Instituto de Artes Gráficas de Oaxaca

El Instituto de Artes Gráficas de Oaxaca (IAGO) es un museo-biblioteca, creado por el pintor Francisco Toledo, a través de la Asociación Civil "José F. Gómez". Es una hermosa casa del siglo XVIII situada frente al convento de Santo Domingo y a un costado de la Plazuela del Carmen, sobre la calle de Macedonio Alcalá. La casa fue donada al Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes (INBA) por la familia Toledo, con el propósito de crear un espacio idóneo para difundir el arte y exhibir la colección gráfica que el Maestro Francisco Toledo comenzaba a formar.  El proyecto se hizo en conjunto entre el INBA, la Asociación Civil José F. Gómez - presidida por el Mtro. Toledo y el Gobierno del Estado de Oaxaca.

El Instituto de Artes Gráficas de Oaxaca (IAGO) se inauguró en noviembre de 1988. Los principales temas que abarca la Biblioteca del IAGO son pintura, gráfica, dibujo, arquitectura, escultura, arqueología, diseño, bibliofilia, textiles, cerámica, arte popular, fotografía, cinematografía y literatura. Comprende los espacios geográficos e históricos más importantes y mantiene un desarrollo orientado al arte contemporáneo.

The Institute of Graphic Arts of Oaxaca (IAGO) is a museum, library, created by the painter Francisco Toledo, through the "José F. Gómez" Civil Association. It is a beautiful eighteenth century house opposite the convent of Santo Domingo and next to the Plaza del Carmen, on Macedonio Alcala Street.  The house was donated to the National Institute of Fine Arts (INBA) by the Toledo family, in order to create an ideal space to promote art and display the graphics collection the Maestro Francisco Toledo started to form.  The project was made jointly by the INBA, Civil Association José F. Gomez - chaired by Maestro. Toledo and the Government of the State of Oaxaca.

The Institute of Graphic Arts of Oaxaca (IAGO) opened in November 1988.  The main topics that the Library of the IAGO includes are painting, graph, drawing, architecture, sculpture, archaeology, design, bibliophily, textiles, ceramics, folk art, photo, cinematography and literature.  It includes the most important geographical and historical areas and maintains a contemporary art-oriented development.

La colección sobre Arte Mexicano es una de las más grandes, ordenada cronológicamente, desde el arte rupestre, arte prehispánico, colonial, moderno y contemporáneo; es importante su colección de cerca de treinta facsímiles de códices, que continúa acrecentándose. Cubre un amplio espectro de países, artistas, técnicas, estilos y movimientos artísticos. Los materiales que maneja son libros, catálogos, revistas, folletos y películas, en español principalmente, pero también en inglés, francés, alemán e italiano. Los fondos bibliográficos se adquieren con recursos otorgados por Francisco Toledo, gran número de amigos, lectores, galerías, museos e instituciones aportan donativos de publicaciones.  La Biblioteca sostiene, también, convenios de canje con otras bibliotecas e instituciones del país y del extranjero.

The collection of Mexican art is one of the largest, ordered chronologically, from the rock art, pre-Hispanic, colonial, modern and contemporary art. It has an important collection of about thirty facsimiles of codices that continues to grow.  It covers a wide range of countries, artists, techniques, styles and artistic movements. The materials that they maintain are books, catalogs, magazines, brochures and films, mainly Spanish but also in English, French, German and Italian.  The collections are acquired with funds granted by Francisco Toledo, a large number of friends, readership, galleries, museums and institutions provide donations of publications. The Library also maintains exchange agreements with other libraries and institutions of the country and abroad.

SERVICIOS:

- El IAGO, contiene una Biblioteca especializada en arte, con más de doce mil volúmenes que abarcan temas de pintura, escultura, arquitectura, bibliofilia, poesía, narrativa, ensayo, literatura infantil y juvenil, diseño industrial y gráfico, arqueología, fotografía, cinematografía, textiles, cerámica, arte popular.

- La Biblioteca , que se actualiza constantemente, alberga obras sobre música, danza y teatro, y cuenta con veinticinco suscripciones a revistas especializadas en arte y literatura. La Biblioteca tiene tres salas de lectura, y ofrece los servicios de préstamo interno y a domicilio, estantería abierta, consulta, banco de datos, hemeroteca, fotocopias y cineclub.

- El público puede seleccionar y tomar los materiales por ellos mismos y en caso de requerirlo, recibe atención individualizada de los bibliotecarios, quienes propician la comunicación personal para establecer un perfil de intereses de cada lector y estar en condiciones de satisfacer sus necesidades de información, recreación o simple curiosidad; de tal modo que la atención se da desde una orientación sobre las colecciones y los servicios de la Biblioteca y los museos, hasta la ayuda por temas de interés, la elaboración de bibliografías y la documentación, pasando por la referencia a las otras bibliotecas de la ciudad.

SERVICES:

- The IAGO contains a library specializing in art, with more than twelve thousand volumes covering topics of painting, sculpture, architecture, bibliophile, poetry, fiction, essays, children's literature, industrial and graphic design, archeology, photography, filmmaking, textiles, ceramics, folk art.

- The Library, which is constantly updated, houses works of music, dance and theater, and has twenty-five subscriptions to journals in art and literature. The library has three reading rooms, and offers home loans, open shelving, consulting, database, newspaper, copy and a film club.

- The public can select and take the materials themselves and in case of need, receive individual attention from librarians who foster personal communication to establish a profile of interests of each reader and be able to satisfy their information needs, recreation or simple curiosity, so that attention is given from an orientation to the collections and services of the library and museums, to aid topics of interest, development of bibliographies and documentation, through reference to other libraries in the city.

Nuevo diseno textil 2011 (en español y en inglés)

Para citar a Alejandro de Ávila B., curador del exposiciones en el Museo Textil de Oaxaca.

Zenaida Pérez Mendoza es una tejedora magistral de Pinotepa de Don Luis, en la costa de Oaxaca.  Zenaida habla tu un savi que podemos traducir como palabra de la lluvia sagrada.  En español designamos a su lengua y a su pueblo como mixtecos, termino derivado del náhuatl mixtecah, gente de los nubes. El año pasado de 2010, Zenaida tejió tres lienzos para un huipil que le encargó Remigio Mestas Revilla, apasionada promotor del arte textil de Oaxaca.  Zenaida tejió esta vez el tipo más fino de huipil, usado antiguamente por una mujer el día que se casaba y guardado por ella con cuidado toda su vida para ser enterrada en él cuando moría. Olga González Pérez, hija de Zenaida, ha seguido los pasos de su madre. Ahora teje lienzos aun más delicados, casi transparentes, donde los diseños, blancos parecen flotar en el aire.  No es probable que Olga vista un huipil para su boda porque, a diferencia de su madre, ella no usa el posahuanque, la falda de enredo de las mujeres mixtecas de la costa. Huipil y posahuanque  son íconos de la identidad indígena, y la juventud de Don Luis ya no quiere ser discriminada por su herencia cultural. Pero de manera paralela y contradictoria, la habilidad de Olga y de Zenaida como tejedoras se ha refinada conforme sus lienzos son reconocidos en el ámbito urbano como arte a secas, sin el calificativo "popular".  Nos parece poéticamente justo que la gente de las nubes siga distinguiendose por obras tan etéreas.

Esta exposición muestra el trabajo de Olga y otras artistas destacadas del telar y la aguja hoy día. Se trata en todos los casos de piezas especiales, hechas por encargo para ser vendidas y admiradas fuera de su comunidad de origen.  Los lienzos tejidos en Don Luis ejemplifican esta tendencia innovadora: Remigio le proporcionó a Olga hilo de algodón egipcio para las diseños brocados. Varias otras piezas aquí expuestas fueron hechas de igual manera con hilaturas industriales de alta calidad, que no se consiguen en el mercado nacional.  Muchas de los tejidos que presentamos combinan esos materiales importados con hilados manuales de seda y algodón teñidos con los colorantes más apreciados de Oaxaca y de México: la grana del nopal, el caracol púrpura y el añil vegetal. Si bien los tintes por sí mismos nos remiten al pasado mesoamericano, las tonalidades puras logradas para esta muestra son sutilmente distintas de las piezas antiguas. Más aun, las combinaciones cromáticas son en muchas casos radicalmente diferentes de los huipiles y enredos que vistieron las abuelas de estas artistas, pero manifiestan un sentido del color tan rico y consumado como los mejores tejidos clásicos de Oaxaca.

Podemos apreciar ese mismo patrón de innovaciones harmoniosas si examinamos el diseño de las piezas expuestas. Olga y sus companeras de generación han retomado las figuras tradicionales, recreandolas con ajustes de escala y densidad para lograr composiciones novedosas. En algunos casos han ideado una iconografía enteramente distinta, que sin romper con los cánones formales del diseño indígena, como la simetría bilateral y bifacial del las prendas,plasma nuevas ritmos visuales. Abren de esa manera nuestra percepción a un impulso creativo que rebasa las expectativas del arte popular mexicano convencional. De repente advertimos en algunas piezas semejanzas con ciertos textiles africanos, mientras que otras nos evocan el art deco o la gráfica op-art de los años 1960. Esas impresiones, sin embargo, son engañosas. No estamos asistiendo a una hibridación plástica transcultural, ni mucho  menos. Las tejedoras y bordadoras simplemente han iniciado nuevas exploraciones dentro de las posibilidades que les ofrecen los materiales, las técnicas y los formatos tradicionales. Si la muestra nos sorprende es por la creatividad liberada cuando las artistas comunitarias son motivadas y retribuidas de manera digna.

Para ver más fotos por favor vaya a mi álbum web de Picasa.

To quote Alejandro de Ávila B., curator of exhibits at the Museo Textil de Oaxaca.

Zenaida Perez Mendoza is a master weaver of Pinotepa de Don Luis, on the coast of Oaxaca. In Spanish we designate her language and her people as Mixtec, a term derived from Nahuatl mixtecah, people of the clouds. Last year, 2010, Zenaida wove three linen cloths for a blouse that was ordered by Remigio Mestas Revilla, passionate promoter of Oaxaca textile art. This time, Zenaida wove the finest type of huipil, used by a woman on her wedding day and carefully saved by her all her life in order to be buried in it when she died. Olga Gonzalez Perez, Zenaida’s daughter, has followed in the footsteps of her mother. Now even more delicate woven linen, almost transparent, where white designs seem to float in the air. Olga is not likely to wear a blouse for her wedding because, unlike her mother, she does not use the posahuanque, the gathered skirt of Mixtec women from the coast.  Huipil and posahuanque are icons of indigenous identity, and the youth of Don Luis do not want to be discriminated by their cultural heritage. But in parallel and contradictory, the ability of Olga and of Zenaida, how weavers have refined in accordance with their linens as his paintings are recognized in urban areas as art itself, without the adjective "popular".  It seems poetic that people who follow the clouds are distinguished by works so ethereal.

This exhibition showcases the work of Olga and other outstanding artists of the loom and needle today. These are all special pieces, made ​​to order, to be sold and admired outside their home community. The linen fabrics in Don Luis exemplify this innovative trend: Remigio provided Olga with Egyptian cotton thread for brocaded designs. Several other pieces presented here were done the same way with high quality industrial yarns, which are not available in the domestic market. Many of the fabrics we present combine these materials imported handspun silk and cotton yarn dyed colors most cherished of Oaxaca and Mexico: cochineal, purple from snails and the indigo plant. While the dyes themselves remind us of the Mesoamerican past, pure hues achieved for this sample are subtly different from the old pieces. Moreover, the color combinations are in many cases radically different from the huipiles and posahuanque that the grandmothers of these artists wore, but they express a sense of color so rich and accomplished as the best classic fabrics Oaxaca.

We see the same pattern of harmonious innovations by examining the design of the exhibits. Olga and her co-generation have taken up the traditional figures, recreating them with adjustments of scale and density to achieve novel compositions. In some cases they have devised an entirely different iconography, without formal breaking with the canons of indigenous design, as reciprocal and two sided symmetry of the garments, new visually flowing rhythms. In that way they open our perception to a creative impulse that exceeds the expectations of conventional Mexican folk art. Suddenly we notice some similarities with certain parts African textiles, while others evoke the art deco or graphic op-art of the 1960s. These impressions, however, are misleading. We are not witnessing a plastic cross hybridization, far from it. The weavers and embroiderers simply have initiated new exploration into the possibilities offered materials, techniques and traditional formats. If the sample is surprises us, it is for creativity released when the community artists are motivated and rewarded in a dignified manner.

For more pictures please go to my picasa web album.

Threads of the cloud people, communal textiles from Oaxaca

In December of 2012 the Museo Textil de Oaxaca hosted two important exhibitions.  One traditional, called Threads of the cloud people, consisted of textiles from all over the state of Oaxaca dating from the late 19^th century to the present; the other consisted of commissioned work called Nuevo diseño textil 2011.  You might think of the second as an extension of the first.  This post will include photos from Threads of the cloud people.  For more photos and a chance to enlarge them to the size of the opening photo, please check out my Picasa photo album.  A following post will cover Nuevo diseño textil 2011.  In the words of Alejandro de Ávila B., curator:

Threads of the cloud people, communal textiles from Oaxaca

The diversity of their materials, styles and designs brings Oaxacan textiles to the forefront among the visual arts of the Americas. In this mountainous, ecologically complex region, where the main ethnic groups call themselves the "cloud people" and "sacred rain's collectivity," many kinds of plants, animals and minerals have been used to obtain fibers and dyestuffs, probably in greater variety than in other areas on this continent. In tandem, woven structures appear to have become more diversified in Oaxaca than in other regions of Mexico and Central America. Many of those fibers, colorants and techniques ceased to be used in the last fifty years. Lost along with them were fine manual skills and a wide repertoire of designs.  The majority of the weavings and embroideries were not produced for commercial purposes, but to be used by the people who made them in the indigenous communities, as well as in Afro-Mexican and Mestizo towns. Intended for the domestic and ritual life of groups who are culturally distinct, huipiles and other garments preserved iconographic and stylistic traits that evoke different historic periods. Maintained alive with those traits was a tradition of narrative that recreates, in some cases, the meaning of the woven figures.

We have selected for this exhibit some outstanding pieces in the collection of the Museo Textil de Oaxaca to illustrate the variety of materials and designs in textiles that were manufactured for peoples' own use in different areas of the state. As we present everyday and ceremonial garments that date from the late 19th to the 21st centuries, we aim to put into perspective a rapid evolution of attire, what we could call the communal fashions of Oaxaca of the last one hundred years. We do not show here weavings or embroideries made for the outside market once tourism took hold; we exclude commercial pieces in order to highlight the sheer diversity and the aesthetic refinement of textiles created by exceptionally talented individuals to dress themselves and their families. In choosing the pieces for the show, we have tried to cover evenly the different ethnic groups in the state, including people of African and European cultural ancestry.

The exhibit is organized in four chronological sections. The first shows the earliest pieces in our holdings, woven during the second half of the 19th century and the early 1900s.  Salient among them is an exceptional rebozo, the only silk weaving that has been preserved from Coyotepec, dyed with the most important dyestuffs in Mesoamerica: cochineal, indigo and shellfish purple. The second section of the show includes pieces that were made in the early decades of the 20th century, when worsted yarn and other industrial manufactures became widespread in southern Mexico.  A beautiful wraparound skirt from Tututepec illustrates the early adoption of machine-spun threads and synthetic dyes, combined with traditional materials.  The third section features weavings and embroideries made in the mid-1900s, a period of drastic change in many communities. A huipil from Choapan, decorated with two techniques historically restricted to Oaxaca, bears witness to the loss of the textile arts in various areas of the state during that period. The fourth section is dedicated to the late 20^th century and the most recent decade, which have seen the introduction of acrylic wool and other fibers derived from petroleum. A blouse from Santa Lucía Miahuitlán, embroidered in 2009, attests to the vitality of an elegant and delicate taste for textiles in some of the poorest communities of our country.  The most important exhibit mounted so far in this museum thus ends on a note of hope.

Alejandro de Ávila B.

Belber-Jiménez Museo

Diego Rivera gave this necklace to Frida Kahlo.
On the back is an inscription "Te quiero Sapo"

Federico Jiménez, originally from the village of Tutuepec, resides in Southern California where he has been collecting and making jewelry for many years. Today he is a world renowned authority on Mexican silver, Pre-Columbian and Mixtec jewelry. In 1965, Federico and Ellen Belber Jiménez started a collection of jewelry, gold and silver work, textiles and popular art.  This collection is exhibited in the Belber Jiménez Museum.  The museum was opened with a view toward revaluation of these objects as examples of Mexican design and to show how the past serves as inspiration for the present. The Belber Jiménez Museum has four thematic rooms and a room for temporary exhibits. 

From San Pedro Tututepec and in the Jimenez family
 for generations the Mixtec necklace features a bead
 made by the lost wax process with two eagle heads.

Starting in the room of Mexican jewelry and metalwork, where you can observe archeological and colonial pieces, as well as those of an independent Mexico.  There are also the works of

designers of the twentieth century, among whom William Spratling, Antonio Pineda and Matilde Poulat stand out. One of the most popular pieces of the collection is the necklace worn by Frida Kahlo when she died, given to her by Diego Rivera and inscribed with "Te quiero, Sapo" (I love you, Toad). The next room holds diverse expressions of popular Mexican art, from wooden chests from Oaxaca and Guerrero to figures of clay and glazed ceramics from various regions of the country. 

The room dedicated to textiles has principally articles from Oaxaca.  The displays are arranged so that you can see the richness of the weaving on both sides of the pieces.  Finally, the temporary exhibit that inaugurated the Belber Jiménez Museum is dedicated to the textile richness which is found both in the sarapes of Saltillo as well as the weavings of Teotitlán del Valle. An English guidebook is available which describes the background of each exhibit, and there is a store selling jewelry and antiques.  It is located at Matamoros No. 307 at the corner of Tinoco y Palacios, telephone: 514 50 35.  Hours are Monday thru Friday 10.00-14.00 and 16.00-18.00. Saturday 10.00-14.00.  For more pictures and a closer look please visit my picasa web album where you can enlarge the earrings below to admire the filigree.

These earrings from the 18th century are called El Jardin and form a filigree cocoon with coral beads.

Rafael Coronel

The Museo de los Pintores Oaxaqueños in coordination with Lourdes Sosa Gallery, Black Coffee Gallery Foundation and private collectors of the artist Rafael Coronel present the exhibition Retrofutura II.  The 43 pieces in the exhibition, including oils, acrylics and bronze sculptures, which were previously displayed in the tribute exhibition on the occasion of his 80th birthday by the Palace Museum of Fine Arts in Mexico City.

Rafael Coronel was born in 1931 in Zacatecas and is younger brother of the painter and sculptor Pedro Coronel and son-in-law of Diego Rivera (1886-1957).  He well represents the Ruptura (Rupture) movement in Mexico, also known as Nueva Presencia (New Presence). The movement consisted of a shift away from heroic Muralism toward a more traditional way of art. Coronel created paintings that lacked the forceful social statements of the Muralists' works. Coronel's paintings are ambiguous and suggest that man's efforts to control his destiny are futile. His paintings of old men and women, isolated and floating in nebulous space, have a melancholic sobriety, and include faces from the past great masters, often floating in a diffuse haze.  His paintings contain echoes of Goya and José Clemente Orozco and achieve dramatic effects through a skilful use of chiaroscuro (an Italian term which literally means light-dark) and tenebrist effects (from the Italian word "tenebroso" meaning dark describes a style of painting characterized by deep shadows and distinct contrast between light and dark). The psychology of the characters is captured with accuracy, and their appearance is carefully depicted, but the background in which they appear imbues them with an air of timelessness.

The vocation of being a painter was something hereditary for Rafael. His grandfather used to decorate churches. When his father told him that pedro, his brother, was studying to become a painter in Mexico city, he though it was one of the greatest wastes of time, because painters got no money from painting, even the greatest painters in Mexico had to appeal to other jobs.  When Rafael went to Mexico City he wanted to be a soccer player but after he arrived he became interested in architecture. In 1952 he won a scholarship in a painting contest with a work done with crayons.

He has also assembled in Zacatecas, in the restored convent of San Francisco, an important collection of masks from all over Mexico.  He has lived in the city of Cuernavaca since 1981.  For more pictures from the exhibition please visit my picasa web album.

Centro Fotográfico Manuel Álvarez Bravo

El Centro Fotográfico Manuel Álvarez Bravo (CFMAB) was formed as a nonprofit association in September 1996 by Francisco Toledo. Located in a colonial era home, it has rooms for temporary exhibitions devoted to photography, and a library specializing in history, theory, technique and dissemination of photography.  There is also an associated Music Library with recordings of various music genres (classical, jazz, blues, ethnic, etc.).

Workshops, book presentations and portfolios, screenings and guided tours are offered by the Photographic Center as part of commitment to promoting photographic work. It has a black and white professional laboratory, used in workshop sessions and can be used by previously accredited photographers.

The photographic collection Joseph F. Gómez was established in 1989 with collections of Joseph F. Gomez, Ignacio Zanabria and Manuel Alvarez Bravo acquired by Francisco Toledo.

Please check out my picasa web album for more pictures.  The center has a blog at http://www.cfmab.blogspot.mx/