United by their belief in the importance of the human image in art, they distanced themselves both from the social realism of their predecessors and from the pure abstraction of many of their contemporaries. Shifra Goldman begins with a brief examination of the era and issues of muralism and the art of Rufino Tamayo. She then focuses on the confrontation between socially conscious art and "pure painting" that began in the late 1950s and resulted in the formation of Nueva Presencia.

Presents eighty fundamental Works by more than forty outstanding Mexican artists active in the first half of the twentieth Century. This period was one of great creativity, intense experimentation, and cultural development, and the artists and patrons of the Works in this Collection were intensely driven by the need to create an aesthetic identity that would represent Mexico as a nation state.

Infinitas Gracias is the first collection of the work of Alfredo Vilchis Roque, one of Mexico's most famous contemporary painters, and his sons. In the tradition of Catholic votives, each painting tells a miraculous tale and gives thanks to the intervening saint. Ablaze with intense color hearkening back to the natural pigment dyes of ancient Mexico, these works portray the kaleidoscope of issues that constitute modern urban existence. With over 200 paintings, from circus adventures to household accidents to adultery, drugs, and prostitution, Infinitas Gracias weaves together a bizarre tapestry of stories, some disturbing, some comical -- all unerringly wrought and profoundly touching.

Essays discuss pre-Columbian art, the influence of European art on the Mexican muralists, and the abstract art of Tamayo

With works by nearly fifty artists, including Richard Duardo, Sam Coronado, Vincent Valdez, Alex Rubio, Ester Hernández, Patssi Valdez, Gronk, César Martínez, and Luis Jiménez, this volume presents one of the most important collections of contemporary Mexican American prints in existence.

This is a new release of the original 1940 edition.

"The little-known story of viceregal Mexico is told by an international team of scholars whose work was previously available only piecemeal or not at all in English. Much of their research was undertaken especially for this volume."--BOOK JACKET.