Mexican Modernity

The Zapanta Mexican Art Collection highlights some of the most well-known Mexican artists of the 20th century. Dr. Richard Zapanta, a fourth-generation Mexican-American, began the collection over 35 years ago as a way of reconnecting with his roots. Building the collection has led to travels throughout Mexico to historic sites, museums, and galleries. Each work has a story of its own but the collection, as an entity, offers an enriching study of Mexican 20th-century art.

Through the exhibition, the evolution of Mexico’s cultural landscape unfolds with paintings ranging from religious iconography to scenes of the everyday. Artists from the early part of the century reflected on Mexico’s indigenous past and drew inspiration from religion, politics and folk traditions. As the century progressed, first and second generation Mexican muralists documented Mexico’s transition from an agrarian to increasingly industrial society. By the turn of the 21st century, artists from the group La Ruptura stressed their concern and the need for Mexico to compete amongst the global stage. The exhibition incites conversations on Mexico’s past, present, and future.

Artists include Miguel Cabrera, Dr. Atl, Alfredo Ramos Martínez, Roberto Montenegro, José Clemente Orozco, Diego Rivera, David Alfaro Siqueiros, Raúl Anguiano, Jesús Guerrero Galván, Alfredo Zalce, Federico Cantú, Francisco Zúñiga, Gustavo Montoya, Frida Kahlo, Leonora Carrington, Olga Costa, José Luis Cuevas, Rafael Coronel, Alfredo Castañeda, Emilio Ortiz, Rufino Tamayo, Rodolfo Morales, and Francisco Toledo.

This exhibition was organized by the Cornell Fine Arts Museum, with Dr. Richard Zapanta and will travel to the McClung Museum of Natural History & Culture at The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, where it will be on view September 11, 2020 – January 3, 2021.