Mexico - 2018 Miguel Lerdo de Tejada Library

I spent the better part of one day just wandering around downtown in conjunction with some errand, just seeing what I could see, looking for photo ops, admiring the old buildings. 

This looked intriguing 

so I looked for a way into the building around it and entered what had once been a chapel: la Capilla de la Emperatriz del Palacio Nacional.  In the mid 19th century it was turned into a theatre and in the 1960s, converted to the Miguel Lerdo de Tejada Library, housing publications of an economic nature operated by the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit of Mexico.  


It's a lovely space but what's most arresting are the murals that fill the entire space.  

These were created by the Russian-Mexican painter, Vladimir Victorovich Kibalchich Rusakov, known as Vlady, who came to Mexico as a refugee from Russia with his father.  He was greatly influenced by the Mexican muralists and his murals continued the revolutionary theme.  

What a pleasant surprise to stumble on this place.  It's not on the tourist track and my friend, Alfonso, had not heard of it.  When I was there I neglected to take down any information and spent a long time finding information about it.  

This was my first surprise of the day.

Mexico 2018 - Museo Rufino Tamayo

Rufino Tamayo was another very important Mexican artist. Born in Oaxaca of Zapotec heritage, he was active in mid twentieth century in Mexico and New York.  After his parents died, he moved to Mexico City where an aunt enrolled him in art school and he dabbled with various art movements and acquired his skills.  When he left school he went to work for José Vasconcelos at the Department of Ethnographic Drawings.  Vasconcelos was a very influential figure in education and art it seems, referring to my last post.  It turns out that there are other libraries in Mexico City that bear his name.  But, back to Tamayo.  In his art he expressed what he envisioned as the traditional Mexico and eschewed the overt political art of such contemporaries as José Clemente Orozco, Diego Rivera, David Siqueiros. He disagreed with these muralists in their belief that the revolution was necessary for the future of Mexico but considered, instead, that the revolution would harm Mexico.  In any case, the museum he created in Mexico City is very modern and quite beautiful.  

 

A few of his works:

Rufino Tamayo (right)

Mexico 2018 - Biblioteca de México "José Vasconcelos"

This public library is right next door to the Centro de Imagens featured in the last post.  Both of these institutions are on Plaza de La Ciudadela where there is also a huge artisan market and where, on Saturdays, people get all duded up and come to dance Cuban Son.  

It's another one of those oases in the midst of the hustle and bustle of CDMX.  José Vasconcelos, lawyer, politician, philosopher and writer, was the first Sercetary of Education under president Álvaro Obregón in 1920 and was the first director of the library founded in 1946.  

 

Something completely different:

Do not attempt this at home

Another one of the places I always make a point of visiting in Mexico City is the Centro de la Imagen, primarily a school of photography offering a variety of degree courses (Masters in Contemporary Latin Aamerican Photography, Masters in Documentary Photography, Career in Professional Photography, etc) and also has a very nice exhibition space showing not only student works but exhibits of international photographers. 

Across the street

Mexico 2018 - Belles Artes 2

The other exhibit I liked at the Belles Artes was of the works and collection of Roberto Montenegro, a painter, muralist and illustrator as well as a collector and promoter of indigenous arts.

From his collection:

That's Life

Some of Montenegro's works

Portrait of Sergei Eisenstein, Russian film director best known for "Battleship Potemkin" made in 1925.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergei_Eisenstein

Some clown on my block