Chronicling two decades of cultural exchange between Mexico and the United States, the Harry Ransom Center's exhibition Mexico Modern: Art, Commerce, and Cultural Exchange, 1920–1945 showcases examples of modern Mexican art and design.
Included are works of modern Mexican art by such artists as Miguel Covarrubias, Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, and Edward Weston.
Diego Rivera, [Basket vendors], 1938. Watercolor, 27.7 x 38.6 cm. Courtesy Harry Ransom Center. © 2017 Banco de México Diego Rivera Frida Kahlo Museums Trust, Mexico, D.F. / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
On display through January 1, 2018, the exhibition highlights the important history of 20th-century art and how artists, museum curators, gallery owners, journalists and publishers in both countries instigated a cultural phenomenon by creating and promoting art that pioneered a synthesis of indigenous traditions and international aesthetics.
The more than 200 items in the exhibition, drawn primarily from the Ransom Center's collections, reveal the importance of the transnational networks of individuals and institutions that sought, championed and interpreted many great, often radically new, works of art. The materials include paintings, photographs, jewelry and decorative arts, as well as correspondence, periodicals and exhibition brochures.
Admission is free, and hours are Mondays through Fridays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., with extended Thursday hours until 7 p.m. On Saturdays and Sundays, the exhibition is open from noon to 5 p.m. Public tours are offered every day at noon, Thursdays at 6 p.m., and Saturdays and Sundays at 2 p.m. Located on The University of Texas at Austin campus, the Ransom Center is at 300 W. 21st Street.
Poster for Mexican tourism, published by Asociacion Mexicana de Turismo, 1940, 97.2 x 73.3 cm. Courtesy Harry Ransom Center.