Estampas de la Raza: Contemporary Prints from the Romo Collection
About
Estampas de la Raza chronicles the unique heritage, history, and experience of Mexican Americans and Latinos in an exhibition of 61 large-scale framed screenprints and lithographs. This body of prints comprises an essential but largely overlooked aspect of contemporary American art, focusing on prints made by Mexican American and Latino artists during and after the Chicano art movement of the 1960s and 1970s.
Estampas de la Raza is organized thematically in the following sections: the melding of Mexican and American cultures; Hispanic icons like Frida Kahlo, Che Guevara, and César Chávez; the struggle for equality and labor rights; the search for Mexican American identity; and the influence of Latino culture on contemporary American life and art.
Harriett and Ricardo Romo are among the most important collectors of Chicano art in the United States. Both are lifelong educators, and began collecting this material at the beginning of their teaching careers in East Los Angeles in the 1970s. The Romos understood that collecting Chicano art was a means of supporting the movement as well as championing greater pride in the unique culture and history of the Chicano community.
Their gift to the McNay Art Museum, from which this exhibition is organized, constitutes one of the largest and most important collections of this material in the United States.
Lender
McNay Art Museum
Space Requirements
400 linear feet
Loan Duration
8-12 week loan
