Winfield, Fernando N.;
(2012)
The avant-garde in the architecture and visual arts of Post-Revolutionary Mexico.
Architecture_MPS
, 1
(3)
pp. 1-19.
10.14324/111.444.amps.2012v1i3.001.
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Abstract
Commenting on an exhibition of contemporary Mexican architecture in Rome in 1957, the polemic and highly influential Italian architectural critic and historian, Bruno Zevi, ridiculed Mexican modernism for combining Pre-Columbian motifs with modern architecture. He referred to it as 'Mexican Grotesque'. Inherent in Zevi's comments were an attitude towards modern architecture that defined it in primarily material terms; its principle role being one of "spatial and programmatic function". Despite the weight of this Modernist tendency in the architectural circles of Post-Revolutionary Mexico, we suggest in this paper that Mexican modernism cannot be reduced to such "material" definitions. In the highly charged political context of Mexico in the first half of the 20th Century, modern architecture was perhaps above all else, a tool for propaganda. In this political atmosphere it was undesirable, indeed it was seen as impossible, to separate art, architecture and politics in a way that would be a direct reflection of Modern architecture's European manifestations. Form was to follow function, but that function was to be communicative as well as spatial and programmatic. One consequence of this "political communicative function" in Mexico was the combination of the "mural tradition" with contemporary architectural design; what Zevi defined as "Mexican Grotesque". In this paper, we will examine the political context of Post-Revolutionary Mexico and discuss what may be defined as its most iconic building; the Central Library at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Mexico. In direct counterpoint to Zevi, we will suggest that it was far from grotesque, but rather was one of the most committed political statements made by the Modern Movement throughout the Twentieth Century. It was propaganda, it was political. It was utopian.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | The avant-garde in the architecture and visual arts of Post-Revolutionary Mexico |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.14324/111.444.amps.2012v1i3.001 |
| Publisher version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.14324/111.444.amps.2012v1i3.0... |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | © The Author. This article is available on the agreed terms of open access. Users are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles in this journal without asking prior permission from the publisher or the author. This is in accordance with the BOAI definition of open access. Users are expected to fully cite and reference the sources of any material accessed under this agreement. Images by José María Dávila; Fernando N. Winfield and Burian, Edward R. (1998): ‘La arquitectura de Juan O´Gorman. Dicotomía y deriva’ in Burian, Edward R. ed.: Modernidad y Arquitectura en México. Mexico: Gustavo Gili. Copyright agreements have been supplied by the author to ARCHITECTURE MEIDA POLITICS SOCIETY. For enquires on copyright of the text and its images contact the author. carpediem33mx@yahoo.com.mx For information on the journal see: www.architecturemps.com |
| URI: | https://discovery-pp.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1475220 |
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