Stanley Marcus ‘Mexico’ collection on view at SMU’s Hawn Gallery
Taxco is Festive, from Mexico in Color, Elma Pratt, limited edition, number 183, silk screened by Adrian Duran, Mexico: 1947. From the collection Stanley Marcus. Gift of Linda Marcus, 2003 Portfolio, Folio-3 ND237.P825 A45 1947.
DALLAS – In celebration of the centennial of the Mexican Revolution in 2010, the Mildred Hawn Gallery in SMU’s Hamon Arts Library is featuring an exhibit of historic books and portfolios from Mexico, on view through Aug. 29. The items are part of the Stanley Marcus Collection at SMU’s DeGolyer Library. Marcus, from the family of the founders of the exclusive Neiman Marcus store, was a passionate book collector who assembled a truly remarkable private library, numbering about 8,000 volumes and ranging across the centuries.
The exhibit includes a portfolio of drawings and color prints from prominent Mexican artist Rufino Tamayo, dated 1949-1950 and depicting animals and abstractions. They’re accompanied by photos and letters between Marcus and Tamayo. “The Fight for Liberty,” a 1944 lithograph of a mural by Jose Clemente Orozco, is also highlighted, along with a book featuring Diego Rivera’s mural of the Mexican Revolution. Portraits of the artists themselves – Tamayo, Rivera and Orozco – are displayed in the portfolio “Drawings of 13 Mexican Painters” by Carlos Orozco Romero (1939). Also featured is a portfolio of black and white woodcut-style prints by Jose Guadalupe Posada depicting revolutionary leader Emiliano Zapata, calaveras and more.
Other cases in the exhibit include depictions of historical monuments and daily life. Vibrant silkscreened prints from the 1947 portfolio “Mexico in Color” by Elma Pratt show a man carrying flowers on a bamboo pole, women with baskets of corn balanced on their heads, and a colorful altar scene. Ancient monuments from Central America, Chiapas and Yucatan are the subject of a book by Frederick Catherwood, dated 1965. Also featured are black and white photographs taken by Marcus himself during visits to Mexico in the 1930s, in an album titled “This Is Mexico.”
The Hawn Gallery is on the first floor of the Hamon Arts Library, 6100 Hillcrest Ave. on the campus of SMU. The gallery is open during regular library hours. Summer hours, through Aug. 24, are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mon. – Fri. and 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. Thurs.; the library is closed Sat. and Sun. Regular hours begin Wed., August 25, and are 8 a.m. to midnight Mon. through Thurs.; 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Fri.; 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sat.; and 1 p.m. to midnight Sun. Admission is FREE. For more information, please call 214.768.2661.
The celebration of the Mexican centennial will continue in the fall with the exhibit “Mexico: Porfiriato to Revolution, 1876-1920,” from Sept.7-Dec. 17 at SMU’s DeGolyer Library, 6404 Hyer Lane. It will feature photographs, manuscripts and printed materials from Mexico including pictures of the fighting and carnage of the Mexican Revolution, Porfirio Diaz and other government leaders, native peoples, railroads, mining, agriculture, and the Mexican 1910 Centennial celebration. There will also be loan materials from Elmer Powell’s extensive Mexican Revolution collection.
For online Mexican collections, see: http://digitalcollections.smu.edu/all/cul/mex/index.html. For questions and more information, contact Anne E. Peterson, Curator of Photographs, DeGolyer Library, Southern Methodist University, at apeterso@smu.edu.
ADDITIONAL LOTS OF NOTE
Emilio Zapata, from José Guadalupe Posada, 50 aniversario de su muerte, Paul Westheim; Justino Fernández, México: Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes, 1963. From the collection Stanley Marcus. Gift of Linda Marcus, 2003 Portfolio NE546.P6M47 1963.
Drawings by Tamayo, Rufino Tamayo, Mexico, D.F.: Ediciones Mexicanas, 1950. From the collection Stanley Marcus. Gift of Linda Marcus, 2003. Portfolio, Folio NC1095.T35 G38 1950.
Drawings by Tamayo, Rufino Tamayo, Mexico, D.F.: Ediciones Mexicanas, 1950. From the collection Stanley Marcus. Gift of Linda Marcus, 2003. Portfolio, Folio NC1095.T35 G38 1950.
