Xicanx Month

August is Xicanx Month! This month commemorates the birth of the Chicano Arts Movement, a movement by Mexican American artists to establish a unique cultural identity in the United States that began in the 1960s. Below are a few highlights from Lovers & Fighters: Prints by Latino Artists in the SAMA Collection with Xicanx connections.

Mnesic Myths

Alma Lopez, American, born Mexico, 1966, Mnesic Myths, 1999, Screen print, Image: 20 × 16 in. (50.8 × 40.6 cm); Sheet: 26 × 20 in. (66 × 50.8 cm), San Antonio Museum of Art, gift of Ricardo and Harriett Romo, 2012.31.7, © Alma Lopez 

This work, Mnesic Myths, by Xicana artist Alma Lopez, draws inspiration from Aztec imagery. Here, a woman kneels over a sleeping woman, reminiscent of the tragic myth of the lovers Popocatepetl and Iztaccihuatl. Around the two figures are floral and aquatic imagery, butterflies, and a brilliant rainbow, further linking this work to images found in Aztec codices and reinterpreting them within a modern Xicanx context.  

Che

Richard Duardo, American, 1952-2014, Che, 2011, Screen print, 20 3/4 x 19 1/2 in. (52.7 x 49.5 cm), San Antonio Museum of Art, gift of Ricardo and Harriett Romo, 2013.15.34, © Estate of Richard Duardo 

Artist Richard Duardo was a master printer known for bold renditions of pop culture icons. Active in the Chicano community, he established the silkscreen print shop at Self Help Graphics and co-founded the politically engaged Centro de Arte Público. 

In this screen print, Durado depicts Che Guevara, an Argentine-born Marxist revolutionary respected for his advocacy for the poor and criticized for his violent role in the Cuban Revolution, as a saintly icon. The image of Guevara is based on a 1960 photograph by Alberto Korda. 

Los Dos Corazones

Delilah Montoya, American, born 1955, Los Dos Corazones, 2007, Screen print, Image: 16 × 19 1/8 in. (40.6 × 48.6 cm); Sheet: 22 1/8 × 29 in. (56.2 × 73.7 cm), San Antonio Museum of Art, gift of Ricardo and Harriett Romo, 2012.31.44, © Delilah Montoya 

Delilah Montoya’s Los Dos Corazones pays homage to renowned Chicano artist Luis Jiménez who died in 2006. The locket and small silver milagros (religious folk charms) were a gift from Jiménez to the artist. “Luis was a very warm, caring individual, and I hope people can get this sense of him when looking at this print,” she said. 

Sacred Heart

Sonia Romero, American, born 1980, Sacred Heart, 2013, Screen print, 33 × 45 5/8 in. (83.8 × 115.9 cm), San Antonio Museum of Art, gift of Ricardo and Harriett Romo, 2015.7.44, © Sonia Romero 

Sacred Heart merges Christian iconography with contemporary Chicano experience through the depiction of the devotion on a man’s tattoo-covered chest. Artist Sonia Romero’s print draws from the Catholic tradition of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. For Romero “the sacred heart represents the humanity within all of us.”