The art of learning

Mexican textbook art on exhibit at Lehman College offers a window on a nation’s culture

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Lehman College is on a mission to strengthen relations with Mexico, and it’s starting with the best way the school knows how — through art.

Lehman signed an agreement last January with eight public Mexican universities in an effort to expand student and faculty exchange programs and research projects through the City University of New York’s Jaime Lucero Mexican Studies Institute — which happens to be housed at Lehman. 

The signing ceremony took place at the Lehman College Art Gallery, and not long after it was over, some people approached gallery director Bartholomew Bland about using the gallery space for a future Mexican art exhibit. So when the opportunity arose for the gallery to host “Pintando: Colors of Education,” Bland and his team jumped on it. 

“I think it’s really exciting for us to bring an interesting slice of Mexican culture to the New York area,” Bland said. 

“Pintando: Colors of Education” was curated by Laura Bazán from the Mexican National Commission of Public Textbooks. The organization partnered with the Consulate General of Mexico in New York to bring the paintings to Lehman through Sept. 22 after stops in Chicago and Los Angeles. Soon, the work will make its way back south of the border.

The paintings were first created between 1960 and 1962 to be included in school textbooks, and more were crafted for a short period between 1987 and 1988. The work revolves around depictions of Mexico’s leaders and its social movements. By the time the project made it to the late 1980s, the art had developed into more abstract work inspired by Mexico.

Upon first glance of the exhibition, Bland believes the paintings have a lot to say about how the work carried civic ideals forward to the students who used these textbooks.

The work, however, goes beyond a strictly political agenda.

“I think it says a tremendous amount about how education is perceived, how we view history, and how artists change,” Bland said. “It’s much less in the service of this kind of sociopolitical narrative and much more about the individual artist expressing themselves.”

One piece that stands out to Bland is “La Patria” by Jorge González Camarena. The 1962 painting features a woman holding a book in one hand and the Mexican flag in the other. The woman, he said, is painted similar to the Statue of Liberty, continuing a traditional trend of female figures symbolizing patriotic wisdom.

“It’s interesting because (the women are) always a generalized allegorical figure,” Bland said. “It’s never Elizabeth Cady Stanton, or someone who was a real person who might’ve been making a difference. It’s always this very glamorized female form relating back to ancient Greece and this sort of classicism of that.”

After planning the exhibition’s six-week stay at the gallery, Bland has learned a lot about Mexican culture, even planning to visit the country in the fall. He hopes the exhibition motivates visitors to learn as much about the country’s culture as they can.

“A lot of contemporary Mexican artists are not that well known by the American general public,” Bland said, “so that’s one thing that’s very exciting.”

In the future, Bland wants to put together more shows highlighting different cultures from around the world. For now, however, he’s focused on how “Pintando” will give visitors a chance to understand the country from a different perspective, especially because of the current political issues surrounding Mexico at the moment with talks of building walls and severely curtailing immigration from the south.

“I think this is the perfect time to be having a show that really deals with optimizing and showing the best side of (the) country, the best side of people,” Bland said. “I hope that will be something inspiring to people who come to the gallery.”

Lehman College, Jaime Lucero Mexican Studies Institute, Lehman College Art Gallery, Bartholomew Bland, Pintando: Colors of Education, Laura Bazán, Mexican National Commission of Public Textbooks, Consulate General of Mexico in New York, La Patria, Jorge González Camarena, Tiffany Moustakas

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