VIVAN LOS ARTESANOS!

1980. 48 pages. 33 black and white photographs and 22 color photographs. Foreword by Patricia B. Altman, Associate Curator, Folk Art Museum of Cultural History, UCLA. Exhibition catalogue with complete list.

From our Previous Exhibition. Guest-curated and designed by Fred and Barbara Meiers, world authorities and museum consultants on Mexican folk art.

This exhibition included objects used in daily life and on ceremonial occasions--pottery, textiles, painting, masks, toys, parade objects and chests made of indigenous materials, and representing various regions of Mexico with emphasis on the important craft centers of Jalisco, Michoacan, Oaxaca and the State of Mexico.

Excerpt from the publication

Foreword

Vivan los Artesanos is a double celebration. It was designed to honor the craftsmen of Mexico and will, indeed, fulfill its purpose. At the same time it must inevitably also honor the collectors of these objects -Fred and Barbara Meiers. The exhibition proves that the artisans of Mexico have created a dazzling wealth of form, color and fantasy. This is a point which hardly needs proving in 1980. Yet some 35 years ago when the Meiers began collecting, interest in folk art was almost negligible. At about this period, the great arts of Africa, the South Seas, the North American Indian and of Pre-Hispanic Latin America were first coming to the attention of the American art audience but commensurate knowledge of folk art lagged behind. It is true that European folk art was already the subI , ect of scholarly interest in its home lands and that American folk art was assiduously collected in the eastern part of this country; Japanese folk arts were known to a small corps of devoted followers. But literature on all these subjects was very limited. At that time the Meiers were already devoting their lives to an interest in art - as artists, designers and teachers, When they turned their attention to Mexico, they merely shifted the scene and scope of their activities. Instead of working within a classroom of students, they played a larger part in developing the tastes and interests of a whole generation of Americans by helping to introduce them to folk art objects of a quality not previously available. But for the collections formed by Fred and Barbara, the folk art dispersed throughout this country might reflect the average product of the Mexican craftsmen rather than the unusual and the excellent. With patience, persistence and unerring good taste, they have found the work of the best folk artists and the best work of many other folk artists. In those days, few Mexican folk artists were known by name, even the towns with excellent folk art were relatively unknown. Each market place (and even these were not too well known) was a possible source of great surprises. Excellent folk art might turn up from some hitherto unknown town, especially during fiestas,

In many cases, the folk art was much as it must have been for at least four hundred years. Pottery was usually formed by hand and frequently fired in an open fire; even the shapes and functions were often similar to pottery of pre-Hispanic times, The life, in fact, of the people was strikingly similar. Mostly the craftsmen executed their pottery or reed weaving or mask making in spare moments between work in the field or home. They would have been surprised to hear themselves described as artists or to learn that their product could ultimately end in a museum or in a North American home. Yet they took pride in the excellence of their work, making each pot or mat measure up to the best of their own ability. Each person knew the best work in town the best weaver, the best potter, or the best woodworker. It was these artists that the Meiers searched out before it was too late, before the encroachment of the twentieth century slowed the artistry, lessened the need and removed the incentive forever. Patiently, modestly, with love and discernment, Fred and Barbara Meiers have found the heart of Mexico, and they have shared it with us, preserving it forever in a changing world. iVivan los Meiers!

Patricia B Altman

Associate Curator Folk Art Museum of Cultural History UCLA