The Lehman College Art Gallery, the Mexican National Commission of Public Textbooks and the Consulate General of Mexico in New York Present  
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Pintando: Colors of Education
Masterpieces by renowned 20^th-century Mexican artists

On view August 13 – September 22, 2018

Lehman College Art Gallery, the Mexican National Commission of Public Textbooks and the Institute for Mexicans Abroad through the Consulate General of Mexico in New York present Pintando: Colors of Education, which features more than three dozen paintings by renowned 20^th-century painters based in Mexico. The exhibition, curated by Laura H. Bazán of the Mexican National Commission of Public Textbooks, includes artists, such as Manuel Felguérez, Leonora Carrington and Jorge González Camarena.

The paintings, widely recognized as treasures of Mexican heritage, were commissioned by The National Commission of Public Textbooks to illustrate the covers of books used in Mexico’s schools.  This special six-week presentation in New York City is the final stop in the United States on an international tour that included showings at the main libraries in Chicago and Los Angeles. The exhibition travels to Colombia, Bogota this fall.

The paintings in Pintando were created between 1960-62 and 1987-88 and present Mexico by depicting its national heroes who led their country’s social movements and struggle for independence. The paintings also show Mexico through landscapes of its countryside and with allegory and symbols that depict the mother country in images that embody civic virtues. The artists, who belonged to the Mexican art movements El Muralismo and La Ruptura, were deeply committed to education and proud of their country.

A related program series, sponsored by the Jamie Lucero Mexican Studies Institute at the City University of New York, based at Lehman College features Mexican and Mexican-American visual artists on September Tuesdays at 1 pm at the Lehman College Art Gallery, Fine Arts Building, 250 Bedford Park Blvd. West.  The programs are free and open to the public.

September 4 - Andrea Arroyo
Women in Mexican Textbooks

Women have played an important role, both as artists and as muses in many works in the exhibition. Arroyo will delve into the fascinating story of the woman who served as models for the book's iconic cover images.

September 11 - Felipe Galindo
Art in Textbooks as a Reflection of the Artistic Panorama in Mexico

Galindo speaks from a personal experience about art movements and cultural policies in Mexico that influenced the images on the covers of student textbooks between 1959 and 1987.

September 18 – Diego Anaya
The Impact of an Image Through Time 

Anaya explores how images linger in our memory without us knowing its origin or purpose, and how we create personal associations that give images our own meaning.

Lehman College Relationship with Mexico

Pintando: Colors of Education at Lehman College celebrates an agreement signed this year between the college, the Jaime Lucero Mexican Studies Institute, and eight of Mexico’s public universities to lead to more student and faculty exchange opportunities. The Mexican Studies Institute seeks to foster research with and about Mexico and Mexicans in the United States, and encourages collaboration with community-based organizations to support and empower the Mexican immigrant community.

Lehman College has deep ties with the nation of Mexico. In 2013 the college became the only official recipient in the United States of an Olmec Head. The statue—a replica of “The King”—was the first sculpture of its kind to be unearthed in San Lorenzo Tenochtitlán, Veracruz, Mexico in 1964. The replica was a gift from Mexico to celebrate the first anniversary of the Mexican Studies Institute at CUNY and was installed adjacent to Lehman College’s main plaza. 


About Lehman College Art Gallery

Lehman College Art Gallery was founded in 1984 to serve as an arts center for the people of the Bronx that would play a significant role in the cultural life of the borough. Today, the gallery is an innovative center of contemporary art where visitors from the Bronx and the Greater New York area can experience thematic group exhibitions that bring together famous artists with emerging talents.

The Jaime Lucero Mexican Studies Institute at CUNY seeks to boost enrollment of Mexican and Mexican-American students, foster research with and about Mexico and Mexicans in the United States and collaborate with community-based organizations to support and empower the Mexican immigrant community. With a special focus on Mexicans in the diaspora, especially Mexicans in New York City. The Institute offers a space for the Mexican community to consider its own and an institutional location for support of scholarly and community advocacy projects.

About the Mexican National Commission of Public Textbooks

The National Commission of Public Textbooks was created on February 12, 1959 during the administration of President Adolfo López Mateos, who believed in education as a tool to consolidate Mexico as an emerging nation. Through the establishment of the National Plan for the Expansion and Improvement of Primary Education in Mexico, known as the Plan of 11 years, the Commission was created with the intention of distributing public textbooks to all corners of Mexico. Thus, Jaime Torres Bodet, Secretary of Education and Martín Luis Guzmán, President of the Commission, began the production of public textbooks in 1960, distributing educational materials to an enrollment of almost 5 million students.

Today the National Commission of Public Textbooks is a decentralized public institution in charge of producing, storing and distributing Public Textbooks and Educational Materials to students enrolled in the Mexican National Educational System and to donate collections of books to the United States of America.

About the Consulate General of Mexico in New York

The Consulate General of Mexico in New York works tirelessly to provide documentation and protection services to the Mexican community living in the tri-state area, as well as to defend the rights of its citizens in the United States. It also implements comprehensive programs that facilitate the integration and empowerment of the community; in areas such as education, health, financial education, capacity-building and culture. It promotes mutually beneficial relations that contribute to strengthen bridges of understanding between communities, societies and countries.

About the curator

Laura H. Bazán has a degree in Art History and has worked in Mexico's artistic field since 2012. During that time, she has been working closely with independent curators and visual artists, and collaborating with local and international galleries. After an internship at Christie's Mexico in 2015, Laura started gaining experience in the international art market and art collections, she worked in an international art investment fund and the “Adrastus Collection”. In 2018 she became the main curator of the pictorial collection of the National Commission of Public Textbooks, where she has been responsible for developing and managing international exhibitions in collaboration with the consulates of Mexico in the United States and Latin America.