I hope that this holiday season finds you all well, Do Art Nation. I was fortunate to celebrate my 35th birthday in Mexico City. I’ve always been fascinated by Mexico in general, and Mexico City in particular–at least to someone reading about it from a distance, Mexico City seems like a dense onion of history and art, with Aztec ruins located near Catholic churches, palatial Beaux Artes structures, Modernist masterpieces, and utterly entrancing murals.
The great contribution of Mexico to 20th century art–which upended hundreds of years of convention nearly overnight and brought a new understanding of art and beauty to the world–was muralismo. Translated into English as “muralism,” the movement was a fusion of two of the 20th centuries most shocking and tremendous revolutions. On the one hand, political upheavals from Argentina to Finland brought down governments and ancient dynasties, as people of all classes rejected ancient structures of rule. A common thread of all these revolutions, in propaganda or in fact, was the idea that ordinary people deserve the right to self-rule, to well-being, and to artistic expression. On the other hand, a mass rejection of the old way of doing things inspired artists from every corner of the world to abandon old conventions of what was beautiful, and what was a suitable subject for art.
The legacy of both of these tendencies in the first half of the 20th century–what they meant, what they promised, what they delivered–will be debated for centuries. But in Mexico particularly, a generation of artists born in the aftermath of the Mexican Revolution saw art as a way to forge a unique national identity, one that belonged not only to the wealthy and powerful but to people of all backgrounds and classes.
But how to put art in the hands of the people? Their answer was muralismo. Rather than focusing on small works of art, bought and sold on the global market, artists like Diego Rivera, David Alfaro Siqueiros, and José Clemente Orozco sought to create monumental works of art that fused with the built environment around them–art that everyday people could experience in the course of their ordinary lives.
Mexico City remains famous for its murals, which fill the city with color and often awe-inspiring scale. Famous murals can be seen in museums and public buildings like the Palacio de Bellas Artes. But one museum, located not far from the central square, commemorates this legacy in unique fashion. The Museo Vivo de Muralismo (the Living Museum of Muralism), located in a 19th century school arranged around two massive courtyards, features famous works of art by Diego Rivera, David Alfano Siqueiros, and others.
But, true to its name, the museum is also dedicated to art as a living thing. Rooms in the museum are dedicated to the ancient legacy of murals and wall art, featuring neolithic paintings and exhibits dedicated to the history of pre-Hispanic art and handicrafts. There is art specifically designed around the senses of touch, smell, and taste–gesturing at a more inclusive vision for art than as the domain of sighted, abled people. There are classrooms dedicated to workshops and art education, with living artists encouraged to contribute their own vision to the culture around them.
As I wandered the museum for an afternoon, it seemed to me that here was the epitome of what many public libraries in the US want to create in their communities–a space for people not only to learn, but to contribute their creativity to the world around them. A place to admire what others have made before us, but also a platform to create something new.
