July 8, 2016—The San Antonio Museum of Art is pleased to present Carlos Mérida: Selections From the Permanent Collection, July 8, 2016 through January 29, 2017 in the Golden Gallery. This small exhibition features 30 works that express Mérida's diversity of themes and media, and show his progression as an artist. This selection is from the Museum's archives.
"Mérida is one of the first artists to fuse European modern painting to Latin American themes," said Curator of Latin American Art Marion Oettinger. "It's exciting to share these works from the Museum's archives with the public."
Born in Guatemala, Mérida paid homage to his own pre-Columbian roots through figurative illustrations of the ancient Maya world and the indigenous populations of his youth. He then went on to become one of Mexico's first successful abstract artists. Mérida lived and worked in Mexico for much of his life but was inspired by his travels in Europe. In 1910, he visited Paris and became intrigued by the avant-garde artists, such as Modigliani and Picasso. Mérida returned to Europe in the late 1920s, and fell under the influence of Surrealism, Constructivism, and Geometric Abstraction.
The Museum has acquired excellent examples of Mérida's works, and its collection illustrates the artist's broad diversity of themes and media –from his Images of Guatemala (1925-27) to his Birds of Paradise (1936) and his The Three Kings (1965). In 2014, the Museum acquired an important set of Mérida's original gouaches, which were used to create the artist's popular portfolio Mexican Costume (1941) of 25 serigraphs. Lastly, the large and impressive glass mosaic mural that Mérida made for Hemisfair'68 has been reinstalled in the newly refurbished Convention Center.
The exhibition is free with general admission through January 29, 2017.
Carlos Mérida (Guatemalan, 1891–1984), Untitled, 1925–1927, Sin Titulo, Part of Imágenes de Guatemala, Lithograph, h. 9 in. (22.8 cm); w. 13 in. (33 cm), San Antonio Museum of Art, Purchased with funds by the Friends of Latin American Art in memory of Ted Warmbold and from the Friends of Contemporary Art, 1995.54.4
