19th Century Mexican Art Essay

During the 19th century, there were many artists who were under the impression that they could not create art pieces such as, modernist abstraction, naturalistic realism, panoramic landscape, or reclining nudes (Pohl 359). This led to the artists traveling south of Mexico in the 1920s (Pohl 359). Mexico’s artistic scene, cheaper cost of living, beautiful climate, and intriguing culture caught the interest of a lot of different artists and pursued them moving (Pohl 359). The image so many artists were interested in capturing through their works of art was the faultless Mexican peasant rather than the radical one (Pohl 360). This concept they had was formed off the tourist writings (Pohl 360).

One of the first artists to arrive in the country after the revolution was Lowell Houser (1902-1971) (Pohl 360). He produced the painting, “Ajijic Maidens Carrying Water Jars” (Pohl 360). The purpose behind this painting was to share the idea that the women matched the same detail in

Weston was very interested in Mexican folk and popular art which included objects done by hand and were typically made by people who lived in small towns and had next to no practice in the making of this art (Pohl 362). This art was considered to be conventional and grabbed the attention of many tourists (Pohl 362). A form of folk art was sent to the Los Angeles area and was thought of to be the first dominant display of Mexican popular art in the United States (Pohl 362). In “Pajaro Blanco” (1926), “Weston pinpointed form and texture by isolating and cropping the object” (Pohl 363). He changed the bird’s normal look by removing its legs and set it on a platform that made it look as if the bird was flying away (Pohl 363). Weston gave credit to Mexican folk and its ability to guide him in his pursuit of “rendering the very substance and quintessence of the thing itself” (Pohl