This new interpretive history of Mexican art and architecture from the Spanish Conquest to the early decades of the 21st century is the most comprehensive introduction to the subject in fifty years. James Oles ranges widely across media and genres, offering new readings of paintings, murals, sculptures, buildings, prints and photographs. He interprets major works by such famous artists as Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo, but also discusses less familiar figures who were equally important in the construction of national identity. The story of Mexican art is set in its rich historical context by the book's treatment of political and social change. The author draws on recent scholarship to examine crucial issues of race, class and gender, including an exploration of the work of indigenous artists during the colonial period, and of women artists in the 19th and 20th centuries. Throughout, Oles shows how artists in Mexico participated in local and international developments, and highlights the important role played by Mexicans in the art world of the last five centuries.

Diego Rivera's America revisits a historical moment when the famed muralist and painter, more than any other artist of his time, helped forge Mexican national identity in visual terms and imagined a shared American future in which unity, rather than division, was paramount. This volume accompanies a major exhibition highlighting Diego Rivera's work in Mexico and the United States from the early 1920s through the mid-1940s. During this time in his prolific career, Rivera created a new vision for the Americas, on both national and continental levels, informed by his time in both countries. Rivera's murals in Mexico and the U.S. serve as points of departure for a critical and contemporary understanding of one of the most aesthetically, socially, and politically ambitious artists of the twentieth century. Works featured include the greatest number of paintings and drawings from this period reunited since the artist's lifetime, presented alongside fresco panels and mural sketches. This catalogue serves as a guide to two crucial decades in Rivera's career, illuminating his most important themes, from traditional markets to modern industry, and devoting attention to iconic paintings as well as works that will be new even to scholars-revealing fresh insights into his artistic process. Published by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art in association with University of California Press Exhibition dates: San Francisco Museum of Modern Art: July 16, 2022-January 1, 2023 Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas: March 11-July 31, 2023