Neighborhood News: Viva, Mexico! at Pilsen’s National Museum of Mexican Art

In a city rich with world-class museums, Pilsen’s National Museum of Mexican Art (NMMA), 1852 W. 19th Street, is the largest Latino museum nationwide, as well as the first accredited by the American Alliance of Museums. 

The building stands as a colorful tribute to the past and present of Mexican art. Visitors are greeted as they reach the building in Harrison Park, with tiled replicas of the friezes of Mitla in Oaxaca, Mexico. Once inside the free museum (one of the few in the country) you’ll find a showcase of one of the country’s largest collections of Mexican art and culture. 

According to TripAdvisor, make sure you see their vibrant textile collection, which includes indigenous outfits and weavings, folk art including masks and Día de los Muertos artifacts and ephemera documenting the Chicano Movement. 

The museum also provides resources, educational programs, and professional development for Mexican artists.  

Beginnings: A former CPS teacher finds his dream job

According to the museum’s website, founder Carlos Tortoleroworked as a teacher, counselor, and administrator in the Chicago Public Schools prior to organizing a group of fellow educators to establish the Mexican Fine Arts Center Museum, opening its doors in 1987. The goal, according to the website, was to establish an arts and cultural organization committed to accessibility, education and social justice. Additionally, the museum provided a positive influence for the local Mexican community, especially since many other art institutions did not address Mexican art. 

In 2001, the museum expanded to a 48,000 square-foot, state-of-the-art facility in the heart of Pilsen and in 2006, unveiled a new name, the National Museum of Mexican Art. 

Today: A Nationally Recognized Treasure, where Mexican Art and History Meet

Today, NMMA’s permanent collection includes more than 18,000 pieces from pre-Cuauhtemoc Mexico to the present, as well as a selection of contemporary productions presented at or by the Museum. 

The permanent exhibit ”Mexicanidad: Our Past is Present” explores the history of Mexico in five stages: ‘Pre-Cuauhtémoc Mexico, Colonial Mexico, Mexico from Independence to Revolution.’

The People Speak… 

“A beautiful art museum that is both fascinating, colorful and educating!” gushed a TripAdvisor reviewer. “The  museum has street parking around it as well as its own pay parking lot that isn’t expensive. Museum entry is FREE but you can make a donation. The museum is tastefully done, very well organized in sections and displays many art mediums (painting, sculptures, glass mosaics, pottery etc.) The history of Mexico is explained simply for everyone to understand and differentiate their culture from other Hispanic origins. We really enjoyed the day of the dead items, Diego Rivera sketch and Frida Kahlo wing exhibits.  Its galleries house impressive displays of contemporary, traditional, and Mesoamerican art from both sides of the border, as well as vivid exhibits that trace immigration woes and political struggles.” 

Neustria’s Historias: Stories of Mexican Identity 

A locally-based exhibit focuses on artist Carlos Cortéz (1925-2005), an artist, poet, illustrator, muralist, and activist.

Regarded as a political artist, both in practice and belief, he is best known for his prints and illustrations that address labor rights, union organizing, identity and culture. As a longstanding Chicago community activist, Cortéz was integral to the Museum’s founding and mission. The NMMA frequently exhibits his prints, and is the exclusive repository of the Carlos Cortéz Archive. You’ll find his printing press and personal effects on display in the exhibition. 

Spreading the news about Mexican Art through National Exhibitions

Twenty NMMA exhibits have traveled across the United States and six have traveled to Mexico, including The Art of the Other Mexico (1992), Maria Izquierdo (1996), The African Presence in Mexico (2006), and Frida’s Contemporaries: Women Artists of Modern Mexico (2007).

The National Mexican Museum of Modern Art is open Tuesday-Sunday, 10am-5pm, and is closed Mondays.

For more information, click here. 

Special Anti- Valentine’s Event 

This Friday, February 10, at 6pm,NMMA will host a free Anti-Valentine’s Day Party. The Museum’s youth initiative hosts a bash featuring music, food, dancing, art, and a stigma-free environment to learn about sexual health. Planned Parenthood, Lurie’s Children’s Hospital, and ICAN4All will be onsite to provide resources and answer questions. Bring your friends or your special date!  Also: Please note guests over 25 not admitted.

Alison Moran-Powers and Dean’s Team Chicago