city at night

city at night

Thursday, March 28, 2024

The Threshold of the Abstract

I wrote yesterday that most of Mexico City's Museum of Modern Art is taken up with special exhibits, and I found only two of the five exhibits to be of any interest.  One of them was called "Enrique Echevarría: the Threshold of the Abstract".  I had never heard of Echevarría (1923-1972), but he was considered an important Mexican painter of his generation.  The exhibit shows how his work during his short lifetime became increasingly abstract.


"Self Portrait", 1964


Early in his career he spent a number of years in Spain, and his work is largely figurative... in other words, his subject matter is recognizable.


"The Chair" 1943



"Pío Baroja" 1953
(Baroja was a famous Spanish author.)




"Landscape without Name" 1953




"Ballerina" 1955




"Santillana del Mar" 1956
(Santillana del Mar is a town in northern Spain.)




"Doña Flor" 1956


By the 1960s his style had become increasingly abstract, although his subject matter was still recognizable.


"Soccer Players" 1962




"The Flutist" 1962




"Thought" 1964




"Ester Guitarist" 1965
(Ester was his wife.)


By the late 60s, his work had become completely abstract and largely non-representational.


"Offering No. 1" 1968




"Reminisces of Landscape" 1968




"Astronaut" 1968


Readers of this blog know that my artistic taste tends to be rather old fashioned, so it should come as no surprise that I much prefer his earlier works.  However, it was interesting to observe how his style evolved over the years.



Wednesday, March 27, 2024

A Disappointing Museum

Years ago, when I went to Mexico City's Museum of Modern Art in Chapultepec Park, I found it very disappointing.  For a country which produced so many famous artists in the 20th century, I thought that the number of works from its permanent collection that were on display was paltry.  (Like most museums, only a fraction of the permanent collection is on display at any given time.)  After being closed for renovations, the museum reopened recently. Last week I decided to return and see what changes had been made.  I found the museum even more disappointing than before. There were five temporary exhibitions on going on.  One was of 20th century Italian art, another of photographs of "brutalist" architecture.  Only two of the five did I find at all interesting.  (I will write about them separately.)  There was only ONE small gallery, with perhaps 20 pieces from its permanent collection on display... just 20 pieces to represent the entirety of 20th century art.  There was nothing at all by the "big three" of Mexican muralism, Diego Rivera, David Alfaro Siqueiros and José Clemente.  Pathetic!

Here are a few of the very few works from the museum's collection on display...

"Still Life" by María Izquierdo, 1928
Izquierdo was one of the first important woman painters in Mexico.  This is one of her early works, and I don't consider it one of her better paintings.




"Multiple Self Portrait" by Juan O'Gorman, 1950
An interesting work by O'Gorman who is best known for having created the mosaic murals covering all four sides of the library of the National University of Mexico.




"Homage to the Indian Race" by Rufino Tamayo, 1952
Although he is not really a favorite of mine, Tamayo is considered one of Mexico's greatest abstract painters.




"The Two Fridas" by Frida Kahlo, 1939
This is arguably the most famous work in the museum's collection.  I'm sure that Frida fans would have a fit if it were not on display.

If you want to see an overview of Mexican art, I suggest that you go to the Natonal Museum of Art downtown which includes a fairly sizeable gallery of 20th century works.

Tuesday, March 26, 2024

Construction in the Park

The principal entrance into Chapultepec Park is a walkway known as "la Avenida Juventud Heroica"... Heroic Youth Avenue.  It leads from the Paseo de la Reforma to "el Monumento a los Niños Héroes"... the Monument to the Boy Heroes.  Behind the monument is a hill crowned by Chapultepec Castle.

When I visited the park last week, the area around the monument was closed off by a barricade.  The sign said that the monument was undergoing "rehabilitation".  To visit the attractions of the park, such as the castle or the zoo, you need to circle around the construction area.


At that time, I need not see any work being done on the monument itself, but workers were replacing the marble paving stones on the plaza in front of it.



The monument honors the six teenaged cadets who died in the Battle of Chapultepec when the United States invaded Mexico City in 1847 at the end of the Mexican American War.  Chapultepec Castle was at that time the site of the "Colegio Militar" (the Mexican equivalent of West Point in the U.S.).  In those days the castle was on the outskirts of the city, and the Battle of Chapultepec was the Mexican army's final, desperate defense of the capital.  Although the young cadets had been ordered to leave the castle, many of them refused and continued to fight in the battle.  Six of them, between the ages of 13 and 19 died.  According to popular legend, one of them, Juan Escutia, wrapped himself in the Mexican flag and jumped to his death from the castle rather than let the flag fall into enemy hands.

 

Monday, March 25, 2024

In Tamaulipas

No, I did not travel to the northern Mexican state located along the Gulf of Mexico and which extends all the way to the U.S. border.  In fact, I have never been to Tamaulipas.  However, to honor the bicentennial of Tamaulipas as a state, there was an outdoor photographic exhibit at the entrance to Chapultepec Park.

Here are a few of the pictures on display...


The mountainous Sierra Madre region




Viewing dawn from a lookout in the Sierra Madre




A field of sunflowers
Tamaulipas is a major producer of sunflowers which are used for oil, livestock feed and the production of soaps and cosmetics.




Dancers celebrate the feast day of Our Lady of the Snows in the village of Palmillas.




A trio performing in front of the bandstand on the main plaza of Tampico, the state's capital




Fishermen with their catch of shrimp, which is sometimes referred to as the state's "pink gold"




On the terrace of an old hacienda house




The endangered Tamaulipas parrot




Agave plants cultivated for the production of mezcal




"Laguna la Escondida" in an urban park in the border city of Reynosa


Sunday, March 24, 2024

Orchid

Last weekend Alejandro and I were at Home Depot to pick up a few things for the apartment.  They had a large selection of orchids which were on sale.  I have never had an orchid before, but a friend of mine back in Ohio says that they are easy to grow.  After some hesitation, I went ahead and bought one.  It is in front of the living room window where it gets bright sunlight filtered through the sheer curtains.



The plant is in a plastic container filled with bark.  The directions say to water it every 10 to 12 days, although I know that my friend waters it by placing ice cubes in the container.  I am sure that when she reads this, she will give me some advice.

I set it in a small Mexican dish, but today we are going to the "tianguis (outdoor market) that is held every Sunday around the corner from the apartment.  I'll see if I can find an attractive pot in which to place it.

Saturday, March 23, 2024

As Night Falls

Last Saturday we left "Los Girasoles" Restaurant at dusk.  Here are some pictures that we took.


The statue of King Charles IV is silhouetted against the early evening sky.  Created by architect and sculptor Manuel Tolsá, it is considered one of finest equestrian statues in the world.  Because of anti-Spanish sentiment when Mexico won its independence, it came to be nicknamed "El Caballito" (The Little Horse) as if the King weren't even there.



Alejandro took this photo of busy HIdalgo Avenue with the belltowers and domes of the churches of San Juan de Dios and Santa Veracruz.



The Latin American Tower, one of the city's most iconic skyscrapers and the downtown flagship Sears building.



The Palace of Fine Arts is illuminated at night.  In the tents next to it a book fair was being held.  Other vendors had spread their wares on the sidewalk.  Downtown may be quiet on weeknights, but on weekends it is thronged with people until quite late.

Friday, March 22, 2024

Dinner at "Los Girasoles"

Because I had done some cooking, we ate in the apartment more than usual last weekend.  However, after visiting the handicraft exhibit on Saturday, I suggested that we eat out.  We went to a place that we had not visited in quite a while... a restaurant called "Los Girasoles" (The Sunflowers).  It is located on Plaza Tolsá in the Centro Histórico.  It's a somewhat expensive restaurant although the prices are not ridiculously outrageous.


(I actually took this photo after our dinner in the early evening.)

We both ordered the same thing.  We began with pistachio soup.



The presentation was very pretty.  That's an "obleo" (like a communion wafer) floating in the soup.  It is decorated with the restaurant's name and a picture of sunflowers.



For our main course, we both ordered chicken in peanut sauce.  So, I guess you could say that we had a very "nutty", but tasty dinner.







Since we were seated on the upper floor of the restaurant, we had a nice view of the Plaza Tolsá below us.  The building to the right is the National Museum of Art, and to the left is a late 18th century colonial building that was the School of Mining and which now belongs to the School of Engineering of the National University of Mexico.  In the center of the plaza is the equestrian statue of King Charles IV of Spain, commonly known as "El Caballito" (The Little Horse).  It was done in 1803 by the Spanish-born sculptor and architect Manuel Tolsá.



From a different window, you can see the side of the old School of Mining and poking up above it, the 20th century Latin American Tower.