“Mexican Modern Painting” from the Andrés Blaisten Collection has made its way to the San Diego Museum of Art (SDMA) from Tlatelolco via Phoenix, Ariz. Eighty paintings dated between 1907 and 1956 now grace the Balboa Park museum as part of a traveling tour.

    From the turn of the 20th century to the 1960s, Mexico produced visual art of virtually every type, from landscape painting to surrealism. Impressionists, Cubists and Dadaists created a tremendous amount of quality work during periods of political instability and social change.

    The Mexican Revolution, the dictatorship of Porfirio Díaz for 30 years, land reform, and the Second World War provoked an intense response from Mexican and visiting European artists.

    Artists came to Mexico to experience firsthand the artistic revolution fomented by the struggle for rights, from land to education, and the preservation of cultural heritage.

    The artworks for “Mexican Modern Painting” were hand-selected from over 8,000 works of art in Blaisten’s private collection, which is touted as the most important collection of Mexican modernism. It represents a period of renaissance in Mexican visual art, yet goes beyond the recognizable works of Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo. 

    While the exhibit has well-known artists such as María Izquierdo, David Alfaro Siquieros, and Rufino Tamayo, San Diego audiences also get a chance to experience artists whose names they’ve possibly never heard.

    Visitors can delve into the interwoven fantasy and reality of Alfonso Michel, find refuge in the mystical and religious subjects of Angel Zárraga, and discover Picasso’s influence in the art of Federico Cantú.

    Art fans can experience, in viewing Manuel González Serrano’s surreal Equilibrio, Birds of Paradise petals curling, seeming to move and grow before their eyes.

    “The quality of this art is outstanding,” SDMA executive director Roxana Velázquez said. “You will find it alluring.”

    The collection’s time and promotion in San Diego is due in part to Velázquez’s work. She has been on the job for just over a year and was hired partly for her networking ability in the global art community.

    “One of our main goals is to connect San Diego to the rest of the world,” Velázquez said. “There is no other option. We are part of the global conversation.”

    While working in Mexico City, Velázquez brought international recognition to the Museo Nacional de San Carlos, the Museo Nacional de Arte and the Museo del Palacio de Bellas Artes.

    Andrés Blaisten, one of Mexico’s most renowned collectors, was an obvious source for Velázquez to curate quality exhibitions while in Mexico and now a perfect match at SDMA in San Diego. SDMA had already begun discussions to bring Blaisten’s collection to San Diego before Velázquez’s arrival.

    Before directing SDMA, she organized international exhibits, including “Rubens and his Century,” “Illusions of the Middle East from Delacroix to Moreau,” and “Frida Kahlo Centennial,” seen by half a million visitors.

    SDMA’s attendance has already increased 27 percent and membership is up 50 percent in the last year, according to Velázquez.

    “Art is for everybody,” Velázquez said. “It is created for everybody and should be a part of our daily life.”

    Velázquez added that young artists and collectors should not discount the possibilities. Art is not an esoteric exercise for a select group of people, and should come from and arrive to “the big, big audience,” she said.

    SDMA has created programs to meet this goal, including Teen Art Café, a place for teenagers to experience the museum firsthand; The Summer Salon Series, which includes performances, talks, demos and workshops from contemporary artists; and Culture and Cocktails, featuring music, beverages and art. The museum is free every third Tuesday as part of Balboa Park’s program “Residents Free Tuesdays.”

    One of the highlights for Modern Mexican Painting will be “Art in Context: Mexican Mural Art” by Writerz Blok, a San Diego-based mural and graffiti group. For two weeks, from Nov.1 to Nov.16, Writerz Blok will create a live, site-specific mural inspired by the Blaisten collection and other artwork in the museum’s permanent collection.

    “Mexican Modern Painting,” permanently housed in Mexico City, was organized by Phoenix Art Museum, SDMA, the Meadows Museum at Southern Methodist University, and the Centro Cultural Universitario Tlatelolco at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México.

    “I have always believed in the power of art and its ability to create bonds, avoid boundaries, and bring fraternity among individuals from the most distant and diverse societies,” Velásquez said.

    The exhibit will run from Nov. 5, 2011 through Feb. 19, 2012. For more information, visit sdmart.org