ROCKFORD ART MUSEUM | RAM TALKS ART | MEXICO, ART AND SPANISH

RAM Talks Art: Mexico, art and Spanish

By Elizabeth Dailing, Education Director, Rockford Art Museum

I am sure you don't necessarily think of the Mexican Revolution and Rockford Art Museum (RAM) in the same thought. However, with a current display of photographs by Manuel Carrillo from the RAM Permanent Collection—that's exactly what you have.

A little history…

Mexico began to experience turmoil under Diaz's dictatorship. His presidency took its toll on the working class, peasants and farmers. These groups suffered extreme exploitation at the hand of their own government. The division between classes became severe. Access to education, wealth and political power were reserved for the elite, while the rights of the peasants, farmers and working class ceased to exist.

A rebellion would be launched—backed by people like Madero, Villa and Zapata and their armies of peasants, farmers and the working class that were helpless and angry under their current government.

This rebellion would last for years, with serious political unrest and numerous leaders in the position of president of Mexico, promises made and promises to Mexico's people broken, assassinations were common, and stability did not exist. But the movements for change were ferocious.

Art in post-revolutionary Mexico was booming.

Some names you may have heard would be Rivera, Siqueiros and Tamayo. Foreign artists were flocking to Mexico to work alongside Mexican artists. These Mexican artists had lived through a period of bloody turmoil and responded to it vividly. Themes in this artwork dealt with worker and social reform. Through this artwork, Mexico also attempted to redefine its cultural identity.

Manuel Carrillo…

Manuel Carrillo was born in Mexico City in 1906. However, he did not begin his career as a photographer until almost 50 years later. He spent most of his life moving between the U.S. and Mexico—attempting a number of careers in such fields as competitive dance, Wall Street and the Illinois Central Railroad. At the age of 49, Carrillo joined the Club Fotografico de Mexico and the Photographic Society of America.

American Modernist photographers like Ansel Adams, Edward Weston and Paul Strand heavily influenced Carrillo. He was preoccupied with man's relationship to nature. Carrillo worked toward redefining a cultural identity for Mexico, and could do so with a unique perspective of being a native of Mexico but having lived in the U.S. for so long.

In 1960, at the Chicago Public Library, Carrillo had his first international exhibition. Since then, his work has been seen in more than 200 individual exhibitions around the world.

See it here, see it now…

When you are looking for something to do, come and take a look at this exhibition of Manuel Carrillo's work. See if you think he helped redefine an accurate cultural identity of Mexico. Look at the angles he shoots from and the people he captures in his images and ask yourself why.

Think about yourself. If you were attempting to capture your own cultural identity on film, what would you shoot? What elements present in our society would accurately capture and communicate what it means to be an American? What elements of our society would stand the test of time to tell people who we are as a people?

And, some Spanish…

A twist from the traditional group to visit Rockford Art Museum? Bring your Spanish students. We have had a number of Spanish classes book tours to see these photographs. It's a rare opportunity to directly integrate Spanish, history and art. And, just for fun, some Spanish vocabulary for you to stop and think about this history and artwork of a country just across the border:

angle - punto de vista, aspecto

artist - artista

bandit - bandido, bandolero

culture - cultura

museum - museo

peasant - labriego, campesino

photography - fotografía

print - impresión

revolution - revolución

rural - rural, rústico

rustic - rústico, campesino

Contact Rockford Art Museum Education Director Elizabeth Dailing at edailing@rockfordartmuseum.org.

from the Nov. 12-18, 2008, issue

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