Before the revolution, the wealthy Mexican elite and foreign interests from the United States and Europe controlled most of the land. Rural people often lived in poverty and suffered under forced labor. Revolutionary reforms changed these repressive systems and restored the ancient ejido system of communal land ownership. Mexican modernist artists depicted the land as a shared place of unique beauty where people experienced a continuum of religious, cultural, social, and spiritual events dating to pre-Hispanic times.
“I know now that he who hopes to be universal in his art must plant in his
own soil…. The secret of my best work is that it is Mexican.”
—Diego Rivera
Diego Rivera
Mexican, 1886–1957
Two Burros in a Mexican Town Scene, 1934
Watercolor on paper
Collection of the Portland Art Museum, Gift of Ronna Hoffman, 2019.87.1
[Artwork Description: A landscape-oriented watercolor that includes two burros standing near a pair of small flat-roofed structures, each with a doorway that faces the viewer. The structure in the foreground is constructed of gray bricks and the wide door trim is painted white. It fills the lower-right portion of the painting, rising slightly above midline vertically and beginning just right of the horizontal center, disappearing beyond the frame at the right. It overlaps the structure behind it that is similar in size, but centered in the frame. The second structure appears to be of stucco that is painted white, with no trim visible on the doorway. There is a figure filling the doorway wearing a reddish brown dress. In the doorway of the brick structure is a figure of a child, standing less than half the height of the door dressed in a light-colored shirt and pants, wearing a sombrero-type hat. The two burros are standing in the dirt yard in the lower left corner. The larger is brown and stands at a side view facing the brick structure. The smaller is positioned to the right with the nose of the first burro slightly overlapping its gray body. A short wall of stacked light-gray rocks stands in front of the burros, rising just above their hooves. It stops just before the brick structure, leaving a small opening. Between the structures, a large tree with green leaves rises to reach the upper frame and fills the space in the upper right third of the composition. In the background, a multi-peaked bare mountain range rises from left to right with the highest peak touching the upper frame. Beyond the mountains is a muted blue sky with horizontal brush strokes.]
Diego Rivera
Mexican, 1886–1957
Untitled, 1930
Graphite on cream laid paper
Collection of the Portland Art Museum, Gift of Lucienne Bloch and Stephen Dimitroff, 84.31.6
[Artwork Description: Graphite sketch of tall distant hills with sparse desert bushes. The hill on the left starts high at the top left of the sketch and slopes gradually toward the center with a couple small peaks. The largest hill begins two fourths of the way into the sketch from the left and has a slow upward slope across much of the sketch. At three fourths of the canvas the hill dips down in a “u” shape then rises upward in a couple of jagged peaks then slopes quickly down toward the right border. A line of thin desert bushes with thin trunks and small palm-like leaves. Three larger bushes of the same type stand out in the foreground, one next to the left border, another just a few inches from it, and the third near the right border. The artist’s signature and a dedication are written in the bottom left corner.]
Guillermo Zamora
Mexican, 1915–2002
Frida and Diego, Coyoacán, 1937
Gelatin silver print
Throckmorton Fine Art, New York
[Artwork Description: A black and white photograph of Kahlo and Diego, standing side by side outdoors in front of a white wall with a glass paned door. Kahlo stands at left, facing right, almost in profile. Her hair is pulled back in braids, and she wears and oversized earring with a shawl wrapped around her shoulders. Her hands cross in front of her body, her right hand grasps her left wrist, and her left hand holds a cigarette. Rivera stands at right, a head taller than Kahlo, facing and looking at the viewer. His hand placement mimics Kahlo’s but he holds a fedora in his left hand. He wears suit jacket and trousers and an open collared shirt. The couple are both light skinned with dark hair and brows. Garden plants can be seen on either side of the couple including cacti. An open door in the bright white wall behind the pair shows a figure emerging, seemingly unaware of the photograph being taken.]
Manuel Álvarez Bravo
Mexican, 1902–2002
Sweethearts of Usila, 1964
Platinum print
The Jacques and Natasha Gelman Collection of 20th-Century Mexican Art and the Vergel Foundation
[Artwork Description: This is a black and white photograph of formal, posed picture of a young couple standing side by side, the woman to the left and the man to the right in front of a tall fence or the side of a building with vertical board siding. The man is about half a foot taller than the woman. They are dark haired with medium dark skin. Their hands hang straight down at their sides, arms not quite touching. They are looking slightly to their left, with unsmiling expressions. The man is dressed in a plain white, long-sleeved, open-necked cotton shirt and white pants. The woman wears a horizontally striped dress that ends at her calf in a heavy white fringe over an embroidered blouse with white-cuffed sleeves that extend slightly below her elbow. She has on a necklace of large beads and may be wearing earrings. Both figures are barefoot.]
Lola Álvarez Bravo
Mexican, 1903–1993
Burial at Yalalag (Oaxaca, Mexico), 1946
Gelatin silver print
The Jacques and Natasha Gelman Collection of 20th-Century Mexican Art and the Vergel Foundation
[Artwork Description: In this black and white photo with sharp contrast, a group of mourners in luminous white clothing is the main focus and occupies the bottom two-thirds of the picture. The large group is made up mostly of females, seen from the back, wearing loose, flowing gowns that almost reach the ground. Their heads are covered by white cloths, though a few women (especially on the left side of the frame) have uncovered heads that makes visible their black hair and a single braid trailing down their backs. The smaller number of male mourners, mostly in the front of the group and extreme right side, wear large straw hats. In the center front of the group a dark, oblong casket is carried aloft. The group appears headed for a long, plain wall topped with clay roof tiles. Behind it, at the top of the photo, a hill rises up, covered with rough, dark foliage. To the right of the hill is a tall mountain that fills about three-quarters of the top of the frame extending to the right edge. It is a lighter grey than the hill and its topographical features are emphasized by the lighter lines that punctuate the surface. The grey sky is visible mostly in the “V” formed between the smaller hill and the mountain. A darker patch of sky is barely visible to the right of the mountain’s top edge. The foreground appears to be a rough, rocky grey ground cover marked with the long black shadows of the mourners. To the extreme right of the mourners is a raised platform with three shadowy figures, surrounded by wooden posts that look like the supports for a house without walls.]
Bernard Silberstein
American, 1905–1999
Frida Kahlo in Her Bedroom, 1940
Gelatin silver print
Throckmorton Fine Art, New York
Silberstein won international acclaim with his photographs for National Geographic, Life, Time, and the New York Times. He visited Coyoacán in early 1940 and photographed Kahlo in various rooms at La Casa Azul, capturing her alongside her collection of Mexican art.
[Artwork Description: In this black and white photo, Kahlo sits at lower left next to a large four poster bed while holding a small animal to her chest. The poster bed takes up much of the photo and makes Kahlo appear small in comparison. It is made up with a patterned coverlet and has a high carved headboard. Above the bed a painting is surrounded by decorative trim, fringe and tassels. The canopy of the bed is a flat solid wooden board that is supporting an object that appears to occupy its full length. The object is light color with dark lines that criss cross its length. A bare lightbulb hangs from the ceiling near the foot end g the canopy. Kahlo sits with legs crossed at the knee under a full patterned skirt with a leaf print and apron. Her left arm rests on her lap and in her right hand her hold a small dark animal, perhaps a kitten, closely. Kahlo is turned three quarters to the left and she faces the viewer with a mild expression. Her hair is pulled back from her face and piled on top of her head. She sits next to a small table that holds an old-fashioned black telephone. At the foot of the bed, part of a table covered with light colored cloth and topped with a light-colored box is partially seen.]
Leo Matiz
Colombian, 1917–1998
The Pottery Shed at Talavera, Coyoacán, 1946
Gelatin silver print
Throckmorton Fine Art, New York
[Artwork Description: Gelatin silver print of Frida and Diego standing about a foot apart, looking toward the camera with pottery behind them including square tiles and a shelf of vases and jars. Frida stands on the left. She wears a long light colored dress. The skirt is pleated and has about a foot long lace border at the bottom that is transparent and a white layer below. She wears a dark colored rebozo that is tied in the middle of her chest with the two long ends extending to her shins. Her arms are folded and she grasps her rebozo in her hand. Her hair is parted in the middle, braided in a crown, and the long braid flows over her left shoulder. She wears dangling earrings. She makes direct eye contact and stands with her back straight and shoulders back. Diego stands next to her wearing a large plain dark suit, with only the top of two buttons fastened. He wears a plaid shirt with a collar and a vest that is slightly lighter than the suit. He holds a large brown hat in his left hand and his right hand hangs at his side. He wears round wire-rimmed glasses and has curly brown hair. His gaze is slightly to the left of the viewer and he has a serious expression. Behind them is a wall with a large panel, approximately three feet tall, with a variety of ceramic tiles with various scenes painted on them. Above are two rows of smaller square tiles, each with a different pattern, a row of larger square tiles with different patterns, and then a row of small square tiles with less intricate patterns. On the top is a collection of smaller rectangular shaped tiles on the left and square on the right. A rounded wooden shelf on the top holds eleven vases and jars. Each one is painted with a different pattern. An open door is visible on the left border and there’s a gray box on the wall just to the right of the door. The floor below is a dark checkered pattern.]
Artist unknown
Frida and Diego with Fulang Chang, 1937
Gelatin silver print
Throckmorton Fine Art, New York
[Artwork Description: This black and white photograph depicts Kahlo and Rivera seated in chairs next to each other. Kahlo is at right sitting back in a chair with oversized curved arms. She rests her head on the chair back and gazes directly at the viewer. Her left elbow and arm are resting on the chair’s armrest, while her right arm is covered by a shawl that is draped on her right shoulder and across her lap. Her right hand rests in her lap. She wears dark folkloric top edged in geometric patterns with a decorative oval at the center. Her long full skirt is dark. She wears her hair pulled back with large, beaded dangling earring. Her brows and eyes are dark, and a faint mustache is evident. To the right, Rivera sits upright in another chair with oversized curved arms. He holds a small, dark monkey in his arms on top of a prominent belly. Rivera wears a medium-colored suit with a vest, shirt, and tie. His bushy dark hair is combed back from his face and is cut short above the ears. He wears a neutral expression while eyeing the monkey. The monkey wears a tiny suit and looks towards the left. The couple seems to sitting outdoors on perhaps a covered porch as windows and a doorway are seen in the background.]