Women Artists of Modern Mexico: : Frida’s Contemporaries

June 22 – September 2, 2007

Black and white photo of woman in white dress reclining on wooden log

Lola Álvarez Bravo, El ensueño (The Dream), Isabel Villaseñor, Chachalacas, Veracruz, 1941, silver gelatin print, Private Collection

This exhibition showcased the artistic works of 26 women who have produced art since the beginning of the twentieth century. These artists used painting, photography, printmaking, and sculpture to provide a view of modernity through different perspectives and approaches. They were creators, muses, and purveyors of a social conscience. These exceptional women were not limited to the visual arts, as their expressions also included music, dance, literature, theater and cinema.

Participating Artists

Lola Álvarez Bravo (1907-1993), Carmen Antúnez (1900-1981), Angelina Beloff (1879-1969), Rosario Cabrera (1901-1975), Celia Calderón (1921-1969), Leonora Carrington (b.1917), Rosa Castillo (1910-1989) Elizabeth Catlett (b.1919), Olga Costa (1913-1993), Lola Cueto (1897-1978) Andrea Gómez (b.1926), Kati Horna (1912-2000), Elena Huerta (1908-1999), Maria Izquierdo (1902-1955), Sarah Jiménez Vernis (b.1928), Frida Kahlo (1907-1954), Rina Lazo (b.1928), Tina Modotti (1896-1942), Fanny Rabel (b.1922), Alice Rahon (1914-1987), Aurora Reyes (1908-1985), Rosa Rolando (1895-1970), Cordelia Urueta (1908-1995), Remedios Varo (1908-1963), Isabel Villaseñor (1909-1953), and Mariana Yampolsky (1925-2002)

Curator

Dolores Mercado assisted by Tomás Zurián

Organizing Institution

National Museum of Mexican Art

Displayed at

National Museum of Mexican Main Gallery

Gallery View

All images below are a glimpse into the exhibition for those who could not attend in person.

Traveling exhibition venues

Museo Mural Diego Rivera, Mexico City (Mujeres artistas en el México de la Modernidad: Las contemporáneas de Frida July 15 – August 12, 2008)

Exhibition Highlights

1 / 10María Izquierdo, Retrato de Belém (Portrait of Belém), 1928, oil on canvas, Andrés Blaisten Collection
2 / 10Angelina Beloff on back wall (visible from L-R): Calle de Liverpool (Liverpool Street), 1953; Alameda de Santa María (Santa Maria Park), 1958
3 / 10Gallery view
4 / 10Dolores Velásquez de Cueto (Lola Cueto), Tehuana (Woman from Tehuantepec), 1923, textile, Private Collection
5 / 10Lola Cueto (visible from L-R): Mercado (Market), 1925; Woman from Tehuana / Tehuantepec, 1923; Quimera #8 / Chimera #8, 1959; Un Vía Crucis (The Way of the Cross), 1950; El torito (The Little Bull), 1948
6 / 10Rosario Cabrera (visible from L-R): Casa roja (Red House), 1926; Paisaje (Landscape), 1928; Muchacha de rebozo azul (Girl with a Blue Rebozo), 1922
7 / 10Olga Costa (visible from L-R): Ofrenda de Muertos (Day of the Dead Offering), 1965-67; Flores secas (Dry Flowers), 1962; Campos labrantíos (Planted Fields), 1968
8 / 10(Central image) Frida Kahlo, La venadita (The Little Deer), 1946, oil on Masonite, Private Collection
9 / 10Lola Álvarez Bravo, El ensueño (The Dream), Isabel Villaseñor, Chachalacas, Veracruz, 1941, silver gelatin print, Private Collection
10 / 10Remedios Varo, Papilla estelar (Stellar Pablum), 1958, oil on masonite, Courtesy of Gary and Kathie Heidenreich and Frey Norris Gallery

1 / 10Kati Horna, Paraguas (Umbrellas), 1937, photograph, Kati Horna / Private Collection
2 / 10Aurora Reyes, Niños y estrella (Boys and Star), 1938, oil on canvas, Héctor y Ernesto Godoy Lagunes Collection
3 / 10Gallery view
4 / 10Cordelia Urueta, Torre de Agresión (Tower of Aggression), 1975, oil on canvas, Collection Pago en Especie, SHCP Recaudación 1979, (681 CUS)
5 / 10Elizabeth Catlett, Madre e hijo (Mother and Child), n.d., bronze sculpture, Langdon and Isobel Neal Collection
6 / 10Celia Calderón, La muñeca (The Doll), 1966, oil on canvas, Andrés Blaisten Collection
7 / 10Rosa Castillo, Mujer sentada (Seated woman), 1961, bronze sculpture, Ma. de Lourdes Castillo Collection
8 / 10Gallery view
9 / 10Gallery view
10 / 10Andrea Gómez, La niña de la basura (The Girl from the Trash), 2006, linocut, 2006.115