Mexican Cultural Institute

Mexican Cultural Institute

Today I went with my area studies class to the Mexican Cultural Institute.  Technically the Mexican Cultural Institute is part of the Mexican Embassy, which means it is part of Mexico's soil.  That also means that I went to Mexico today!  Whew, that was a quick trip!
Anyway, it was really interesting.  The house was built in the beginning of the 20th century.  It is huge!  4 stories with different building techniques, French, Italian, British, and now with Mexican murals painted in the stairway.  It is quite an impressive building.  The Mexican embassy used to be there, and the ambassador also used to live there (not sure if that was at the same time, or not) but has since been converted into the cultural center.  It is basically all original, but they made minor modifications to the main floor for the gallery.

Stairwell with beginning of the mural

It was really interesting to hear about the murals.  The painter, a student of Diego Riviera, painted himself into the mural along with a woman (who was the ambassador's ? secretary) with whom he fell in love.  Even though they never married, her face appears through out the murals.  It seems like her face is on the body of every woman in the mural.  He also painted Carlos Fuentes (a Mexican author who was the son of the ambassador at the time), Frida Kahla (Diego's wife) and Diego Riviera himself.  They speculate that all the faces are of people that he knew, but they don't know all of those people.
Anyway, the mural depicts Mexico of that era (30s-40s), as well as some important historical and cultural events, including Christopher Columbus and Quetzalcoatl.  The part I really liked showed North and South America joined by a handshake.  It has great American (as in North and South American) leaders around it, such as George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Benito Juarez, and 3 others who I can't remember.
They also have Mexican art on exhibit, including a painting by Frida Kahla, and another by Diego Riviera.  I didn't recognize the names of anyone else, but there were a couple that were very interesting to me.

Estados Unidos Mexicanos - these seals are not the
real seals of these states, they were made up by the artist,
who is not the same artist who painted the mural.

Americas joined by grasped hands,
see if you can figure out who the leaders are!

This is a really old organ that was built into
the house.  It has a thousand some pipes,
that all work.  There are also some pipes
on the floor above, but those don't
work, due to some children who thought
it would be fun if the organs blew bubbles...

The kid on the far left is Carlos Fuentes.

Frida and Diego are seen in the background here.

The artist and his love.

Quetzalcoatl pointing to Columbus as an indication of the
ancient prophecy.

The Spanish Conquistadors.  There were
only two escape routes, the cross (aka
conversion to Catholicism) or the sword.

A painting by Remedios Varo.  This was
probably my favorite from the exhibit.
It is called Papulla estelar, painted in 1958 with
oil on masonite.  The woman here is
feeding the captive moon bits of stars.