Mexican Art

Mexican art consists of various visual arts that developed over the geographical area now known as Mexico. The development of these arts roughly follows the history of Mexico, divided into the Mesoamerican era, the colonial period, with the period after Mexican War of Independence further subdivided.[1] Mesoamerican art is that produced in an area that encompasses much of what is now central andsouthern Mexico, before the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire for a period of about 3000 years from 1500 BCE to 1500 CE. During this time, all influences on art production were indigenous, with art heavily tied to religion and the ruling class. There was little to no real distinction among art, architecture, and writing. The Spanish conquest led to 500 years of colonial rule, but art productionremained tied to religion—most art was associated with the construction and decoration of churches as well as religious justification for continued rule by the Spanish. Almost all art produced was in the European tradition, but indigenous elements remained, beginning a continuous balancing act between European and indigenous traditions.[2]
After Independence, art remained heavily European instyle but indigenous themes appeared in major works due to the need for Mexico to distinguish itself from its colonial past. This preference for indigenous elements continued into the first half of the 20th century, with theSocial Realism or Mexican muralist movement led by artists such as Diego Rivera, David Alfaro Siqueiros, José Clemente Orozco, and Fernando Leal. The strength of this artisticmovement was such that it affected newly invented arts such as photography and strongly promoted folk art and crafts as part of Mexico’s identity. Since the 1950s, Mexican art has broken away from the muralist style and has been more globalized, integrating elements from Asia, with Mexican artists and filmmakers having an effect on the global stage.

The pre-Hispanic art of Mexico belongs to acultural region known asMesoamerica, which roughly corresponds to central Mexico on into Central America,[3] encompassing three thousand years from 1500 BCE to 1500 CE generally divided into three eras: Pre Classic, Classic and Post Classic.[4] The first dominant Mesoamerican culture was that of the Olmecs, which peaked around 1200 BCE. The Olmecs originated much of what is associated withMesoamerica, such as hieroglyphic writing, calendar, first advances in astronomy, monumental sculpture (Olmec heads) and jade work. They were forerunner of later cultures such as Teotihuacan, north of Mexico City, theZapotecs in Oaxaca and the Mayas in southern Mexico, Belize andGuatemala. While empires rose and fell, the basic cultural underpinnings of the Mesoamerica stayed the same until the Spanishconquest of the Aztec Empire.[5] These included cities centered on plazas, temples usually built on pyramid bases, Mesoamerican ball courts and a mostly common cosmology.[3]

While art forms such as a cave paintings and rock etchings date from earlier, the known history of Mexican art begins with Mesoamerican art created by sedentary cultures that built cities, and often, dominions.[4][5] While theart of Mesoamerica is more varied and extends over more time than anywhere else in the Americas, artistic styles show a number of similarities.[1][6] Unlike modern Western art, almost all Mesoamerican art was created to serve religious or political needs, rather than art for art’s sake. It is strongly based on nature, the surrounding political reality and the gods.[7] Octavio Paz states that"Mesoamerican art is a logic of forms, lines, and volumes that is as the same time a cosmology." He goes on to state that this focus on space and time is highly distinct from European naturalism based on the representation of the human body. Even simple designs such as stepped frets on buildings fall into this representation of space and time, life and the gods.[8]

Art was expressed on a variety of...