Presentation of works from the collection
Mexico Mirrored in its Art
Prints, Independence, and Revolution
Under the aegis of the Mexican Embassy, the Kunstmuseum Bern is presenting 51 prints and a piece of sculpture that were generously donated by the Mexican Government to the museum as a token of the long-standing friendship and exceptional cooperation between Mexico and Switzerland.
The exhibition is showing contemporary art produced in conjunction with the 2010 project “Estampas, Independencia y Revolución” (Prints, Independence, and Revolution) organized by the Museo Nacional de la Estampa of the Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes in Mexico City. It brings together the work of famous Mexican and international artists—among them Leonora Carrington, Helen Escobedo, Adolfo Mexiac Calderón, Mimmo Paladino, and Roberto Turnbull.
The starting point of the project was the celebrations for Mexico’s Independence bicentenary and Mexican Revolution centenary. The participating artists, who were selected and invited by an academic committee, address the subject of freedom in their works. The results are provocative, sometimes socio-political, sometimes surrealistic or abstract answers to the question of the cultural identity of the Mexican people. The sheets were printed in numerous fine-art printmaking studios across the republic in editions limited to 100. Half of the prints were distributed among Mexican institutions and the remaining donated as gifts to leading public collections all over the world.
The Kunstmuseum Bern is exhibiting the woodcuts, lithographs, and etchings together with the only piece of sculpture by the grande dame of surrealism Leonora Carrington, who died only shortly after completing it. The presentation has been subdivided thematically into the four areas of history, figuration, surrealism, and abstraction, which sets the framework for our visitors to explore Mexico’s history and its contemporary art.
