Artisan ‘Maestros’

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The exhibition Grandes Maestros looks at the art of artisans throughout the hemisphere.
The exhibition Grandes Maestros looks at the art of artisans throughout the hemisphere.

After a mid summer recess, Bogotá’s Museum of Modern Art (MamBo) opens it’s doors with the first showing in Colombia of the exhibition Grandes Maestros de Arte Popular Iberoaméricano – Great Masters of IberoAmerican Folk Art. Brought to this country with the support of the state’s entity for promoting artisans and crafts, Artesanías de Colombia, as well as Mexican banks Banamex and Banco Nacional de México, the exhibition counts with 5,000 works many of which have already been shown in countries of the region.

Started in 2007, the collection of Grandes Maestros began with several unique pieces from Mexico and has grown to include works of 500 artisans in 22 countries of the hemisphere.  First shown at the 2012 Ibero-American Summit in Cádiz, the exhibition arrives in Colombia from Madrid, before getting to audiences in Brazil and the United States.

Traditionally associated as a Latin American artistic manifestation, folk art from the region has been shown in the US in large venues such as the 1929-30 exhibit of Mexican fine and applied arts at the Metropolitan Museum, and the MoMA show “Twenty Centuries of Mexican Art” (1940).

Cándida Fernández de Calderón, director of the cultural division of Banamex in Mexico and the person organizing the collection has been involved with folk art for several decades. She has edited several books on the subject including Grandes Maestros del Arte Popular en Mexico and, more recently, Grandes Maestros del Arte Popular en Latinoamérica. The Grandes Maestro collection is also a cultural initiative which works closely with contemporary artisans helping them preserve techniques, as well as their unique and admired use of materials and color.

MamBo / Calle 24 No.6-00

Until September 8th

 

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