mexic-Arte Museum permanent collection.
Ernest F. de Soto was the first Mexican American printer to
be awarded the honor of Tamarind Master Printer, and is wellknown
for his lithography workshops of the 1960s. With over 50
years of experience specializing in contemporary Latin American
and American lithographs, fine prints and etchings by some
of the best-known Latin American and American artists of our
time, Master Printer Ernesto F. de Soto has created a significant
collection and national treasure. Artists in the collection include
Alejandro Colunga, Jose Luis Cuevas, Luis Jimenez, and Alfredo
Varela among others.
ALEJANDRO COLUNGA, AUTOBUS,
1980, SIX-COLOR LITHOGRAPH
MEXIC-ARTE MUSEUM PERMANENT COLLECTION
TALLER DE GRÁFICA POPULAR COLLECTION
In 1937, artists Leopoldo Méndez, Pablo O’Higgins, Luis Arenal,
and a small group of dedicated printmakers, created the Taller de
Grafica Popular (TGP, Popular Graphic Workshop). The objective
of the workshop was to create visual art dedicated to addressing
and promoting social change. Productions emphasize 20th
century Mexican history primarily related to historical figures, cultural
heroes, and significant political events. Artists in the collection
include Alberto Beltran, Angel Bracho, Arturo García Bustos,
Fernando Castro Pacheco, Leopoldo Mendez, Alfredo Zalce, and
others.
ANGEL BRACHO, GRAL. IGNACIO ZARAGOZA, LINOCUT
MEXIC-ARTE MUSEUM PERMANENT COLLECTION
MEXICAN MASKS
Ceremonial and decorative dance masks comprise the majority of
Mexic-Arte Museum’s permanent collection. The recent acquisitions
from the Patricia and Carmine De Vivi Mexican Mask Collection
focuses largely on modern Mexican regional masks and
their varied uses in folkloric narratives, religious practices, regional
pageantry, and popular art. With the hybridization of indigenous
rituals and Spanish colonial practices, the regional mask
facilitated the ongoing shift and negotiation of cultural identities
in Mexico. Early regional masks played key roles in morality dramas
and dances used to teach the indigenous Catholicism and
celebrate religious holidays such as Holy Week and Carnival.
Dance masks continue to be a vital component in regional festivals
and their aesthetic qualities have led to the emergence of an
ever-growing commercial mask art industry.
DEVIL MASK FOR DANCE OF THE DEVILS, GUERRERO, MEXICO,
THE PATRICIA & CARMINE DE VIVI COLLECTION,
2012.001.003, MEXIC-ARTE MUSEUM PERMANENT COLLECTION
LIBRARY
Mexic-Arte Museum Library houses over 5,000 books and periodicals
from the 19th century to the present. The non-circulating
rare books include five volumes of the publication México a
través de los siglos and Picture Book I and II by Jean Charlot.
Other highlights of the library collection include limited edition exhibition
catalogs, self-published works, and Mexic-Arte Museum
publications.
MÉXICO, A TRAVÉS DE LOS SIGLOS, ED. VICENTE RIVA PAL ACIO, 1882
MEXIC-ARTE MUSEUM PERMANENT COLLECTION