Trazando Territorios by Karen M. Gutfreund

Mapping Territories

The Art of Exile in Pilsen – Chicago

Graver le Territoire

L’art de l’exil à Pilsen – Chicago

Trazando Territorios

El arte del exilio en Pilsen – Chicago

April 25 July 7, 2024

25 abril — 7 juillet, 2024

25 de abril — 7 de julio de 2024

Institut culturel du Mexique en France

119, rue Vieille du Temple — 75003 Paris, France

Acknowledgements

« Graver le territoire : L’art de l’exil à Pilsen (Chicago) »

An exhibition of the Mexican Cultural Institute in France

Paris, April 26 – July 5, 2024.

External Exhibition Curators

Aline Hémond, Professeure d’anthropologie

Responsable du Département d’anthropologie, LESC-EREA

Université Paris Nanterre, Paris, France

Fabienne de Pierrebourg, Curator of Americas Collection

Musée quai Branly - Jacques Chirac, Paris, France

With support from the Mexican Cultural Institute in France and from René H. Arceo

Catalogue Translations | Editing.

Spanish & French | Astrid Vanesa Correa Rocha (Coordination & proofreading), Coumbara Ba, Alma Delia Bermúdez Méndez, Danielle Davis Gorovich, Jessica Esmeralda Rogel Lagunas, Carlos Esteban Pozos Tovar

English and French | Kristin Meller

Text editing and proofreading: Mexican Cultural Institute in France

Exhibition and catalog supported in part by National Museum of Mexican Art, Chicago Institut culturel du Mexique en France

LESC-EREA Laboratoire d’ethnologie et de sociologie comparative, Université Paris Nanterre Institut des Amériques, France

Société des Américanistes, France

Debra Yates, Israel Hernandez (Prospectus Art Gallery), Cynthia Ortega (NMMA), Mario E. Castillo, Beatriz Zalce (Fundación Alfredo Zalce)

Copyright 2024 by Arceo Press. The book co-authors Aline Hémond, René H. Arceo, Ingrid Arriaga, Fabienne de Pierrebourg and all contributing artists, here retains sole copyright to their contributing images to this book. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means without prior permission in writing from Arceo Press.

ISBN: 9798342037136

7100 W. Dickens Ave., Chicago IL 60707, 773/610-0429 www.ArceoPress.com

Front cover art by Dolores Mercado Adios/Farewell, 2012.

Back cover art by Héctor Duarte, Nomás iba pasando por aquí, 2012

Cover Design by Atlan Arceo-Witzl @atlanaw, atlanaw.com

Catalogue design by Karen M. Gutfreund, @karengutfreundart, karengutfreund.com

Index Index Índice

ENGLISH

p. 7 – Foreword – Carlos Tortolero

p. 10 – A Century of Mexican Printmaking in Chicago, René H Arceo

p. 31 – Living Through Art: Pilsen, a Mexican Community in New Lands, Aline Hémond

p. 119 – Exhibition artworks

p. 120 – The stages of Engraving the Territory: the Art of Exile in Pilsen (Chicago), Ingrid

Arriaga, Aline Hémond, Fabienne de Pierrebourg

p. 131 – The Journey

p. 146 – Inhabit the City

p. 169 – Memory, Identity, Disjunction

p. 198 – Artists’ short biographies

FRANÇAIS

p. 45 – Préface – Carlos Tortolero

p. 47 – Un siècle d'estampe mexicaine à Chicago, René H Arceo

p. 66 – Habiter par l’art : Pilsen, faire communauté en terres nouvelles, Aline Hémond

p. 119 – Œuvres de l’exposition

p. 123 – Les étapes de Graver le territoire : l’art de l’exil à Pilsen (Chicago), Ingrid

Arriaga, Aline Hémond, Fabienne de Pierrebourg

p. 131 – Le voyage

p. 146 – Habiter la ville

p. 169 – Mémoire, identité, disjonction

p. 198 – Courtes biographies des artistes (en anglais)

ESPAÑOL

pág. 82 – Presentación – Carlos Tortolero

pág. 84 – Un siglo de gráfica mexicana en Chicago, René H Arceo

pág. 105 – Habitar a través del arte: Pilsen, una comunidad mexicana en nuevas tierras –

Aline Hémond

pág. 119 – Obras de la exposición

pág. 127 – Las etapas de Trazando territorios: el arte de exilio Pilsen – Chicago, Ingrid

Arriaga, Aline Hémond, Fabienne de Pierrebourg

pág. 131 – El viaje

pág. 146 – Habitar la ciudad

pág. 169 – Memoria, identidad, disyunción

pág. 198 – Breves biografías de artistas (en inglés)

English

Gift of the Print and Drawing Club, Art Institute of Chicago.

Lo que no debe venir (What must not come), 1945 Leopoldo Méndez (1902-1969)

Foreword

It is with tremendous pride and joy that I write this introduction for this catalog. As a great admirer of prints and an outspoken critic of so many in the arts establishment who see prints as a lesser art form than paintings, I’m extremely happy to see the print exhibition that is being held in Paris celebrating prints. The Pilsen Printmakers project will shed light on the tradition of printmaking, predominantly Mexican printmaking, in the historically significant arts community of Pilsen, which is a predominantly Mexican community in Chicago. This exhibition is truly a very super important historical presentation.

It is very fitting that this exhibit takes place in 2024, 101 years after the birth of Carlos A. Cortéz, the legendary Chicago Pilsen printmaker. He was the José Guadalupe Posada of Chicago, Mexico's greatest printmaker. Like Posada, Cortéz was an artist who used printmaking to address political and social justice issues.

There are so many aspects of printmaking that are so meaningful. But one of my favorites is its accessibility. Because prints are done in editions, the price is much more affordable than paintings. Consequently, the first art piece owned by many individuals is a print. With so much focus on accessibility in the arts world, making prints is a wonderful medium that addresses this issue.

As Founder and President Emeritus of the National Museum of Mexican Art, the only Mexican museum accredited by the American Alliance of Museums, I can testify that our museum has always been a great promoter of prints. With a collection of 21,000 art pieces, over 4,500 are prints. Our print collection is possibly the largest one in the U.S.

René Arceo, the organizer of this print project, is the perfect individual to produce this project. René is the "Padrino" of prints in the Pilsen and Mexican community of Chicago. No other printmaker has done more for elevating this art form in Chicago. He is an excellent artist, curator, and organizer of print exhibitions.

Aline Hémond must also be congratulated. Since visiting Pilsen years ago, she has become a super fan of the art being created in Pilsen. On her frequent trips to Chicago, she has established herself as a leading scholar and commentator on Pilsen's art scene. Her enthusiasm for Pilsen art is wonderfully contagious.

It is also important to thank all the Paris cultural institutions who have graciously hosted aspects of this wonderful artistic project.

Carlos Tortolero Founder and President Emeritus National Museum of Mexican Art

Lithographs: Orozco in the USA

osé Clemente Orozco (1883-1949) lived in the United States from 1917-1919 for the first time. During this trip, Customs officers in Laredo, Texas destroyed about sixty of his watercolors, from the Casa del Llanto series, due to their immoral subject matter. Orozco traveled from Texas to San Francisco, where he made a living as a sign and movie poster painter. Eventually, he moved to New York City. By this time, Diego Rivera’s paintings had been exhibited in Manhattan as early as 1916, and Rufino Tamayo’s work had been exhibited at the Weyhe Gallery in 1926. Soon after the 1910-1920 Mexican Revolution, Orozco made a long series of ink drawings and prints called Horrores de la Revolución. He included Rapes, wounded people, funerals of poor peasants, and people begging for mercy. These works are frequently compared with Francisco Goya’s series Disasters of War. Orozco used some of these ideas for his lithographs.

uring Orozco’s second trip to New York City (1927-1934), he met Alma Reed, a journalist and translator, who would become his art dealer and first biographer. Before Orozco’s trip to New York City, journalist Anita Brenner had helped pave the way for him by publishing an article about his work in October of 1927, “A Mexican Rebel.”

In 1928, Orozco had his first solo ink drawings exhibition at the Marie Sterner Galleries. He continued to exhibit regularly in New York and other parts of the country, in group and solo shows.

During these years in New York, Orozco took up lithography, creating nineteen prints, some were printed at the Art Students League while most were published by Weyhe Gallery and printed at George Miller’s 14th Street Shop. Some lithographs made in 1928 include Vaudeville in Harlem, Mexican Workers – Magueyes y Nopales, El Requiem, Turistas, and The Flag Bearer. Several lithographs were printed in 1929 including Marching Women, Dos Magueyes y Dos Mujeres (Two Magueyes and Two Women), Tres Figuras con Restos de Casas (Three Figures with Remains of Houses), Three Generations (La Familia), Pregnancy: The Soldier’s Wife, and Rearguard. The latter is based on his 1926 mural at the National Preparatory School in Mexico City. In 1930 he made Mexican Landscape with Figures Orozco’s vision with these lithographs was darker than most, tending to show the failures of the Mexican Revolution and his mistrust of political systems. In 1929 Alma Reed opened the Delphic Studios with an exhibition of drawings by Thomas Hart Benton (1889-1975) and Orozco’s lithographs. Unfortunately, a few weeks later, the stock market crashed, and the rest is history.

Alfredo Zalce’s lithograph from 1939. Desembarco de 42 trabajadores mexicanos que enloquecen por hambre en el sur de los Estados Unidos – Puerto de Manzanillo, 1937 (Disembarkment of 42 Mexican workers who went crazy from hunger in southern United States – Port of Manzanillo, 1937). Zalce, in 1941, visited Chicago with his friend Max Khan, the master printer who pulled Leopoldo Méndez engraving Lo que no debe venir (What must not come) in 1945. Collection of Mizraim Cárdenas. Fundación Alfredo Zalce, Mexico City.

A Century of Mexican Printmaking in Chicago

René H. Arceo

In my research on printmaking in Chicago, I discovered a vibrant community of artists, galleries, and museums dedicated to producing and showcasing prints. This exploration opened my eyes to the early and previously unknown history of printmaking in the city. One particularly fascinating discovery was the solo exhibition of Leopoldo Méndez, one of my favorite printmakers, at the Museum of the Art Institute of Chicago (MAIC) in 19451. During the 1945 MAIC show, Méndez was commissioned to create a new print, resulting in the wood engraving titled Lo que no debe venir (What must not come), also known as Danger over Mexico. This print, which is one of only three portraits Méndez ever created, reflects the political concerns and role of Mexican printmakers along the lines of the Taller de Gráfica Popular (Popular Graphics Workshop), the LEAR (League of Writers and Revolutionary Artists), and José Guadalupe Posada before. In 1939, Méndez received a Guggenheim scholarship to visit different areas of the United States, including the International World Fair in New York City. With this support, he visited the most vulnerable sectors of its population and created drawings and the lithographs Familia de Trabajadores (Worker’s family), Obreros de la construcción (Construction workers), and Harlem.

Before Méndez, the first exhibition to include prints by a Mexican artist in Chicago was the solo exhibition José Clemente Orozco: Paintings, Drawings, Lithographs in 1934 at the Arts Club of Chicago. Orozco’s biographer, Alma Reed, in her 1983 book Orozco, shares details about a visitor to her New York gallery, Delphic Studios, from the Art Institute in 1934: « An important summer visitor was Dr. Robert B. Harshe, director of the Art Institute of Chicago, returning from a tour of European museums. This knowledgeable and brilliant artistic authority [...] immediately recognized in Orozco as ‘an authentic master’. He carefully studied the artist's accessible work, and then requested a blackand-white collection for "preliminary" display in the fall. » Reed also mentions Orozco’s visit to Chicago « […] members of the art department, including Miss Eva Schute, director of the Renaissance Society, warmly welcomed Orozco to campus […] At the Arts Club, composed of the richest art patrons in Chicago, there were expressions of admiration and appreciation for Orozco's exhibition, which was attracting enthusiastic crowds. But there were no sales […] Orozco spent a lot of time at the Art Institute and the Field Museum... »2 The plan was to secure a mural commission for Orozco in the Chicago area, but it was not to be.

In 1938, the Gallery of the Artist Union in Chicago Graphics Group sponsored the L.E.A.R. exhibition.3 The LEAR was a collective of printmakers, writers, and painters, established in 1933 at the house of its first president Leopoldo Méndez. Other founding members included: Luis Arenal, Juan de la Cabada, Pablo O’Higgins, Xavier Guerrero, Alfredo Zalce, Fernando Gamboa, Santos Balmori, and Ángel Bracho, among others. The group formed as a convergence point for progressive literary voices complemented by powerful graphic images to protest fascist aggression in Spain, and in support of the underprivileged. Its main publication was Frente a Frente (Front to Front). The group was disbanded in 1937, the year in which the TGP (Taller de Grafica Popular) was founded.

1HERRERA, 2008. Quotations: 44, 85 – 88, 90 – 94, 96, 97, 99, 106- 114, 118 – 126, 129 – 131, 134 – 136, 142 –143.

2REED, 1983.

3HERRERA, 2008.

Leopoldo Méndez and the TGP Collective (1937-2010)

The Popular Graphics Workshop was founded as a collective work center, based on the experiences acquired at the LEAR. This form of work allowed them to fulfill their objective of providing support to popular organizations of workers and teachers, indigenous groups, as well as to express themselves in political and social affairs, at a national and international level. The purpose of the workshop was to modify the idea of art without any profits, as entertainment for the bourgeoisie. They proposed that their work always be at the service of the people in solving their daily problems. At the same time, they sought for the people to identify with their work; for the working class to realize that art was not alien to them and that some artists fought faithfully at their side. For this reason, it was considered that the most appropriate expressive form would be realism and linoleum prints, the technique that allowed for many prints at a low cost.

The group was founded by printmakers Leopoldo Méndez, Pablo O’Higgins, and Luis Arenal with Méndez becoming its first director, a post he held until 1952. Many other artists joined the original core, including Alberto Beltrán, Alfredo Zalce, Ángel Bracho, Ignacio Aguirre, Isidoro Ocampo, Jean Charlot, Mariana Yampolski, and Raúl Anguiano. Later Elizabeth Catlett and Sarah Jiménez joined the group.

During President Lázaro Cárdenas’ liberal administration (1934-1940), the TGP supported the Cardenista principles through the production of prints and posters made accessible to everyone. For their inaugural project, the TGP released posters in honor of the newly founded Mexican Federation of Labor in 1937. A calendar for Universidad Obrera (Workers’ University) was published, featuring twelve lithographs.

The TGP’s publishing arm was La Estampa Mexicana (The Mexican Print) which published illustrated books and print portfolios with the works of its members. One of these books from 1946 was, Incidentes melodicos del mundo irracional (Melodic Incidents of the Irrational World) with linocuts by Méndez and text by Juan de la Cabada. The book was awarded the prize of best-illustrated book at the Mexico City Book Fair of 1946.

Before Méndez left the TGP in 1952, he received the International Peace Prize from the World Peace Council in recognition of his antiwar graphic production. Méndez requested that the prize be shared with the entire TGP collective.

In the following years, the Museum of the Art Institute of Chicago presented several solo and group exhibitions related to Mexican printmaking. These included Prints by Contemporary Mexican Artists in 1938, Costumes of Mexico by Carlos Mérida in 1941, Latin American Art in Celebration of Pan American Week in 1942, and a solo exhibition of Posada's work titled The Art of José Guadalupe Posada in 1944. The latter exhibition featured an interpretative gallery called Who is Posada? The influential printmakers collective established in 1937, Taller de Gráfica Popular: Mexican Prints, was introduced to Chicago audiences in 1946.

Over the decades, many other master printmakers visited the city of Chicago to exhibit and lecture, including Leopoldo Méndez, Elizabeth Catlett, Francisco Mora, Alfredo Zalce, Adolfo Mexiac, Arturo García Bustos, Rina Lazo, José Luis Cuevas, Luis Jiménez Jr., Shinzaburo Takeda, Mariana Yampolski, and Alejandro Nava, among others. During the 1950s there was not much activity in the form of exhibitions by Mexican printmakers. For the following decade, Carlos A. Cortéz filled in the void by moving to Chicago in 1965 making his prints and later organizing exhibitions in collaboration with MARCH (Movimiento Artístico Chicano).

Seventies and beyond

The School of the Art Institute (SAIC) was the entry point into printmaking for several artists: Oscar Moya and Salvador Vega. Moya studied screen printing in 1977-78 and later, in 1981, he continued with master screen printer at Casa Aztlán, Roberto Vargas. Moya continued to produce screen prints for himself and other artists until 1994. Vega had studied at SAIC printmaking in the 1970s creating several etchings and lithographs. Later in 1979, I met him teaching screen printing at Casa Aztlán along with Roberto Vargas, as part of the summer youth program. While primarily a muralist, Vega did many screen print posters during the 80s while working out of InkWorks shop. In 1992 the Mexican Fine Arts Center supported a print residency in Los Angeles’ Self Help Graphics where he produced El Volador. Both Moya and Vega would be involved with MARCH and later MIRA (Mi Raza Arts Consortium) founded and directed by artist José G. González. González played a role in organizing and presenting print exhibitions in various cultural institutions in Chicago. One such exhibition was Leopoldo Méndez at the Chicago State University's Art Gallery in 1975. Over the years, Chicago State University has hosted several group and solo exhibitions featuring painters, photographers, and printmakers. One notable exhibition was Carlos A. Cortéz Koyokuikatl in 1979, and they later hosted the exhibition Superstitions Print Portfolios in 2015. Truman College displayed the exhibition Anisembi Wake Aztlán in 1977. The poster announcing the exhibition was created and printed from a linocut block by Carlos A. Cortéz.

Salvador Vega - Untiled, 1977 Lithograph 15 x 18 1/4 Beata & René H. Arceo Collection.

The master lithographs of Luis Jiménez were revealed in 1977, in a solo exhibition at Landfall Press, where he produced his powerful lithographs. In 1982 Silkscreen Posters from the Royal Chicano Air Force, were shown at the MoMing Dance and Arts Center Galleries. 1984 witnessed the prints of José Guadalupe Posada in a Day of the Dead exhibition with Felipe Ehrenberg’s altar at Objects Gallery. In 1994 Isobel Neal Gallery presented the exhibition In the Hemisphere of Love, with artworks by wife and husband Elizabeth Catlett and Francisco Mora. This exhibition extended to the I-Space gallery with lectures by Mora and Catlett at the National Museum of Mexican Art and a solo lecture by Catlett at the Art Institute of Chicago.

Galeria Ink Works

altar at Galeria Ink Works circa 1985. Artists included Héctor Duarte, Sal Vega, José Guerrero, René H. Arceo among others

While attending SAIC in 1984 I received a college work-study internship to work for MIRA. After one semester I became more interested in working with local printmaker Inara Cedrins, to convince “Beto” Barrera, from InkWorks, a local commercial printshop, to allow us to create an alternative gallery space there. Our efforts paid off and Galeria Ink Works opened in 1984 with the support of many local artists who helped paint walls, hang ceiling lights, and organize exhibitions and events. The gallery was most active during its first three years of operations with multiple exhibitions and events. In 1985 InkWorks printshop organized Exposición de Arte in Memory of Rudy Lozano, which included the prints of Carlos A. Cortéz, Sal Vega, Oscar Moya, and mine among painters and photographers. Beto Barrera and Larry Garza from InkWorks published a 36-page accompanying catalog. There were printmakers’ shows, fundraisers in solidarity with different Central American nations, and Day of the Dead exhibitions. My second solo exhibition René Arceo: Prints and Drawings, took place in 1986 at this gallery. In early 1985, the Mexican Museum commissioned me to curate an exhibition Nuestro Pasado / Nuestro Presente, (Our Past / Our Present) including local printmakers, in celebration of the anniversary of Mexico’s Independence at Galería Ink Works.

The Mexican Fine Arts Center | National Museum of Mexican Art

During the time I worked at the MFACM (now the National Museum of Mexican Art, hereinafter referred to as the Museum) in Chicago, I experienced numerous relevant printmaking exhibitions. Some of these exhibitions were curated internally, while others were sourced from various art outlets. The Museum recognized the feasibility of starting a permanent collection by acquiring prints from

Collective

Carlos A. Cortéz Koyokuikatl (1923 - 2005)

Cortéz was the son of Mexican labor organizer father Alfredo Cortéz and German American socialist-pacifist mother Augusta Ungrecht. He was influenced by both sides of his heritage, by Käthe Kollwitz and by José Guadalupe Posada, the latter one, he considered his spiritual mentor. Cortéz life experiences that informed his art included working as a construction worker, factory worker, janitor, journalist, door-to-door salesman of records, curator, poet, and printmaker. He was involved with the Industrial Workers of the World’s publication, The Industrial Worker, where he contributed regularly his graphics, poetry, film, and music album reviews over twenty-years. By 1965 Cortéz had moved from Milwaukee to Chicago and in the following two decades had managed to develop a significant body of socially conscious artwork.

He used his poster-size prints to announce exhibitions and cultural events taking place in the barrios. He sought to promote human rights struggles, illustration of Mexican cultural traditions, and reflecting his commitment to workers’ rights in the United States. His posters were distributed in community centers, bookstores, restaurants, libraries, record stores, and any other places where they might be visible to the public. Cortéz used inexpensive papers for his prints because he produced art for two purposes. On one hand, he expressed his concerns about social, economic, and political issues of the day. On the other hand, he wanted to make fine artworks available to those people who cannot usually afford to buy them and thus he sold his prints for under twenty-five dollars each.

As he was the oldest Pilsen barrio artist, Cortéz served proudly as a role model to several generations of Chicago artists and more specifically, to his colleagues from the Taller Mexicano de Grabado (Mexican Printmaking Workshop).

When Tere Romo curated Cortéz’ exhibition Fanning the Flame, she wrote “he is a master at producing very direct images that communicate powerful and universal messages. Having achieved international recognition, his prints have been included in exhibitions that have traveled throughout the United States, Mexico, and Europe. A living legend, Cortéz is a prolific artist, poet, philosopher, and union activist who continues to cast his shadow into the future with integrity and humor.”

Allan Koss (b. 1942), Carlos A. Cortéz in front of two of his prints 1993, gelatin silver print, 5" x 7" (paper size), National Museum of Mexican Art 2005.310, Gift from the Carlos A. Cortéz Estate.

Mexican descent artists. Prints were more accessible for a young institution with a limited budget allocated for permanent purchases. By accessing local, regional, and national grants, the museum was able to acquire Mexican American and Chicano art from across the country. Early acquisitions included works by Esther Hernández, César A. Martínez, Luis Jiménez Jr, and Carmen Lomas Garza, among others. These prints formed the foundation of the collection, which has since grown to include thousands of prints. In the first year of operations in 1987, I curated the first printmaking exhibition at the Museum Prints of the Mexican Masters. This exhibition included twenty printmaking masters including Leopoldo Méndez, Sarah Jiménez, Alberto Beltrán, Mariana Yampolski, Miguel Covarrubias, José Clemente Orozco, Rufino Tamayo, and Alfredo Zalce, among others. This exhibition included works on loan from private and public collections including the Art Institute of Chicago, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art of Latin America, and the Museum’s print acquisitions. A catalog was published with an insightful essay by art historian Raquel Tibol. In the same year, I curated Alfredo Zalce: A Retrospective about the artistic contributions of this prolific Michoacán master. The exhibition included a substantial body of prints along with paintings, drawings, sculptures, ceramics, tapestries, batik, and jewelry designs. A catalog was published with a thoughtful essay by art critic Berta Taracena.

The year 1988 witnessed the work of a San Francisco-based artist, in the solo exhibition Graphic Works of Emmanuel C Montoya. In the same year, the famed East Los Angeles printshop, Self Help Graphics, under the leadership of its founder and director, sister Karen Boccalero, surprised the Museum by donating approximately 125 prints. When I asked her why, she replied: “I’m working on ensuring that the artworks of these artists will be preserved, studied, exhibited, and shared with future generations.” Thus, her legacy continues as she made large donations to other art institutions in California and beyond. The collection she gifted to the Museum included works by Urista, Leo Limón, Patssi Valdez, Gronk, Yreina Cervantes, John Valadez, Diane Gamboa, and many others. A selection of these prints was exhibited at the Museum in 1989 under the title From el Corazon de East LA. Another large body of works joining the Museum’s collection was Leopoldo Méndez’s prints. With the support of Méndez’s widow and her son, the Museum purchased 222 signed prints and received a donation of 111 unsigned prints from the Méndez family. In total 333 prints of Méndez joined the early Méndez prints the Museum had purchased from regional art dealers. This acquisition made the collection one of the largest collections of Méndez prints in a single institution. The Museum organized an exhibition of those prints in 2001, Leopoldo Méndez: Hacedor de Imágenes de un Pueblo (Leopoldo Méndez: Maker of Images of a People).

In 1988 the López Quiroga Gallery in Mexico City loaned the Museum the first retrospective of Toledo’s prints called Francisco Toledo: A Retrospective of his Graphic Works. The exhibition included 113 individual masterful prints in addition to several books Toledo had illustrated including: Toledo/Guchachi from 1976, Trece formas de mirar un mirlo (Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbrid) from 1981, and Nuevo catecismo para indios remisos (New Catechims for Insolent Indians). A catalog was published with a penetrating essay by art historian Teresa del Conde from the Museum of Modern Art, Mexico City. In 1988 as well, I curated the first solo exhibition of a fellow artist and local printmaker Carlos A. Cortéz The Graphic Works of Carlos A. Cortéz. The following year, in 1989, I curated the exhibition José Guadalupe Posada Aguilar with prints and original matrix blocks from the collection of Arsacio Vanegas Arroyo, grandson of Posada’s editor/publisher Antonio Vanegas Arroyo. The exhibition included more than 250 broadside sheets, penny sheets, children’s books, cookbooks, restrike prints, and original blocks as well as contemporary printmakers influenced by Posada: Carlos A. Cortéz, Luis C. González, José Montoya, and Leopoldo Méndez, from the Museum’s permanent collection. A catalog was published with a perceptive essay by art critic Alberto Hijar. Additionally, a portfolio of Posada’s restrikes was published and made available to the public through the Museum’s gift shop.

In 1990 the Museum brought to Chicago Sculptures and Mixographs by Rufino Tamayo. The exhibition included nine sculptures lent by Mary–Ann Martin/Fine Art, New York, and eleven largescale mixographs lent by Mixografía Gallery/Workshop, Los Angeles, and other private collectors. This was the first time mixographs were shown in Chicago in a larger exhibition. In 1974 mixographs were invented in Mexico City by Luis Remba who was challenged by Tamayo to come up with a new way of creating prints. Printmaker Tamayo was tired of doing lithographs for decades and was ready to explore something new, and the answer was mixographs. This process mixes different techniques and the use of a flatbed, intaglio, relief printing on a single plate. The image is then printed on thick handmade paper to allow a level of low-relief and rich textures. Of relevance is Tamayo’s mixograph Dos personajes atacados por perros (Two Figures Attacked by a Dog), 1983 measuring 60 x 90 inches and includes the use of the largest lithographic stone ever used. A catalog was published with a discerning essay by art historian Dr. Edward J. Sullivan, chairman of the Department of Fine Art, New York University.

Art historian, curator and Chicano art author Tere Romo curated in 1997 the exhibition Fanning the Flame: The Art of Carlos A. Cortéz from the Museum’s Permanent Collection. A catalog was published with an essay by art historian Victor Sorell. In 2000, the Museum organized Multiplicity: Prints from the Permanent Collection curated by Marylin Cortez Lovato. During the same year, the exhibition organized and toured by Exhibits USA brought to the Museum Luis Jiménez: Working Class Heroes: Imágenes de la Cultura Popular. This exhibition included fiftythree works including sculptures, paintings, and drawings along with his masterful prints. The year 2023 saw the homage exhibition Carlos A. Cortéz: 100 Años which included many of Cortéz’s original blocks, prints, and paintings as well as local artists. The exhibition also included the portfolio Carlos A. Cortéz Centennial with twenty-eight prints by local printmakers

Carlos A. Cortéz participating in a public protest in Chicago. ND. Author unknown.

Toltec Tula: Image and Myth

In 1987, while planning the exhibition of Alfredo Zalce for the Museum, I visited his home/studio in Morelia, Mexico. While strolling through his studio I noticed a set of square carved linocuts sitting on the floor against a wall. I asked him what they were about and as he showed me one by one, he proceeded to tell me about the genesis of that failed project. In the early 1960s, an architect involved with the National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City commissioned Zalce to graphically recreate the stories behind Quetzalcoatl, in the context of the Mesoamerican city of Tula. Zalce went to work and by the time he was finished he tried to contact the architect, but he was nowhere to be found. It occurred to me that the Museum could be interested in publishing this limited-edition portfolio and thus bring the project to life.

Luckily, both the artist and the museum leadership agreed to publish the twenty linocut Quetzalcoatl stories. Master printer/artist Thomas Lucas from Hummingbird Press pulled the fifty editions. The portfolio was exhibited in the museum in 1998 and an educational catalog was published, with texts by Don McVicker, Ph.D., from North Central College. Subsequently, the Alfredo Zalce Foundation published a catalog and exhibited the portfolio in Morelia, Mexico.

Beginnings of the Taller Mexicano de Grabado (TMG)

The Mexican Printmaking Workshop came about in 1990. Before that, a group of local printmakers came together to create a print portfolio illustrating a set of poems by the now-acclaimed chef, Dudley Nieto. The portfolio El Canto del Papel (The Song of Paper) included seven artists: Arturo Barrera, Carlos A. Cortéz, Nicolás de Jesús, Carlos Villanueva, Gerardo de la Barrera, Tomás Bringas, and me. Arturo Barrera was born and raised in Pilsen and had just graduated from the Art Institute where I had met him. Nicolás de Jesús arrived in 1988 in Chicago, and he had been working in Oak Park’s Expression Graphics workshop to produce his intricate etchings/aquatints. Carlos Villanueva was an artist from Mexico City living in Little Village. Carlos did not get involved with the group beyond his participation in this one portfolio. Soon after that, he went back to Mexico City where he created public murals. For several years, Gerardo de la Barrera had been coming to Chicago to visit his friend and painter Filemón Santiago. De la Barrera was exposed to printmaking at multiple print shops in his city of residence, Oaxaca, Mexico. He moved back to Oaxaca permanently but continued to participate with the TMG by exhibiting and collecting prints in his area, to support the fundraising print auctions the TMG held annually.

TMG Héctor Duarte, Joel Rendon, Elvia Rodríguez & René H. Arceo 1993

Photo by Alfredo Martínez G.

By this time, I had been working at the Museum since September of 1986 and had studied printmaking at the Art Institute. I needed a space to create my prints and access to a printing press to pull my editions so, the possibility of a printmaking studio was attractive. I remained involved with the collective in different capacities until 1996. It was around that time that also Eva Solís and Tony Galigo decided to leave as well. Eva Solís eventually moved back to her hometown of Laredo where her parents resided, and she has been teaching at the Laredo Community College for many years now. After purchasing an etching press, Tony Galigo decided to create his printshop and had several artists pull their editions there including Carlos A. Cortéz, Joel Rendón, Leopoldo M. Praxedis, Claude Villeneuve, and Mark Ernst among others. The Taller Gráfica Galigo (Galigo Graphic Workshop) published several themed portfolios including Peace and Lotería. Galigo donated his etching press and is no longer involved in the printmaking ventures.

Tómas Bringas

Bringas was the instigator of multiple projects. He was the most recent arrival to Pilsen from Durango, Mexico. It was his idea to produce the first portfolio during an informal gathering in 1989 with Gerardo de la Barrera, Nicolás de Jesús, and me. After the successful completion of the El Canto del Papel portfolio, Bringas suggested the idea of creating a collective of printmakers in Pilsen. The idea was to establish a space where artists could produce their prints as well as to provide access and expose other artists interested in learning printmaking. We all loved the idea and agreed to invite other local artists who could potentially be interested in getting involved in this new experiment. Bringas left Chicago not long after the TMG was established. Back in his native city of Durango, he went back to teaching at the local university, publishing and illustrating books. He established a printmakers’ collective there called Perro Bravo (Brave Dog) involving some of his students which included Israel Torres, who has until today, followed the footsteps of his mentor. While in Durango, Bringas participated in TMG exhibitions and supported the collective by sending his and other printmakers’ works for the TMG annual auctions. Before his passing, he organized an exhibition of Arceo Press’ print portfolio, in which he and one of his students participated: Centennial of the Mexican Revolution.

Nicolás de Jesús left Chicago in 1993 and he continued to support the collective by sending prints for exhibitions and contributing to the annual auction. He has since received much attention with the publication of two books highlighting his work and contributions. The first one was published by Harmut Zantke in Germany under the title Nicolás de Jesús: Painter & Printmaker. The book includes texts in German, English, Spanish, and under De Jesús’ insistence, Nahuatl. After all, he is a Nahuatl speaker.

In 2022, another publication involving his prints and mural paintings was the long COVID-19 delayed exhibition and accompanying catalog Nicolás de Jesús: A Mexican Artist for Global Justice. The exhibition was curated by Patrice Giasson and catalog co-published by Purchase College, State University of New York, and Hirmer Publishers. De Jesús continued to visit Chicago for exhibitions and other events organized by a group of migrants from his home state of Guerrero and supported by art collector Erasmo Salgado.

Taller Mexicano de Grabado Exhibitions

Some of the group’s early exhibition sites included Art Works in Oak Park (1990), Fiesta del Sol (1991), Truman College (1991), Ameritech in Leslie, IL (1991), Chicago’s Daley Civic Center (1992),

Nicolás de Jesús, A Nahua Artist

De Jesús was born in Amelyatepec, Guerrero, Mexico where the first language he heard was Nahuatl. As a child he watched his father paint elaborate designs on amate paper and clay pots made by his mother. Amate, a bark tree paper, had been made in Mesoamerican times and the tradition of making it was lost after the conquest. The tradition of painting on amate was revived in the 1960s by a group of individuals in the region of the Alto Balsas, including DeJesús’ father. De Jesús continues to use amate as the main support for his print and paintings. During visits to study in the city of Iguala and ventures into Acapulco to sell the family’s paintings exposed him to his second language, Spanish. In Acapulco he experienced the first of many abuses by the authorities as they took away his merchandise by force. While in his late teens, his family moved to Cuernavaca City to avoid these abuses and to seek a better life painting amates and selling other folk art.

In 1982 he traveled to Mexico City where he encountered Artegrafias Limitadas print shop. There he contributed to a print portfolio. This experience proved to be a cornerstone in his artistic formation providing him with a new media that captured his creative spirit. He found etchings and aquatints to be a powerful means to successfully carry-on his messages. In 1988, in search of new markets and art collectors De Jesús moved to Chicago, after a brief stop in San Francisco, CA. In Chicago he continued to meet new challenges: to maintain his cultural identity in a foreign society, to support his family of five during harsh economic times, and to learn a third language. Dramatic changes have characterized De Jesús’ life moving from his tiny town into bigger and more complex cities and societies. Throughout his uprooting, he has always maintained the knowledge and traditions inherited from his parents.

Over the years the content of his works has gone beyond a touristic look of the amates once sold in Acapulco and Cuernavaca. The classic baroque style that characterizes his work enhances and sheds light on the meaning of social-political criticism, poetical interpretations, or traditional and religious values. Aside from inheriting and carrying an ancestral tradition with pride, De Jesús dared to combine amate work with the modern media processes of printmaking, thus bringing it to the forefront of contemporary art. De Jesús has clearly taken amate art to a higher level in content and form. Parallel to his artistic activism in favor of great causes (Occupy Wall Street, Disappeared in Ayotzinapa…), de Jesús has been invited by academic institutions and to important exhibitions in Chicago, New York, Paris, Europe, and Indonesia.

Excerpt from the 1992 text written by René Arceo about De Jesús solo exhibition at the Mexican Fine Arts Center Museum.

South Shore Cultural Center (1992), and Oak Park Library (1993). The TMG members donated fiftysix prints to the Museo Nacional de la Estampa and the Museo Carrillo Gil, both in Mexico City. In 1993 the TMG presented the exhibition 12 Parallel Lives with a series of prints created by its members who were inspired by the testimonies of Guatemalan survivors of torture and used their work to express their solidarity. The same year the group exhibited at the Suburban Fine Arts and the solo exhibition of Elvia Rodríguez-Ochoa took place.

1994 was a particularly productive year for exhibitions including !Zapata Vive! Taller de Gráfica Popular, Mexico City exhibition with the participation of twenty-two TGP printmakers; Solo show of Leopoldo M. Praxedis; Columbia College hosted two exhibitions Taller de Gráfica Mexicano and Latino Graphics. Annually the TMG organized a Members Anniversary show and an annual Day of the Dead exhibition. The TMG gallery presented the exhibition Gráfica Oaxaqueña II (Oaxacan Prints II) which included primarily their work to express their solidarity. The same year the group exhibited at the Suburban Fine Arts and the solo show of Elvia Rodríguez-Ochoa took place as well. prints by artists from Oaxaca City in Mexico: Modesto Bernardo, Enrique Flores, Eddie Martínez, Leovigildo Martínez, Filemón Santiago, and Fernando Olivera.

1995 saw several solo and group exhibitions at the TMG Gallery In Memoriam: Héctor Gómez included twelve TMG members; a Carlos A. Cortéz Solo exhibition El Koyote Kanta in 1997; solo shows by Mirtes Zwierzynski, René Arceo, and Marcelo Limas, twoperson show; Edgar Lopez solo show.

The TMG organized annual print auctions as the main source of income that covered rent and heating for the workshop. Auctions were held in various locations including The Wild Onion Restaurant, Aldo Castillo Art Gallery, Decima Musa Restaurant, and even the residency of Bob Ward, a TMG supporter and collector.

Taller Mexicano de Grabado Visiting Artists

The TMG had several visiting artists in the 1990s including Leopoldo Morales Praxedis who had been to Chicago a few years before and had done an exhibition at the Mexican Museum. Whenever he came into town, he contributed to the TMG by donating artwork, and instruction, with ideas for exhibitions, and implementing print projects. In 1994 he led the collective in the creation of the

Taller Mexicano de Grabado 1991 auction poster. Beata & René H. Arceo Collection

TMG – Monumental Woodcut Print

n 1994 the Taller Mexicano de Grabado (TMG) created a huge woodcut, 4 x 200 feet, with the title of Chicago Migrations. The theme was chosen by the collective because of Chicago’ s relevance and long tradition of migration waves throughout its history, shaping the city’ s character. As it turned out, a printmaker and muralist, Alejandro Nava from Zacatecas, Mexico had floated the idea of making a large woodcut that could be then printed using a steamroller on the street. Nava had visited Chicago in the 1980s to collaborate with local muralists Héctor Duarte and Aurelio Díaz to repaint and modify the composition of a mural painted years earlier by Díaz, Nuestras raíces, nuevos horizontes. A TMG member, Héctor Duarte had known Nava from their years together at the Siqueiros Mural Painting Workshop in Cuernavaca, México and when Nava brought up the idea of the large woodcut, we all endorsed it.

The collective members decided to take on the project and began making plans for financial requirements, tools, location, schedule, and participants. The project was huge because we and TMG had never done anything close to this scale. Since René Arceo was working at the National Museum of Mexican Art, he approached the director Carlos Tortolero to see if he and the Museum would be willing to help a group of Pilsen printmakers. He immediately liked the idea and proposed to have the cultural arts section of the city government involved. It might have been his vision, Arceo doesn’t recall now, to try to find a location in the downtown area. The fact is that; Tortolero convinced the city’s first Commissioner of Cultural Affairs, Lois Weisberg to support the project and lend a hand with the implementation. Weisberg was so supportive that she made the summer tents at Gallery 37 block available for us to work there, carving the woodblocks. Gallery 37 was the flagship of the city’s summer youth program where young people got a job creating art in different visual art disciplines. Additionally, the city supported financially to purchase materials and tools.

The TMG members and friend artists worked initially at the TMG’s workshop on 2120 S. Halsted Street and later moved operations to the Gallery 37 block. The group worked there in August and September until the 11th of September. TMG member Tony Galigo; diligently worked out all the details with the city’s bureaucracy to obtain the needed permit to close Randolph Street in front of Marshall Field’s store, and to allow us to drive a steamroller for the public printing on Saturday, September 3, 1994. That afternoon the downtown annual Mexico’s Independence Parade was taking place, thus ensuring a public audience for the project.

second print portfolio Derechos Humanos (Human Rights) dedicated to the cry for justice with the uprising of the EZLN (Ejercito Zapatista de Liberación Nacional) in Chiapas, México in 1994. For this portfolio, Praxedis taught many of the active members, including me, how to do large multicolor reduction linocuts. Praxedis brought with him the experience of having been a member of the Taller de Gráfica Popular in México City and had for decades been involved in multiple print collectives in Tlaxcala, México; Managua, Nicaragua; Montreal, Canada; and Cordoba, Spain. In 2015, Praxedis and I worked together in creating a traveling exhibition called La Hermana Muerte/The Sister Death including the prints of Francisco Plancarte, Praxedis, and my own. He participated in multiple print portfolios published by Arceo Press over the years. Praxedis continues to organize print-centered projects and travel between Mexico City and Chicago.

Taller Mexicano de Grabado members carving the 1994 Chicago Migration woodcut.

Another visiting artist, Joel Rendón, was in the city in 1992 when he came across the TMG. He started making prints at the TMG’s space trying out carving and printing linoleum blocks. Rendón received a Mexican Cultural Ambassador residency to travel and work in New York City in 1994. He produced a print portfolio named La Exhumación de Babel (The Exhumation of Babel) about the cultural diversity in the United States. From New York, he came back to Chicago to share the portfolio and to work with the National Museum of Mexican Art’s Yollocalli Youth Museum. There he published a student’s print portfolio. Upon his return to Mexico City, he secured several print commissions including a portfolio of linocuts for Artes de Mexico, about the tequila-making process. Other commissions followed including book covers, collaborations with writer and editor Alberto Ruy Sánchez, and a twenty-yearlong TV run of Estampa al Minuto (Prints in One Minute). Rendón has for the last few years been teaching at the Centro Cultural Los Pinos located at the Mexican version of the White House.

Two Unique Projects

The Festival Internacional de la Raza invited the Mexican Museum to host a monotype screen print workshop Rites/Rights of Passage at the Border with several local artists. The workshop took place on the second floor of the APO building in 1994 with the participation of several artists including Oscar Moya, Sal Vega, and Héctor Duarte. In 2005, Oaxacan master printer Marcos Miguel Alvarado was invited by José L. Piña to do a printmaking workshop at the APO building. The workshop introduced

Photo: Roberto Arrendondo

Arceo Press Chicago

Arceo Press was started in 2005 by founder René Arceo after experiencing a binational print collaboration with twelve printmakers involving Casa Michoacán /FEDECMI in Chicago. From the beginning, Arceo Press was interested in advancing international print projects with specific qualities. First, it had to do with creating an opportunity for artists, from different cities and countries, to collaborate under a common theme. In the founder’s travels he met printmakers and invited them to collaborate. Also, he wondered about how artists from different cultures, experiences and backgrounds would respond to a specific theme. How could such a collaboration enrich the given theme? What diversity of media and styles could come about with this type of collaboration? Mature printmakers with expertise were selected, alongside young promising artists so that all can benefit from these projects. This type of collaboration links artists in the international arena. At times, additional projects come about as a direct consequence of the connections and common interest that participating artists realize they have.

Another aspect is the use of these portfolios to gain exhibition opportunities in other countries. It is very expensive to send an art exhibition of one’s own work for exhibition to another country. By creating prints, artists have the possibility of more easily mailing them to potential exhibiting venues abroad. Another benefit of these collaborations is that each participating artist tries to promote an exhibition in their own city and country. Each artist contributes by creating their image and pulling their edition. Through the support of sponsors, Arceo Press subsidizes all related expenses including paper, portfolio cover design and fabrication, and shipping one portfolio to each participating artist. Portfolios include the participation of 24 artists from at least two countries including Spain, France, Mexico, Canada, Puerto Rico, Costa Rica, Cuba, and the United States. Arceo Press is particularly interested in nurturing themes that could involve many possible artists' interpretations and visualizations while being humanistic and/or culturally meaningful. Themes that search and explore some new level of meaning, and for all artists and audiences.

The print portfolios: Mnemonic: To Aid the Memory, 2005; Bestiario & Nahuals One, 2007; Bestiario & Nahuals Vol. One and Vol. Two, 2007; Dia de los Muertos: Common Ground, 2008; Centennial of the Mexican Revolution, 2010; Santitos, 2011; Rostros de la Migracion (Faces of Migration) 2012 in collaboration with FEDECMI; Posada; 100 Year Legacy, 2013. In collaboration with the Chicago Society of Artists three portfolios were published: Chicago, 2015; Illinois, 2018; and Route 66 in 2022. Superstitions Vol one, 2016; Superstitions Vol. two, 2017; Water/Agua, 2018; Carlos A. Cortéz Centennial, 2023. In collaboration with the Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art the portfolio Chornobyl Artists Respond was published in 2015.

participants to the process of Mixocolografia (a mixture of collagraph and painting). Printmakers create a matrix that is inked, areas painted, and then printed onto a canvas. Put through the pressure of a press, the result looks more like a painting than a print. Oscar Moya created multiple works during this workshop.

Michoacán, Bridge to Chicago

Casas Michoacán and the Federation of Michoacán Clubs in Illinois (FEDECMI) have worked as a bridge by sponsoring multiple binational print-based projects throughout their history. From the beginning, we have always received support and challenges from José “Pepe” Gutiérrez, co-founder of FEDECMI, to come up with collaborative projects. In 2003 the FEDECMI published a limited-edition print portfolio Bajo un Mismo Cielo (Under the Same Sky) with twelve printmakers from Michoacán and Chicago. Most participating artists traveled to Pátzcuaro, Mexico to create and pull the edition with a master printer. The portfolio became a traveling exhibition, with additional works by each artist. The show was presented in Pátzcuaro and Morelia, Michoacán. Also in 2003, the FEDECMI and the Association of Michoacán Artists sponsored the exhibition Awakenings/Despertares at Pilsen’s Galería Colibri. In 2004, the Zalce: Tiempo y Testimonio (Zalce: Time and Testimony) exhibition was presented in Casa Michoacán Pilsen. The exhibition included prints by Alfredo Zalce, Artemio Rodríguez, Francisco R. Oñate, Roberto Ferreyra, Héctor Duarte, José A. Chavez, Mizraim Cárdenas, and my work. In 2005 Casa Michoacán Gallery hosted the exhibition 100 Años de Gráfica Michoacana (One-Hundred Years of Michoacán Prints). Also in 2005, hosted the book release and solo exhibition of printmaker Artemio Rodríguez. The same year Memoria de un Mexicano: Homenaje a Francisco Mora show was presented. This exhibition was shown at the Elgin Community College in 2004 and included prints by Elizabeth Catlett, Carlos A. Cortéz, Jesús Macarena-Avila, Francisco Mora, and me among others. Later in 2007, it was the turn for a solo exhibition Geografías Transitables: Mizraim Cárdenas (Traversable Geographies). Latino/a Printmakers & Pilsen was hosted in 2009 with local artists connected to the Pilsen barrio. Since 2018 FEDECMI has sponsored three binational print projects. First, in 2018, print makers from Michoacán and Chicago produced images under the theme Acordes de la vida: Guitarras Gráficas (Chords of Life: Guitar Prints). The second in 2022, Mariposas Migrantes: Gráfica Michoacana (Migrant Butterflies: Michoacán Prints), included 125 printmakers who compared the migration of monarch butterflies with the experiences of Mexican migrant workers. The third and 2023, deals with pollinators’ issues and challenges in the exhibition Recolectores: Gráfica de la Polinización (Collectors: Pollination Prints). The three projects were exhibited at Casa Michoacán Pilsen, Casa Michoacán Casa Michoacán's 2023 traveling exhibition: Mariposas Migrantes, Grafica Michoacana brochure.

Public Art Commission Gallery, and Aurora University, as well as in Morelia, Pátzcuaro, and Uruapan in Michoacán, México.

Prospectus Art Gallery in Pilsen

The Gallery has promoted local artists for over three decades under the vision of owner Israel Hernández. The gallery has hosted multiple printmaking exhibitions. One of the 1992 early shows at this gallery was 500 Years of Resistance in which many local artists, including printmakers, responded to the meaning of the clash of cultures from 1492. In 2010, my solo exhibition Between the Instinctive and the Rational was presented echoing the publication of my first book by the same title. Two of Carlos Barberena’s solo exhibitions followed: Paradise Lost, in 2012 and In Greed We Trust, in 2014. The exhibitions Juncture: Benjamin Anaya & Carlos Barberena and Immoral Reality: César Barberena & Carlos Barberena took place in 2011. Rethinking Tradition: Carlos Barberena & Joseph Velasquez, in 2015. My solo exhibition Generations was shown in 2016. In 2017 Mizraim Cárdenas came from Morelia, Mexico to present the solo exhibition of his burin and linocut prints First Garden. In 2023, the gallery re-opened its doors from the pandemic period with an exhibition I curated Committed to Print, with fifty-seven artists from all over the United States. The exhibition was part of Grabadolandia’ s annual printmaking fair and included a catalog.

Other exhibition sites

Many other art spaces around the city have highlighted Mexican prints in solo and group exhibitions, these are some of them. In 1990, the North Lakeside Cultural Center hosted my solo exhibition René Arceo: Prints and Drawings. The SAIC’s Betty Rymer Gallery presented the exhibition Imaging Aztlán: Thirty-Three Printmakers from the Chicago-Area Mexican Community, curated by Jose Agustin Andreu. In 1997 the Chicago Cultural Center brought to the city the exhibition Shared Continents: Latin American Printmaking. La Llorona Art Gallery invited me in 2001, for a solo exhibition René Arceo: Retrospective. Also, in 2001, I did a solo exhibition at the Jumping Bean Café which has been a thriving cultural space and point of convergence for Mexican creatives and others alike. The café has a tradition of presenting exhibitions by local artists as well as poetry and musical performances.

In 2003 Café Mestizo hosted a solo exhibition of my prints under the title René Arceo: Aliento de la Tierra. In 2014 the Bridgeport Art Center (BAC), a large space with many artists’ studios and two art galleries, presented Gestos Graficos: René Arceo & Friends with the participation of eighteen local printmakers. OPEN Center for the Arts hosted Tierra Herida: Printmaking from the Americas in 2018. The BAC presented in 2019 the traveling exhibition The Border Crossed Us organized by the UNAM Campus Morelia and curated by Eugenia Macias. In 2017 the BAC hosted Diverse Realities: 6 Chicago Latino Artists, including two printmakers (Barberena and Arceo). Co-Prosperity exhibited Let It Grow: 10 Years of Collaborative Printmaking at Hoofprint curated by Liz Born & Gabe Hoare in 2022. The Chicago Printmakers Collaborative showed, in 2023, Grabado Popular: Prints for the People, with artists Atlan Arceo-Witzl, Carlos Barberena & CHema Skandal! La Catrina Café showed Instituto Gráfico de Chicago (IGC)’ s Dichos y Diretes print portfolio and ACE: an Exhibition of Sociopolitical Printmaking, Alynn Guerra, Carlos Barberena and Eric J. García, both in 2014. Citlalin Gallery &

IGC’s Grabadolandia announcement, 2023. Featuring Marco Sanchez’ print

Theater, run by Gustavo Sánchez, hosts a variety of music, poetry, drama, and visual arts programs including the recent exhibition

Xantolo: Tribute Exhibition to the Engraver Don José Guadalupe Posada in 2021.

Carlos Barberena, a Nicaraguan-born printmaker adopted by Mexican artists, has been active in Pilsen since 2009. He has been inspired by the print tradition of the TGP members and more specifically by the graphic quality and style of Leopoldo Méndez. Barberena regularly participates in print projects involving Mexican artists. His solo exhibitions include Eye Denounce / Imágenes de denuncia, at Efebina’s Café in 2010; Master Prints at NIU’s Fine Arts Gallery, and Master Prints and Años de Miedo at NIU’s El Centro Campus both in 2011; Lustful Appetite, at Human Thread Center in 2011; Promised Land was hosted in 2016 at Pilsen Outpost and later at Saint Xavier University Art Gallery; Memories of Resistance at La Catrina Café in 2017; Graphic Resistance, at the Pilsen Outpost Gallery in 2019. Group exhibitions include Print at Anywhere Space in 2010, Posada Presente IGC’s print portfolio at UNAM Campus in 2014, Labor / Immigration / GulfRostros de la Migración at Di Franco Studio/Gallery in 2014, Memento Mori: Day of the Dead International Print Exhibit at Pilsen Outpost in 2017. The show Grabando Resistance / Printing Resistencia curated by Carlos Barberena was shown at Pilsen Arts & Community House (PACH) in 2023.

Hoofprint Shop

Under the leadership and vision of master printers Liz Born and Gabe Hoare, Hoofprint has been instrumental in advancing and fostering printmaking in its short ten-year existence. Through their annual participation at Grabadolandia and its related programs, their support of the Chicago Printers Guild, and the national print fairs they are making their voice heard. Equally visible has been their support for local Mexican artists like Ricardo Santos Hernández in printing several of his heavily detailed lithographic editions. Salvador Jiménez Flores has worked there as well producing multicolor lithographs. As of late, Sal Vega has worked on an etching Flor de Esperanza, and a color lithograph for the homage portfolio dedicated to Carlos A. Cortéz’s centennial in 2023. Likewise, Jesús Acuña designed a multiple-color screen print whose edition was pulled by Hoofprint. Nicole Marroquín has been working on historical research-based screen prints, whose editions have been printed by Hoofprint over the years. My son, Atlan Arceo-Witzl has done several multiple color lithographs there. I contracted Gabe Hoare to pull an edition for an oversized woodcut I could not

El Instituto Gráfico de Chicago (IGC)

The IGC was established by a group of Pilsen-based or Pilsen-related printmakers. Some were employees of the National Museum of Mexican Art and others have exhibited there or participated in some projects they sponsored. The nine members who founded in 2010 this collective include Eric J. García, Carlos Barberena, Ricardo X. Serment, Antonio Pazarán, CHema Skandal!, José Luis Gutiérrez, Salvador Jiménez Flores, Eric Gazca, and Laura Nussbaum-Barberena. New members include Cynthia “Marris” Juárez, Vanessa Sánchez, Amanda Cortés, Marcela Andrade, and my son Atlan Arceo-Witzl.

The group’s webpage statement partially reads: “IGC is dedicated to maintaining the critical activist tradition of Latino printmakers that unites communities of struggle around the world.” The group works on promoting and fostering printmaking in the Chicagoland area through print demonstrations, exhibitions, printmaker’s talks, workshops, publishing print portfolios, and organizing the annual printers/vendors’ fair Grabadolandia. This fair takes place at the National Museum of Mexican Art, and it is free to the public. It involves the participation of more than thirty individual printmakers and collectives from the city, vicinity, and beyond. Every participating artist shows fairgoers how their respective prints are created involving the audience in their print process. This is done to raise the public’s awareness of print processes and to demystify those processes, by bringing varied techniques directly to the hands of participating audiences.

The expectation is that visitors will leave with original prints at hand, develop a sense of appreciation, and add value to the resulting prints by understanding how they are created. The lineup of participants for Grabadolandia 2023 included: Alejandra Carrillo, Alex Velazquez-Brightbill (Riverside, IL), Anna Hasseltine, Carl Richardson, Chicago Printers Guild, Chicago Printmakers Collaborative, Eddy López, Expressions Graphics (Oak Park, IL), Francisco Delgado (El Paso, TX), Héctor Duarte (Chicago, IL), Nicole Marroquín (Ann Arbor, MI), Hoofprint (Chicago, IL), IGC members (Chicago, IL), JustSeeds, La Onda Gráfica, Marco Sánchez (El Paso, TX), Marimacha Monarca Press (Chicago), Mehdi Darvishi/Metaluna Press (Chicago, IL), Miguel A. Aragón (New York, NY), Montserrat Alsina (Chicago), Printstitute (Chicago, IL), Reinaldo Gil Zambrano (Spokane, WA), Arceo Press (Chicago, IL), Roberto Ferreyra (Chicago, IL), SAIC Printmedia (Chicago, IL), Steve Walters, William Estrada, Roberto Torres Mata (Madison, WI), and Rebo (Houston, TX).

IGC has published six print portfolios with the participation of its members as well as invited international guests. The portfolios published are Immigration; Dia de Muertos; Posada Presente in 2013; Dichos y Diretes in 2014; Chicago Style Prints in 2015; and Contra / Against in 2017.

fit in my etching press. Several printmakers have rented press time to pull their editions including Elvia Rodríguez Ochoa and Saul Aguirre. When printmaker master, Shinzaburo Takeda visited Chicago as part of the Grabadolandia fair, Hoofprint printed his lithographic edition. In 2017, Hoofprint exhibited the IGC’s print portfolio Contra / Against, and the group showed Prints of Unusual Size

Conclusion

As is evidenced by the exhibitions at galleries, museums, community centers, colleges, and cafes, mentioned within these pages, there has been, and continues to be, a living print tradition. The exhibitions and creatives involved in the production of prints for nearly one hundred years continue to thrive, through interested galleries, supporters, print collectors, and the development of alternative spaces. Individual artists and multiple collectives have put Chicago prints on the map. Younger generations of printmakers are creating collectives like Instituto Gráfico de Chicago and its related educational and promotional activities. They are pushing the boundaries and thinking outside the box. Printmakers are approaching and accessing new workspaces and collaborating with them; like the Chicago Printmaker Collective, Chicago Printers Guild, Hoofprint Shop, Hummingbird Press, Expressions Graphics, and other individual or group printshops around the Chicago area. The Chicago community of printmakers is strong, and I foresee a bright future.

Bibliography

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Inhabiting Through Art: Pilsen, Creating a Community in a New Land

Aline Hémond

(University of Paris Nanterre / CNRS LESC-EREA)

In 2014, ten years ago, I discovered Pilsen, the Mexican artists’ neighbourhood, thanks to Nicolás de Jesús , former migrant, and artist, whom I accompanied on his return trip to his previous places of exile. We walked through the streets, and he showed me all the traces showing the presence of Mexicans in the city, in particular the murals on the walls and building fronts.2 I became aware of the great capacity to act manifested by the successive immigrants who had succeeded in creating a "large -size Mexico" in these foreign lands. This neighbourhood marked by urban art was still occupied by a great many artist studios and print studios, despite the ongoing gentrification. Several questions came to mind, to which I will attempt to provide some answers in this article: what role did social art contribute in Pilsen towards the establishment of Mexicans in exile? In what manner did it give method, determination, power to act and the capacity to occupy to a community of migrants? Starting from the often-traumatic experience of crossing the border, how have artists of Mexican origin supported the struggles to claim the right to live and work in the city?

Entering Mexican Urbanity: Pilsen, La Villita

Pilsen and Little Village (referred to as La Villita by Spanish speakers) form the two emblematic communities of Mexican culture in Chicago in the Lower West Side. Pilsen, close to the large factories factories and the railway junction, was first a land of welcome to Czech migrants from the Austro-

2 Hémond, 2016.

Mario E. Castillo’s mural Peace/Metafisica, 1968. Enamel paint 20 x 90 feet. Photo Harold Allen.

Hungarian Empire at the end of the 19th century.3 Many of them left the neighbourhood and moved to the west of the city following the arrival of the first wave of Mexican migrants in the 1920's. These migrants arrived in the wake of the Cristero War (1926-1929) which opposed the ultra-secular Mexican state and the catholic farmers. Fearing for their lives, they first took refuge in the northern states of Mexico, then migrated to the American Middle West until the 1940's.4 They came for economic or political reasons and had no intention to settle permanently, as R. Redfield testifies in his field diary, written in 1924.5

It was in the middle of the 1960's and then in the 1980's that the successive arrival of extended families6 consolidated Mexican presence in the Lower West Side, in Pilsen and in Little Village.7 They found work in industry, agriculture, and construction. However, the organisation of labour according to ethno-racial divisions was particularly unfavourable towards black and Latino workers. Immigrants had to cope with the absence of health and retirement schemes, the inequality of salaries, poor consideration from the trade unions, as well as migratory conditions that were becoming more and more restrictive.8 Faced with these difficulties, the workers and day labourers showed their capacity for self-organization, and they rapidly recreated a welcoming community. Thanks to their cultural and linguistic closeness, this community has offered protection and solidarity to its members, and a transition space in preparation for their social and urban integration.9

Another important phase in Mexican establishment in this part of the city is the emergence of the Chicano protest movement. At the end of the 1960's, protests became more intense in the black and Latino ghettos of the West Side10, and these triggered larger urban protests. Immigrant Mexican workers claimed their rights11 in demonstrations, inspired by the movements of the day labourers12 in California, led by the trade union leader César Chávez.

3 The etymology of Pilsen comes from “Plzeň”, the fourth largest city in what is today the Czech Republic. Poles, Lithuanians, Slovaks, Slovenes and Hungarians, often of Jewish faith, also came to settle there to work in the steel industry and industrial jobs. This presence has today given way to that of Mexicans (83% “Hispanics” according to the 2010 censuses, including 23% monolinguals) (EPA, 2013:11).

4 Arredondo, 2008.

5 In Arias and Durand (2008).

6 Massey (2008, p.81), Daniel (1996).

7 Arredondo (2008); EPA (2013).

8 In 1965, the United States ended its bracero program, which granted many temporary work-permits to Mexicans. From that moment on, immigration became largely clandestine (Massey, 2008:78).

9 See Kirszbaum, 2004.

10 Abu-Lughod, 2007, p. 12.

11 Diamond, 2012.

12 Let us remember César Chávez’s slogan: “Si, se puede” – which Obama took inspiration from in 2006 for his presidential campaign: “ yes we can”. The example of this leader and his actions allow us to understand an often neglected point: the history of trade unionism through immigrant minorities.

By bringing together hundreds of community organizations to protest discrimination, El movimiento (or Chicano movement) became a motor of social change in the United States.13 The streets of Pilsen were the theatre of a range of demonstrations that gave political and cultural visibility to the immigrant Mexican community. It was at this time that Carlos A. Cortéz, a versatile artist known as Koyokuikatl (song of the coyote in Nahuatl, the Aztec language), came to Chicago. He became involved in the trade union movement and fought for social justice, while at the same time engraving leaflets and posters. After 1968, there was another wave of activism. In Mexico, political leaders and students fled the repression of the Díaz Ordaz government after the Tlatelolco massacre, and some found refuge in Chicago. Among them was Carlos Arango, the director of the Casa Aztlán, the emblematic community centre of Pilsen, until its closure in 2013.14 The Casa Aztlán offered cultural activities such as mural workshops, Aztec dance, regional music and dance, bilingual popular education workshops for adults and children, the training of community organizers and legal aid for migrants.

In 1995, there was a last wave of migration caused by the enforcement of the first Free Trade Treaty (TLC or NAFTA) in 1994, which led to the collapse of the agriculture and livestock economy of Mexico and the devaluation of the peso. Consequently, a large portion of small farmers, sometimes indigenous, migrated to the United States, principally to California, but also to North Carolina and to Illinois. A great many migrants arriving in Pilsen and the surrounding neighbourhoods came specifically from Iguala and the north of Guerrero (south-west Mexico where the Nahua artist Nicolás de Jesús was born) and from the western States (Michoacán, Jalisco, Zacatecas). The increase in the price of real estate over the last fifteen years has forced migrants to move to the cheaper neighbouring district, La Villita, where around 79,000 people live before moving on to other districts and become fully integrated (EPA, 2013)15

Allan Koss (b. 1942), Carlos A. Cortéz holding his poster at the Democratic Convention 1996, gelatin silver print, 7" x 5" (paper size), National Museum of Mexican Art 2005.475, Gift from the Carlos A. Cortéz Estate.

13 The Chicano Movement is a political, social, and cultural resistance movement aimed at restoring importance and legitimacy to Mexicans in the United States, by asserting their own culture. Many important union, literary and artistic figures have given their credentials to Chicano Art (with the myth of the return to Aztlán for example).

14 Discussions and interviews with Carlos Arango (June 2019), Nicolás de Jesús (2014, 2016), Franky Maya Piña (May 2019). Observation of the parades of organizations against migration laws (Memorial Day, May 27, 2019).

15 This distribution seems to follow the model developed by Park (1926) of an initial polarization of immigrants followed by a settlement in more mixed spaces, thereby indicating residential “assimilation.”

Creating “common places": the movement for peace and the community mural movement in Pilsen.

When you approach Pilsen, walking along the 18th street (that Latinos call La dieciocho), one notices that the principal streets are identified in English and Spanish through bilingual signs (such as Avenida César Chávez for the 18th Street). Bordering this thoroughfare are a great many studios, galleries, craft shops, but also cafés and restaurants. In the adjacent roads, residential plots are to be found with their small lawns at the front and their back yards, with their facades in brick or wood, well -aligned and sober. On one side of 18th street is an area encircling Harrison Park in West Pilsen, where the National Museum of Mexican Art was established in 1987, next to a baseball pitch. On the other side, there is the Orozco Community Academy, a bilingual school ornated with painted panels that relate the pre-Hispanic and revolutionary history of Mexico. The school was named in homage to José Clemente Orozco, the famous painter and muralist. Circular golden discs, reproducing the sculpture of the Sun Stone, or Aztec calendar, are to be found on the pavements at each intersection. They mark the territory and, like the street names, create a bicultural urban aesthetic and "locational" identity16. Many mural paintings are visible to the public on the building fronts of community centres and Mexican shops. On the Casa Aztlán, the murals were created by Ray Patlan, a native of Pilsen, with the help of Mario Castillo and other Mexican artists working at the time. The intention was to remind migrants and their descendants of their history. The paintings represent various symbolic scenes, such as the father of Patlan freeing himself from chains attached to machines and emerging from corn, or César Chávez shown in the company of factory workers17. This iconography is infused with the spirit of political protest that arose from the student movement in Mexico in 196818 , interpreted in the images of other artists residing in Pilsen (Marco Raya, Salvador Vega...). Its first members participated in the organization of the Washington D.C. historic march for civil rights in 1963, and in the subsequent marches. They also participated in the Latino marches in the spring of 2006 to protest the legislative reform criminalizing undocumented migrants19

These "common places" and certain assigned streets are spaces where former migrants can show themselves massively in demonstrations. « Aqui se ve la raza, aquí se ve mi gente » ("here you see the "race", you see my people") I am told. In a situation of segregation, inhabitants rely on solidarity, pride and the heritage of social struggles in Mexico, which reinforce the sense of belonging to a community.

16 According to the formulation of Kwon (2002).

17 Visit: https://chicagopublicartgroup.org/project/casa-aztlan/

18 Comm. pers. Carlos Arango, last manager of Casa Aztlán (June 2019).

19 On the 2006 protests, see Bonzom (2012); Arango Juárez et al. (2016).

20 Mexicans nationally and in the diaspora call themselves La raza (lit. “The race”), in contrast to the administrative exonym “hispano” or “latino”.

21 If we follow Bonzom and Chauvin (2007).

This became apparent in the protests organized by mothers and students in the second half of the 1970's. They demanded better roads and bilingual schools. This action led to the creation of the Benito Juarez High School in 1977. However, in the eyes of the community, the founding civic action was in 1979 when a mural was painted collectively on the walls of the school, with the title A la esperanza22. This example shows that collective action need not be limited to public demonstrations. The latter can be associated with other forms of activism, in particular the community-based mural movement: collective mural art with a political and social goal. Kwon (1997) defines this art as "global artistic practices, based on community organization and political activism"23

In the United States, these artistic contributions are wholly part of the repertoire of actions taken in social, ethnic, racial and labour movements. They are the graphic expression of didactic messagespolitical or educational - and help to publicize protests. These performances are a form of artistic militancy conducted in a participative way from below. They involve marginalized people living in the underprivileged inner-city districts or in relegated zones. In Pilsen, there have been several artistic projects uniting inhabitants, children, and teenagers of Latino schools and neighbouring AfroAmerican schools. For example, Jeff Maldonado has been engaged in actions for the peaceful

22 The mural A la esperanza was a project from Casa Aztlán which was selected by the residents. It was designed by Malú Ortega and Jimmy Longoria, assisted by artists Salvador Vega, Marcos Raya, and Oscar Moya. An exhibition at the National Museum of Mexican Art commemorated these mobilizations of the Mexican community in Pilsen. http://nationalmuseumofmexicanart.org/ exhibits/40-a%C3%B1os-la-esperanza.

23 http://eipcp.net/transversal/0102/kwon/en.

Ray Patlán’s 1971 mural at Salón de la Raza, Casa Aztlán. Photo: René H. Arceo

cohabitation of young people, following the murder of his son caught between two rival gangs. The result is a huge mosaic wall campaigning for peace and togetherness24. Jeff was among the students of Mario Castillo, who initiated Mexican muralism in Pilsen. He works in his huge studio at 1440W on the 18th street. On the ground floor of this building is the print studio MastizArte, rebaptized The Carlos A. Cortéz Cultural Centre, and an art gallery.

Painting murals in urban spaces requires a collective effort. These artistic projects make each resident feel like an artist for a time, and each artist feel they inhabit the place through their action which consists of conceiving the message and imagery, selecting portions of the walls, tracing the figures, and adding the colours25. Sharing the creative performance enhances self-confidence, empowerment, and awareness.

The Mexican artists in Pilsen used these tools to become visible in the 1970's and 1980's, both in the streets and in collective spaces (schools, social centers, and parish halls, mainly Catholic). Many of them were confirmed artists with a studio either in Pilsen or Little Village, carrying within them a pictorial, political and social tradition, the grand tradition of Mexican post-revolutionary muralism26 , made for the people, the palimpsest of the nation, showing the great historical figures on the walls of political palaces. But they also turned to satire, using the print medium, and criticised the government (in particular, the Taller de Grafica Popular). And they satirized the pintas, flyers with advertisements and various messages for elections, health issues and culture. The community-based mural movement, reinforced by muralism and print making, reinvented itself this way in its land of exile.

The mural paintings can be seen in streets, in corners of car parks, on shops or the fronts of buildings, and their colours, compositions and themes help identify the population to whom these aesthetic signs were destined. The artists and their apprentices - either residents or students - are united by the desire to create impressive messages in the streets that, by contiguity, will be worthy of memory. These marks appear on restaurant signs, cafés, cultural boutiques, shops selling objects of devotion or plants (the botanicas) or in the religious icons sold on doorsteps. Street sellers of ice-cream or sorbets (raspados) or people selling rural Mexican cooking (tamales, elotes) also participate in the production of this urban color.

The first mural paintings in Chicago: a foundation ritual?

In Chicago, mural paintings – which are not all creations of Latin-American artists – show that the history of the city and of the nation is inscribed in churches, viaducts, on the fronts of schools and on the walls of buildings. These representations that conjure up sometimes contrasting memories, are claimed by the various communities involved in this artistic expression. It is generally considered that the first iconography in the Chicago mural movement came from a collective of local Afro-American artists. In 1967, these visual artists, with the help of the Organization of Black American Culture

24 See: http://urbangateways.org/artists/jeff-abbey-maldonado/.

25 On this subject, see the first manual on muralist action, written by a pioneering visual artist from Chicago for classes, community centers and street corners (Rogovin, Burton and Highfill, 1975).

26 Some of the most famous muralists include Dr. Atl, Orozco, Alfaro Siqueiros and Rivera.

27 Lackritz Gray (2001).

(OBAC), created The Wall of Respect, situated on the intersection of the 43rd street, from Langley28 to Bronzeville, in the south of the city. It was a gallery of portraits of black heroes - musicians, athletes, and political leaders - painted on the brick wall of a facade. This work led to the community mural movement that celebrated black pride in many American cities, such as Detroit, Boston, Saint-Louis, and Philadelphia29. Despite the destruction of the wall in 197130, it is considered as the source of inspiration for Latin-American, Amerindian, and Asian-American31 urban murals.

As for the Latinos, in 1968, Mario Castillo created the first Mexican work32 to be seen in a public space in the United States. It was inspired by post-revolutionary mural art and by the Chicano protest movements led by César Chávez33. The image, entitled Metaphysics (Peace), in reaction to the Vietnam war, covered the walls of the Halsted Urban Progress Center (1935 S. Halsted St.). Then in 1969, he created The Wall of Brotherhood on the corner of 18th street and Halsted Street. The two murals have since disappeared. Mario Castillo recounts this historic moment34: "I was the first Mexican American in the United States to begin painting murals for the new movement for public art in 1968. […] In the High School Lane of Chicago, I was surrounded by the works of the greatest fresco artists and by WPA paintings. I was also influenced by Pre-Columbian, Mayan, and Teotihuacan frescos and by the three great muralists […]: Diego Rivera, José Clemente Orozco, and David Alfaro Siqueiros.” When Castillo created Metaphysics (Peace), he did not know the Wall of Respect had been painted just before that, by William Walker among others. "I simply pursued what I had already accomplished in Lane Tech, based on my Mexican heritage. Then in 1969, I painted The Wall of Brotherhood on the corner of 18th Street and Halsted Street, still in Pilsen. This second mural, two roads away from the first, was painted by a group of students from various ethnic backgrounds. Because it was done this way and because of its subject, The Wall of Brotherhood became the first multicultural mural painting in this new movement. These two works are also a homage to Pre-Columbian cultures.” (ibid).

This collection of memories of the first figurative representations in urban spaces highlights the quest of artists for recognition for having contributed towards making communities visible in the history of the city. Figuration is also an important factor in the process of ethnogenesis.

I was surprised by the similarities between these actions and what I had observed recently in the selfconstructing areas of Mexican towns. In the suburbs of Chilpancingo (administrative capital of the state of Guerrero) I saw the emergence of an informal district on the slopes of a hill: the Colonia Imperator Cuauhtémoc. With the help of Nicolás de Jesús - the artist who accompanied me to Pilsenthe new inhabitants have created a collective painting representing historic figures such as Emiliano Zapata, associated with the Revolution and the fight for land, on the walls of improvised schools

28 The Wall of Respect was coordinated by artist William Walker, with all participants coming from the Black Arts Movement (BAM).

29 Diamond, 2016; Smethurst, 2005.

30 Cf.Lackritz Gray (2001).

31 For more details, refer to the Northwestern University multimedia site on the Wall of Respect: http://www.blockmuseum.northwestern.edu/wallofrespect/main.htm.

32 Mario Castillo, born in México, does not identify as Chicano in the sense that he is the son of Mexican immigrant parents living in the United States (Arceo, com. Pers).

33 cf. Rodríguez, 2011, p. 68.

34 Source of these quotes: http://peace.maripo.com/p_walls.htm

made of corrugated iron and a community building made of planks. In so doing, they have symbolically founded a new district.

In general, this "foundation ritual" gives legitimacy to communities establishing themselves in contested territories. In news places of residence, such as Pilsen, mural art can be seen as the "art of giving visibility" to migrants, denoting them as a political community claiming both the "right to the city"35 and the right to work. Numerous murals represent Emiliano Zapata as the artisan of the redistribution of land to peasants. His slogan: "the land belongs to those who cultivate it" echoes the claims of migrant workers for whom the city must be accessible to those who work. It is an emblem in the fight of Mexicans for migratory rights and against gentrification.

Artists: from the boarder to a trans-border region

The collective creation of visual narratives helps minority groups attain empowerment and selforganization36. In the 1970's, the rise of alternative muralism, the aesthetic contemporary of psychedelic imagery and counterculture, was used by Americans fighting for peace in Vietnam. Among the leading figures in this movement are Mark Rogovin (1946-2019), muralist, visual artist and print maker. Son of the famous social photographer, Milton Rogovin (1909-2011), victim of McCarthyism, Mark studied the Fine Arts in the United States before doing an apprenticeship in the Siqueiros studio in Cuernavaca, in Mexico, the principal centre of social muralism. When he returned to his country, inspired by the Wall of Respect, he contributed to the foundation of the Chicago Public Art Workshop in 1971. Co-author of the manual Making Murals in 1974 - an essential reference book for generations of artist activists - he explains step by step how to create a muralist manifesto for a community. In this book, he enumerates the methods used in slogans to structure a community muralist movement. His project to create a Peace Museum in 1974 only saw the light of day in 198137 During our interviews from 2014 to 2016 in Forest Park, Mark Rogovin explained the principles that guided him throughout his career: build a "multiracial muralist movement" working towards collective action in favour of peace and the rights of workers and migrants. These principles were established before the advent of street art and graffiti art in the 1980's, which renewed visual codes and cultural practices "from below".

Setting aside the conflicts and competition for urban space, this period is market by collaboration between the Afro-American community, the Mexican immigrants, the Chicano movement, and "white"artists. It clearly illustrates how artistic practices, closely tied to the activism at the timepermeated ideas and collective actions. The artists of the day shared a social and rebellious spirit and a political culture that encouraged self-organization. They were driven by the aim to improve the rights of workers and migrants through art38

35 Henri Lefebvre (1968) defines the right to the city as a basic right, constitutive of democracy, and cities as common goods accessible to all residents. See also Speyer (2008).

36 Rogovin et al. (1975); Kwon (2002).

37 About the end of the Peace Museum, see Dizikes, 2011.

38 As shown in the interviews and life stories collected from artists and participants of the 1st and 2nd generation: in particular Héctor Duarte, René H. Arceo, Nicolás de Jesús, Carlos Tortolero, Carlos Arango, Mark Rogovin, Winifred Godfrey, William Goldmann, Marcos Raya, Carlos Barberena, Alfredo Martínez, Erasmo Salgado.

Aurelio Díaz, Alejandro Nava, and Héctor Duarte mural Nuestras raíces, nuevos horizontes, 1985, Little Village. Photo by René H. Arceo

Pilsen today…

In the last three decades, walls have been painted in a range of styles by different artists working for a variety of sponsors. Jesuit churches have funded their own urban imagery based on the principle of a social pastoral. Non-Latino artists, such as Jeff Zimmermann, born in Chicago, created a mural triptych near the church St. Pius V in a hyper-realist style. These works depict the combat for the rights of migrants through portraits of the city's essential workers. On the back panel can be seen the slogan "Si, se puede" ("yes, we can") and portraits of residents who have achieved the American dream of better social and economic conditions.

Local shops, supermarkets and restaurants have sponsored imagery typically inspired by Mexican culture, or Mexican American culture, referred to as crossing over, easily recognized in the United States. For example, in May 2019, I spotted the silhouette of the singer Selena (1971-1995), the idol of Tex-Mex, on the walls of a butcher shop in Pilsen. Another example are the murals sponsored by a tortilla company, explaining the origin of corn in Mesoamerican culture, and the mechanization of the production of the corn pancake in cities. Or a painted wall representing famous Mexican women: Sister Juana Inés de la Cruz, Frida Kahlo, the Adelitas. These works do not necessarily last long, as they are soon covered up by new paintings. However, some have been restored, confirming the evolution of muralism as a civic action towards becoming a cultural heritage (the mural representing the famous Mexican women mentioned earlier is an example). Other ephemeral images have not resisted the test of time, such as the one representing E. Zapata which has deteriorated. Since 2019, this wall has been covered with another painting in homage to a young Mexican who was murdered.

The continual addition of visual inscriptions in the urban space goes hand in hand with the renewal of generations, revealing the preoccupations of new artists, in particular feminine artists, on the themes of domestic violence, feminicides and male-female equality.

From the 1990's, Pilsen has become the hot spot of Mexican high culture with its visual artists, poets, musicians, architects, authors, its gastronomical or popular cooking, its festivals, and ceremonies (day of the dead, festival of the Guadalupe Virgin, for example). Many Mexican regions have established here cultural centres or tourist offices (Casa de Jalisco, Casa de Michoacán, for example). Mexican American cultural producers have created art galleries (Prospectus, La Luz Gallery, La Llorona Gallery, Carlos and Dominguez Fine Arts Gallery). Artists have founded art and print making cooperatives (Art Pilsen Collective, Taller Mexicano de Grabado) or publishing companies (René H. Arceo Press). An avant-garde on-line cultural review, El Beisman de Chicago, is directed by Maya de Piña39. El Beisman Press has also published works of art, poetry and the writings of migrant Mexicans and Latinos. A group of professors and artists, led by Carlos Tortolero and Helen Valdez, founded the National Museum of Mexican Art (NMMA) which contributes toward the patrimonialization of Mexican high culture40. Its certification as a National Museum in 2006 completed its institutionalisation, allowing Mexican American culture to become recognized as part of national American cultural heritage. An auditorium is accessible to the Mexican and Mexican American communities for meetings, compensating the absence of alternative spaces since the closure of the Casa Aztlán in 2013, after its eviction from its historic building. On the 13th of March 1993, it was in the auditorium of the Museum that César Chávez made his last public appearance to the Mexican community. He pronounced these words in English: "We want people to know that we also have a culture, we have art, we have many things (...) and so it is the right thing to present that to everyone, first to ourselves and our children, then to the rest of the community. This way, people will know that a great deal of art, a great deal of culture is associated with our people"41

39 http://www.elbeisman.com/revista/.

40 http://nationalmuseumofmexicanart.org/

41 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gpzjV-GF6w4&feature=emb_logo

Pablo Serrano’s mural, Somos Pilsen, 2021 (in progress) by Carnitas Don Pedro restaurant, Pilsen. Photo: René H. Arceo

Reaching

towards new territories: artists and the intimate expression of culture

The artistic practices of Mexican and Latino artists have been centred on their mural activities but also on print making - aquatint, zincography - in collaboration with Mexican, North American, and international print studios. At the beginning of the 1990's, the Taller Mexicano de grabado, situated on 18th street, was founded by several artists with the purpose to teach print techniques to adults and young Latinos. They were joined by Carlos A. Cortéz. Following this, they contributed to the creation of other establishments for print makers, such as the studio-gallery Mestizarte. These artists are united by common social values, and their model is the famous Taller de Grafica Popular in Mexico City. Created in 1937, this channel of social intervention embraced workers' and peasants' movements, promoting claims for higher salaries and better education for the people. Other workshops and print cooperatives followed suit, such as the Pilsen Post, where Carlos Barberena works.

Print makers generally consider their art as a vector of popular education. They conceive satirical prints expressing the struggle of migrants on the margins of anti-capitalist demonstrations (Occupy Wall Street; Indignados). The prints are also presented by regional cultural institutions, such as Casa Michoacán, Casa Jalisco, or during fairs organized by clubs of migrants, such as the Clubes unidos guerrerenses directed by Erasmo Salgado, who is also an art collector.

And finally, print making makes it possible to reach beyond one’s ethnic community to create networks around centres of interest. Nicolás de Jesús , René Arceo, Benjamin Varela, Carlos Barberena and Arturo Barrera have collaborated with the Anglo-Saxon print studio Expression Graphics, situated in Oak Park in the Cook County, one of the well to do suburbs in west Chicago. They have broken the "glass ceiling" by establishing contacts with English speaking artists. This has made it possible for them to mix with the city's different artistic communities, Hispanic or AngloSaxon, united by the common values inherited from the counterculture of the 1960's and the principles of popular education. On this bridge between communities is Mark Rogovin, who, until his death in 2019, shared his artistic experiences with the Taller Mexicano de Grabado and with Expression Graphics.

Conclusion

In conclusion, artists and inhabitants have formed a fabric of singularity and togetherness in Pilsen. Historically a land of welcome for migrants from middle Europe, this district became the emblematic bastion of the Mexican contribution to Chicago, particularly, in the field of the arts and culture. Artists are perceived as "extraordinary inhabitants" for their capacity to create visual signs which influence the aesthetics associated with places, anchoring identities and emotions and justifying the establishment of migrants in the city. The mural images, the school of contemporary art, the culinary tradition of Mexico, the decorative arts and the Mexican way of life have, after the initial period of discrimination, given a very special quality to this district and contributed to its strong territorial anchorage. Art and culture have made it possible for immigrants to claim spaces in this world and express their needs.

Over the last ten years, gentrification has caused the inhabitants, families, and artists, to move to other areas. The resident artist has become an "honorary inhabitant" of Pilsen. However, Pilsen and even Little Village, will remain symbolic places: the laboratory of social art that irrigated the memory of the whole city.

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LÓPEZ, Rick A. (2004) « Forging a Mexican National Identity in Chicago. Mexican Migrants and HullHouse », in Cheryl R. Ganz and Margaret Strobel (ed.): Pots of Promise. In Mexican and Pottery at Hull-House 1920-1940, University of Illinois Press, Jane Addams Hull-House Museum, Urbana and Chicago, p. 89-111.

MASSEY, Douglas S. (2008) « La racionalización de los mexicanos en Estados Unidos: estratificación racial en la teoría y en la práctica », Migración y desarrollo, n° 10, enero, p. 65-95.

PARK, Robert E. (1925) “The city: Suggestions for the investigation of human behavior in the urban environment”, in Park R.E., Burgess E.W., McKenzie R.D., The City, Chicago, University of Chicago Press, p. 1-46 (reproduit in Park R.E., 1952, Human Communities, Glencoe, Free Press, 13-51).

RODRIGUEZ, Marc (2011) « Latino Mural Cityscapes: A Reflection on Public Art, History, and Community in Chicago after World War II. » in Martin Butler, Jens Martin Gurr, Olaf Kaltmeier (ed.): EthniCities: Metropolitan Cultures and Ethnic Identities in the Americas, Bilingual Press, Tempe Arizona, p. 67-77.

ROGOVIN, Mark, BURTON Marie & Holly Highfill (1975) Mural Manual. How to paint Murals for the Classroom, Community Center and Street Corner, edited by Tim Drescher, Boston, Beacon Press, 116 p.

SMETHURST, James (2005) The Black Arts Movement: Literary Nationalism In The 1960s And 1970s, The University of North Carolina Press, 488 p.

SPIRE Amandine (2009) « Invisibilité et identification marginale à la ville: les paradoxes d’un quartier à forte représentation immigrée à Lomé (Togo) », E-migrinter (Le visible et l’invisible dans le champ des études sur les migrations), n°4, p. 76-88.

Avant-propos

C'est avec une immense fierté et une grande joie que j'écris l'introduction de ce catalogue. En tant que grand admirateur de l'estampe et critique féroce de ceux qui, dans les milieux artistiques, considèrent la gravure comme une forme d'art inférieure à la peinture, je suis extrêmement heureux de voir cette exposition qui célèbre la gravure se tenir à Paris. Le projet Pilsen Printmakers met en lumière la tradition de la gravure, principalement d’origine mexicaine, au sein de la communauté artistique de Pilsen, à Chicago. Cette exposition constitue une présentation fondamentale permettant de retracer l’histoire et l’importance des artistes mexicains de Pilsen.

Il est tout à fait pertinent que cette exposition ait lieu en 2024, 101 ans après la naissance de Carlos A. Cortéz, le légendaire graveur de Chicago Pilsen. Il était comparé à José Guadalupe Posada de Chicago, le plus grand graveur mexicain. Comme Posada, Cortéz était un artiste qui utilisait la gravure pour aborder des questions politiques et de justice sociale.

De nombreux aspects de la gravure sont significatifs, mais l'un de mes préférés est son accessibilité. Comme les gravures sont produites en série, leur prix est beaucoup plus abordable que celui des peintures. Par conséquent, la première œuvre d'art que possèdent de nombreuses personnes est une gravure. L'accessibilité étant une préoccupation majeure dans le monde de l'art, la gravure est un moyen d'expression merveilleux pour répondre à cette question.

En tant que fondateur et président émérite du Musée national d'art mexicain, le seul musée mexicain accrédité par l'American Alliance of Museums (Alliance américaine des musées), notre musée a toujours été un grand promoteur des gravures. Parmi les 21 000 œuvres d’art conservées dans les collections du Musée, plus de 4 500 sont des gravures. Il s’agit probablement de la collection de gravures la plus importante des États-Unis.

René Arceo était la personne idéale pour réaliser ce projet. René est le « Padrino » (promoteur) de la gravure au sein de la communauté mexicaine de Chicago, aucun autre graveur n’ayant autant contribué à élever cette forme d'art à Chicago. En sus d’être un excellent artiste, c’est un remarquable commissaire et organisateur d'expositions de gravures.

Aline Hémond mérite également d’être remerciée. Depuis sa visite à Pilsen, il y a des années, elle est devenue une grande admiratrice de l'art créé dans ce quartier. Lors de ses nombreux voyages à Chicago, elle s'est distinguée en tant qu’éminente spécialiste et commentatrice de la scène artistique de Pilsen. Son enthousiasme pour l'art de Pilsen est incroyablement contagieux.

Il est également fondamental de remercier toutes les institutions culturelles parisiennes qui ont généreusement accueilli les différents aspects de ce remarquable projet artistique.

Carlos Tortolero

Fondateur et président émérite Musée national d'art mexicain

Lithographies : Orozco aux États-Unis

José Clemente Orozco (1883-1949) a vécu aux États-Unis pour la première fois entre 1917 et 1919. Pendant ce voyage, des officiers douaniers de Laredo, Texas, détruisirent près de soixante de ses aquarelles issues de la collection La Casa del Llanto en raison de leur caractère immoral. Orozco a voyagé du Texas à San Francisco, où il gagnait sa vie en tant que peintre de panneaux publicitaires et d’affiches de films, avant de s’installer à New York. À cette époque, les peintures de Diego Rivera étaient exposées à Manhattan depuis 1916 bien avant que les œuvres de Rufino Tamayo soient présentées à la galerie d’art Weyhe Gallery en 1926. Peu après la Révolution mexicaine de 1910-1920, Orozco réalise une longue série de toiles et de gravures à l’encre appelées Les Horreurs de la Révolution. Il dépeint des viols, des personnes blessées, des funérailles, des paysans pauvres et des personnes implorant la miséricorde. Ces œuvres sont souvent comparées à la série Désastres de la guerre de Francisco Goya dont Orozco a utilisé certaines des idées pour ses lithographies.

Lors du second voyage d’Orozco à New York (1927-1934), il rencontre Alma Reed, une journaliste et traductrice, qui deviendra sa marchande d’art et sa première biographe. Mais c ’est à la journaliste Anita Brenner que l’on doit le première contribution permettant de faire connaitre ses œuvres avec un article d’octobre 1927, intitulé « Un Mexicain rebelle ». En 1928, Orozco présenta sa première exposition personnelle de dessins à l’encre aux Galeries Marie Sterner. Il continua à exposer régulièrement à New York et dans d’autres endroits du pays, dans des expositions collectives ou individuelles.

Au cours de ces années à New York, Orozco continua à pratiquer la lithographie en créant dix-neuf gravures. Certaines ont été imprimées à l’Art Students League, mais la plupart ont été publiées par la Galerie d’art Weyhe Gallery et tirées à l’imprimerie George Miller sur la 14e rue. Parmi les lithographies réalisées en 1928, on trouve Vaudeville à Harlem, Ouvriers mexicains – Agaves et Nopals, Le Requiem, Touristes, et Le porteur de drapeau. Plusieurs lithographies ont été imprimées en 1929, notamment Femmes manifestantes, Dos magueyes y dos mujeres (Deux agaves et deux femmes), Tres Figuras con Restos de Casas (Trois Silhouettes avec des Restes de Maisons), Trois Générations (La Famille), Grossesse : La Femme du soldat, et Arrière-Garde. Cette dernière s’inspire de sa fresque à l’École nationale préparatoire de la ville de Mexico de 1926. En 1930, il peignit Paisajes mexicanos, œuvre reflétant la vision sombre d’Orozco, mettant en lumière les échecs de la Révolution mexicaine et sa méfiance envers les systèmes politiques. En 1929, Alma Reed inaugura les Studios Delphic avec une exposition de toiles de Thomas Hart Benton (1889-1975) et les lithographies d’Orozco. Malheureusement, quelques semaines plus tard, le marché boursier s ’effondra et le reste appartient à l’histoire.

Un siècle d'estampe mexicaine à Chicago

René H. Arceo

Lorsque j'ai commencé à faire des recherches sur l'art imprimé à Chicago, j'ai découvert une communauté très vivante d'artistes, de galeries et de musées organisant et accueillant des expositions d'estampes. Cette recherche m'a amené à découvrir l'histoire de l'estampe à Chicago, jusqu'alors peu connue. Une découverte fascinante fut l'exposition monographique de Leopoldo Méndez au Art Institute of Chicago en 1945. Lors de cette exposition, Méndez reçoit une commande pour une nouvelle estampe et réalise la gravure sur bois intitulée Lo que no debe venir (ce qui ne doit pas arriver), connue aussi comme Le danger plane sur le Mexique.

Cet autoportrait, l’un des trois seuls jamais réalisés par l'artiste, reflète les préoccupations et l’engagement des graveurs mexicains qui s’inscrivent dans la lignée du Taller de Gráfica Popular (Atelier de la Graphique Populaire), de la LEAR (Ligue des Écrivains et Artistes Révolutionnaires) et de José Guadalupe Posada avant eux. En 1939, Méndez obtient une bourse Guggenheim pour voyager dans plusieurs endroits aux États-Unis, dont la Foire Internationale de New York. Grâce à cette bourse, il découvre les couches les plus modestes de la population et réalise ses dessins et lithographies Familia de Trabajadores (Famille d'ouvriers), Obreros de la construcción (Travailleurs des chantiers), et Harlem

Avant Méndez, la première exposition d'estampes d'un artiste mexicain à Chicago a été l’exposition personnelle intitulée José Clemente Orozco: Paintings, Drawings, Lithographs (José Clemente Orozco: peintures, dessins, lithographies) qui a eu lieu en 1934 à l’Arts Club of Chicago. La biographe d'Orozco, Alma Reed, dans son premier ouvrage Orozco, relate la visite dans sa galerie new-yorkaise, Delphic Studios, de Dr. Robert B. Harshe, directeur de l'Art Institute of Chicago, après son retour d'une tournée des musées en Europe. Ce fin connaisseur de l'art a reconnu immédiatement en Orozco "un maître authentique". Après avoir étudié les œuvres disponibles de l'artiste, il lui a demandé une collection en noir et blanc pour une présentation "préliminaire" à l'automne. Reed mentionne aussi la visite d'Orozco à Chicago en ces termes " […] les membres du département des beaux-arts, y compris Madame Eva Schute, directrice de la Renaissance Society, ont chaleureusement accueilli Orozco sur le campus: […] Au Arts Club, fréquenté par les mécènes les plus riches de Chicago, l'exposition d'Orozco a suscité une grande admiration, attirant des foules enthousiastes. Or aucune vente n’a été réalisée […] Orozco a consacré beaucoup de temps au Art Institute et au Field Museum..."1 Son objectif était d'obtenir une commande murale dans la région de Chicago, en vain.

En 1938, la galerie de l'Artist Union in Chicago Graphic Group sponsorise la LEAR Exhibition, du nom d’un collectif de graveurs, écrivains et peintres, créé en 1933 dans la maison de son premier président, Leopoldo Méndez. Les autres membres fondateurs étaient Luis Arenal, Juan de la Cabada, Pablo O’Higgins, Xavier Guerrero, Alfredo Zalce, Fernando Gamboa, Santos Balmori, et Ángel Bracho, notamment. Le groupe était le point de convergence de voix littéraires progressistes, accompagnées de puissantes œuvres graphiques de protestation contre l’agression fasciste en Espagne et en soutien aux classes défavorisées. Sa publication principale était Frente a Frente (Front à Front). Le groupe s'est dissout en 1937, l'année de fondation du Taller de Grafica Popular.

1HERRERA, 2008. Quotations: 44, 85 – 88, 90 – 94, 96, 97, 99, 106- 114, 118 – 126, 129 – 131, 134 – 136, 142 –143.

Les années suivantes, le Art Institute of Chicago a présenté plusieurs expositions individuelles et collectives d'estampe mexicaine, dont Estampes d'artistes contemporains mexicains en 1938, Habits du Mexique de Carlos Mérida en 1941, La semaine panaméricaine célèbre l'art latino-américain en 1942, et une exposition monographique de Posada, intitulée The Art of José Guadalupe Posada (L'art de José Guadalupe Posada), en 1946.

Dans les décennies suivantes, un grand nombre d'autres maîtres graveurs ont visité la ville de Chicago pour y exposer et donner des conférences, notamment Leopoldo Méndez, Elizabeth Catlett, Francisco Mora, Alfredo Zalce, Adolfo Mexiac, Arturo García Bustos, Rina Lazo, José Luis Cuevas, Luis Jiménez Jr., Shinzaburo Takeda, Mariana Yampolski et Alejandro Nava. Dans les années 1950, il y a eu peu d'expositions de graveurs mexicains. Le vide a été comblé par l'arrivée à Chicago en 1965 de Carlos A. Cortéz, qui réalise des estampes et organise des expositions en collaboration avec MARCH (Mouvement artistique chicano).

1970 Les années et au-

delà

L'École de l'Institut d'Art (SAIC) était un point d'entrée dans le monde de l'estampe pour plusieurs artistes, dont Oscar Moya et Salvador Vega. Moya y a étudié la sérigraphie de 1977 à 1978, puis en 1981, il a poursuivi avec le maître sérigraphe Roberto Vargas, à Casa Aztlán. Moya a créé des sérigraphies et imprimé pour d'autres artistes jusqu'en 1994. Vega a étudié l'estampe à la SAIC dans les années 70, où il a créé des gravures sur métal et des lithographies. En 1979, je l'ai rencontré lors d’un programme d'été pour les jeunes, où il enseignait la sérigraphie avec Roberto Vargas à Casa Aztlán. Principalement muraliste, Vega a produit de nombreuses affiches en sérigraphie dans les années 80 depuis l'atelier Ink Works. En 1992, le Mexican Fine Arts Center a financé une résidence d'estampe au Self Help Graphics de Los Angeles, où il a créé El Volador

Salvador Vega, El volador, 1993 Screen-print, Collection de Beata & René H. Arceo

Leopoldo Méndez et le Collectif TGP

« Atelier d’arts graphiques populaires » (1937-2010)

Ce fameux atelier graphique a été établi en tant que centre de production collectif s ’appuyant sur les expériences acquises à la LEAR (Ligue des Écrivains et des Artistes Révolutionnaires). Cette méthode de travail a permis aux artistes d’atteindre leur objectif qui consistait à apporter leur soutien à des organisations populaires de travailleurs, professeurs, ou de groupes autochtones, ainsi que de s’exprimer sur des sujets politiques et sociaux à l’échelle nationale et internationale. Le but de cet atelier était de transformer l’idée de l’art, de lui ôter le rôle d’un simple divertissement pour la bourgeoisie, et ce, sans but lucratif. Les membres de cet atelier ont proposé que leur travail soit toujours au service de la population et l’aide à résoudre les problèmes quotidiens. Dans le même temps, ils cherchaient à ce que les gens s’identifient à leur travail. Pour la classe ouvrière, il s’agissait de prendre conscience que l’art ne leur était pas étranger et que certains artistes se sont sincèrement battus à leurs côtés. Pour se faire, ils ont considéré que la forme expressive la plus appropriée était le réalisme et que la technique de la linogravure, était celle permettant de réaliser de nombreuses impressions à moindre coût.

Le groupe a été formé par les graveurs Leopoldo Méndez, Pablo O’Higgins et Luis Arenal. Méndez en sera le premier directeur, poste qu’il a occupé jusqu’en 1952. Plusieurs autres artistes ont rejoint le groupe d’origine tels qu’Alberto Beltrán, Alfredo Zalce, Ángel Bracho, Ignacio Aguirre, Isidoro Ocampo, Jean Charlot, Mariana Yampolski et Raúl Anguiano. Plus tard, Elizabeth Catlett et Sarah Jiménez ont également rejoint le groupe.

Durant le gouvernement libéral du Président Lázaro Cárdenas (1934-1940), le TGP (Atelier d’arts graphiques populaires) a soutenu les principes de Cárdenas à travers la production de gravures et d’affiches accessibles à tous. Pour leur projet d’inauguration, l’Atelier a publié des affiches en l’honneur de la Confédération des travailleurs du Mexique, fraîchement fondée en 1937. Un calendrier comportant douze lithographies a été publié pour l’Universidad Obrera (l’Université Ouvrière).

La maison d’édition du TGP était La Estampa Mexicana (L’Imprimerie Mexicaine) qui publiait des livres illustrés ainsi que des éditions de portfolios avec les travaux de ses membres. L’ un de ces livres datant de 1946 a été intitulé : Incidentes melódicos del mundo irracional (Incidents mélodiques du Monde Irrationnel) avec des linogravures de Méndez et un texte de Juan de la Cabada. Le livre a reçu le prix du meilleur livre illustré lors de la Foire du livre de la ville de Mexico de 1946.

Avant de quitter le TGP en 1952, L. Méndez fut honoré du Prix international de la Paix décené por le Conseil Mondial de la Paix, en reconnaissance de son œuvre graphique engageé contre le guerre. Méndez sollicita que cette distinction soit pertagée avec l’ensemble des membres du collectif TGP.

Aussi bien Moya que Vega ont travaillé avec MARCH, puis avec MIRA (Mi Raza Arts Consortium), fondé et dirigé par l'artiste José G. González. Ce dernier organise et présente plusieurs expositions d'estampes dans diverses institutions culturelles de Chicago, dont l'exposition Leopoldo Méndez à la galerie du Chicago State University, en 1975. Depuis des années, le Chicago State University réalisait des expositions individuelles et collectives de peinture, photographie et art graphique, notamment l'exposition Carlos A. Cortéz Koyokuikatl, en 1979, et l'exposition Superstitions Print Portfolios, en 2015. En 1977, le Truman College présente l'exposition Anisembi Wake Aztlán, dont l’affiche de l'exposition avait été créée et imprimée à partir d'une linogravure de Carlos A. Cortéz. Les puissantes lithographies du maître litographe Luis Jiménez ont été présentées au public en 1977 dans une exposition personnelle au Landfall Press. En 1982, l'exposition Silkscreen Posters from the Royal Chicano Air Force est présentée à la galerie du centre de danse et d’art MoMing. En 1984, les estampes de José Guadalupe Posada sont présentées à l’Objects Gallery dans le cadre du Jour des Morts, avec un autel dédié à Felipe Ehrenberg. En 1994, l’Isobel Neal Gallery organise l'exposition In the Hemisphere of Love, présentant les œuvres des époux Elizabeth Catlett et Francisco Mora. Cette exposition a ensuite été montrée à la galerie I-Space, accompagnée de conférences de Mora et Catlett au National Museum of Mexican Art, et d'une conférence en solo de Catlett au Art Institute of Chicago.

Galerie Ink Works

En 1984, pendant mes études à la SAIC, j'ai effectué un stage au MIRA. Après un semestre, j'ai commencé à travailler avec l'imprimeuse d'art, Inara Cedrins, afin que "Beto" Barrera, de l'atelier commercial Ink Works, nous permette de créer une galerie attenante. Nos efforts ont porté leurs fruits et Ink Works a vu le jour en 1984, avec l'appui d'un grand nombre d'artistes du quartier venus prêter main forte pour peindre les murs, fixer les éclairages et organiser des expositions et événements. La galerie a été particulièrement active au cours de ses trois premières années. En 1985, elle a organisé une exposition en mémoire de Rudy Lozano, où les œuvres de Carlos A. Cortéz, Sal Vega, Oscar Moya ainsi que les miennes ont été exposées, aux côtés des œuvres de plusieurs autres peintres et photographes. Beto Barrera et Larry Garza de Ink Works ont publié un catalogue de 36 pages pour l’événement. Il y avait également des expositions d'estampes organisées pour collecter des fonds en solidarité avec les pays de l'Amérique centrale, ainsi que des expositions sur le Jour des Morts. Ma deuxième exposition personnelle, René Arceo: Prints and Drawings, a eu lieu en 1986 dans cette galerie. En 1986, le Mexican Museum m'a nommé curateur de l'exposition Nuestro Pasado / Nuestro Presente (Notre passé, notre présent) pour présenter les estampes d'artistes de la ville, en lien avec la célébration de l'anniversaire de l'Indépendance du Mexique à la Galerie Ink Works.

The Mexican Fine Arts Center | National Museum of Mexican Art

Pendant la période de mon travail au MFACM (aujourd'hui le Musée National d'Art Mexicain, ciaprès dénommé Museum) à Chicago, un grand nombre d'expositions d'estampes ont eu lieu. Le commissariat était réalisé soit en interne, soit par d'autres diffuseurs d'art. C'est alors que le Museum commence à envisager la création d'une collection permanente par l'acquisition d'œuvres d'artistes d'origine mexicaine. L'art imprimé était financièrement accessible pour une jeune institution disposant d'un budget limité. Avec l'aide de subventions locales, régionales et nationales, le musée a commencé à acheter des œuvres d'artistes américano-mexicains et chicanos de tout le pays. Parmi

Carlos

A.

Cortéz Koyokuikatl (1923 - 2005)

Fils d'Alfredo Cortéz, organisateur syndical mexicain, et d'Augusta Ungrecht, socialiste et pacifiste germano-américaine, Carlos A. Cortéz fut profondément influencé par les deux volets de son héritage. Il puisa son inspiration tant auprès de Käthe Kollwitz que de José Guadalupe Posada, ce dernier étant pour lui un véritable mentor spirituel. Parmi les expériences de vie de Cortéz ayant influencé son art, figurent son travail comme ouvrier du bâtiment et en usine, ses activités comme concierge, journaliste, vendeur de disques en porte-à-porte, commissaire d’exposition, poète et graveur. Il a participé à la publication de l'Industrial Workers of the World, à laquelle il a régulièrement contribué pendant vingt ans avec des illustrations, de la poésie, des critiques de films et d'albums de musique. En 1965, Cortéz a quitté Milwaukee pour Chicago et, au cours des deux décennies suivantes, il a réussi à développer un ensemble significatif d'œuvres d'art socialement engagées.

Ses affiches lui permettaient d’announcer les expositions et les événements culturels qui se déroulaient dans les barrios (quartiers mexicains). Il cherchait à promouvoir les luttes pour les droits de l'homme, à illustrer les traditions culturelles mexicaines et à refléter son engagement en faveur des droits des travailleurs aux États-Unis. Ses estampes étaient distribuées dans les centres communautaires, les librairies, les restaurants, les bibliothèques, les magasins de disques et tout autre endroit où elles pouvaient être vues par le public. Cortéz utilisait des papiers bon marché pour ses tirages, car il produisait de l'art dans un double but. D'une part, il exprimait ses préoccupations sur les questions sociales, économiques et politiques de l'époque. D'autre part, souhaitant mettre les œuvres d'art à la disposition des personnes qui n'avaient généralement pas les moyens de les acheter, il vendait ses tirages à moins de vingt-cinq dollars l'unité.

Etant l’artiste le plus ancien du barrio de Pilsen, Cortéz a servi fièrement d’exemple à plusieurs générations d'artistes de Chicago et plus particulièrement à ses collègues du Taller Mexicano de Grabado (Atelier mexicain de gravure).

Lorsque Tere Romo [historienne de l’art en Etudes Chicanas à l’université de Californie, Davis] a organisé l'exposition Fanning the Flame, elle a écrit au sujet de Carlos A. Cortéz : « Il est passé maître dans l'art de produire des images très directes qui communiquent des messages puissants et universels. Reconnus internationalement, ses tirages ont été inclus dans des expositions qui ont voyagé à travers les États-Unis, le Mexique et l'Europe. Légende vivante, Cortéz est un artiste prolifique, un poète, un philosophe et un militant syndical qui continue à projeter son ombre dans l'avenir avec intégrité et humour ».

TRAD. Danielle Davis Gorovich

les premières acquisitions figuraient des œuvres d'Esther Hernandez, César A. Martínez, Luis Jiménez Jr, et Carmen Lomas Garza, entre autres. Ces estampes constituent la base de la collection, qui depuis n'a cessé de grandir, atteignant aujourd'hui plusieurs milliers d'œuvres.

Durant ma première année d’exercice en 1987, j'ai réalisé le commissariat de la première exposition d'estampes au Museum, intitulée Estampes des Maîtres mexicains. L'exposition comprenait vingt maîtres de l'estampe, dont Leopoldo Méndez, Sarah Jiménez, Alberto Beltrán, Mariana Yampolski, Miguel Covarrubias, José Clemente Orozco, Rufino Tamayo et Alfredo Zalce. Les œuvres étaient prêtées par des collections privées et publiques, telles que l’Art Institute of Chicago, le Philadelphia Museum of Art, le Museum of Modern Art of Latin America, et provenaient aussi de la collection d'estampes du Museum. Un catalogue de l'exposition a été publié, comprenant également la collection d'estampes du Museum, accompagné des commentaires perspicaces de l'historienne d'art Raquel Tibol. La même année, j'ai également réalisé le commissariat de l'exposition Alfredo Zalce : une rétrospective, retraçant la contribution artistique de ce maître prolifique de Michoacán. Cette exposition présentait un grand nombre d'estampes, ainsi que des peintures, dessins, sculptures, céramiques, tapisseries, batiks et pièces de joaillerie. Le catalogue était enrichi des commentaires réfléchis de la critique d'art Berta Taracena.

En 1988, le Museum révéla l'œuvre de l'artiste E. C. Montoya, installé à San Francisco, dans son exposition monographique intitulée Œuvre graphique d'Emmanuel C. Montoya. La même année, l'atelier d'estampe très réputé de l’est de Los Angeles, Self Help Graphics, sous l'égide de sa fondatrice et directrice, Sœur Karen Boccalero, a fait une donation inattendue au Museum d'environ 125 estampes. Et de m’expliquer à l’époque : "Je souhaite m'assurer que les œuvres de ces artistes soient conservées, étudiées, exposées et partagées avec les générations futures". Elle a également fait des dons à des institutions en Californie et ailleurs. Dans sa donation au Museum figurent des œuvres d'Urista, Leo Limón, Patssi Valdez, Gronk, Yreina Cervantes, John Valadez, Diane Gamboa et de nombreux autres artistes. Une sélection de ces estampes a été exposée au Museum en 1989 sous le titre Du Corazón à l'Est LA. Un autre corpus faisant partie de la collection du Museum est celui des estampes de Leopoldo Méndez. Avec l'appui de la veuve de Méndez et de son fils, le Museum parvient à acheter 222 estampes signées et reçoit une donation de 111 estampes non signées de la famille Méndez, soit 333 estampes qui viennent s'ajouter aux premières œuvres de Méndez acquises par le Museum auprès de courtiers d'art régionaux. Grâce à cette acquisition, le Museum détient désormais l'une des plus grandes collections de l'œuvre de Méndez détenue par une institution. Une exposition de ces estampes a été organisée en 2001, Leopoldo Méndez: Hacedor de Imágenes de un Pueblo (Leopoldo Méndez : Faiseur d'images d'un Peuple).

En 1988, la López Quiroga Gallery à Mexico prête au Museum la première rétrospective des gravures de Toledo, intitulée Francisco Toledo : une rétrospective de son œuvre graphique. L'exposition comprenait 113 estampes magistrales, ainsi que plusieurs livres illustrés de Toledo, notamment Toledo / Guchachi (1976), Treize façons de regarder un merle (1981) et Un nouveau catéchisme pour Indiens insolents. Un catalogue est publié, enrichi des commentaires perspicaces de l'historienne d'art Teresa del Conde du Musée d'Art Moderne de Mexico. Toujours en 1988, j'ai été le commissaire de la première exposition monographique de Carlos A. Cortéz L'œuvre graphique de Carlos A. Cortéz. L'année suivante, en 1989, j'ai réalisé le commissariat de l'exposition José Guadalupe Posada Aguilar, où ont été présentées les estampes et les matrices de la collection de Arsacio Vanegas Arroyo, le petit-fils de l'éditeur de Posada, Antonia Vanegas Arroyo.

L'exposition était composée de plus de 250 pages de journaux, feuillets, livres d'enfants, livres de cuisine, estampes rééditées, planches originales, ainsi que les œuvres d'artistes influencés par Posada tels que Carlos A. Cortéz, Luis C. González, José Montoya et Leopoldo Méndez, à partir de la collection permanente du Museum. Le catalogue de l'exposition était accompagné de l'article pertinent du critique d'art Alberto Hijar. Un portfolio d'estampes de Posada a été réimprimé et les tirages mis en vente dans la boutique du Museum.

En 1990, le Museum accueille à Chicago l'exposition Sculpture et Mixographies de Rufino Tamayo Neuf sculptures ont été prêtées par Mary-Ann Martin / Fine Art, New York et onze mixographies de grand format ont été prêtées par la Mixografía Gallery / Workshop, Los Angeles, ainsi que par des collectionneurs privés. Il s’agissait de la première la grande exposition de mixographies à Chicago. La mixographie a été inventée à Mexico en 1974 par Luis Remba, dans le prolongement de la demande de Tamayo de trouver une autre manière d'imprimer des estampes, estimant qu'il avait fait le tour de la lithographie, technique qu'il employait depuis des décennies. La mixographie mélange plusieurs techniques, notamment le jet d'encre, l’intaglio et la gravure en relief, sur une seule matrice. L'image est imprimée sur une épaisse feuille de papier fabriquée à la main, ce qui donne un bas-relief riche en texture. Une des mixographies notables de Tamayo est intitulée Deux personnages attaqués par un chien (1983). De dimensions 152 x 228 cm, elle a nécessité la plus grande pierre lithographique jamais utilisée. Le catalogue de l'exposition était accompagné de l'excellent article de l'historien Dr. Edward J. Sullivan, Président du département des beaux-arts à l'Université de New York.

Carlos A. Cortéz (1923-2005), Otomí, You Are Lovely (Otomí, tu es belle), 1989, woodcut / xylographie, N.N. / S.N., 36" x 29 ¼" (dimensions du papeir), National Museum of Mexican Art 1992.120, don de l’artiste, photo: Kathleen Culbert-Aguilar

En 1977, l'historienne d'art, curatrice et autrice chicana Tere Romo réalise le commissariat de l'exposition Fanning the Flame: the Art of Carlos A. Cortéz from the Museum's permanent collection. Le catalogue de l'exposition était accompagné d'un article de l'historien d'art Victor Sorell. En 2000, le Muséum présente l'exposition Multiplicity: Prints from the Permanent Collection, orchestrée par Marylin Cortez Lovato. La même année, Exhibits USA présente au Museum l'exposition Luis Jiménez : Héros de la classe ouvrière : images de culture populaire, comprenant cinquante-trois œuvres, sculptures, peintures, dessins et estampes magistrales. En 2023, une exposition hommage a été organisée à l’occasion du centenaire de la naissance de Carlos A. Cortéz, présentant un grand nombre de matrices, estampes, peintures, ainsi que les œuvres d'artistes locaux. L'exposition présentait également le portfolio Carlos A. Cortéz Centennial, accompagné de vingt-huit estampes d'artistes du quartier.

Toltec Tula: Image et Mythe

En 1987, alors que je préparais l'exposition d'Alfredo Zalce pour le Museum, lors d'une visite à sa maison/atelier à Morelia, Mexique, une série de linogravures carrées sur le sol le long d’ un mur attirent mon attention. Il me les montre en m'expliquant qu'il s'agissáit d'un projet qui avait échoué. Dans les années 1960, un architecte qui travaillait sur le projet du Musée national d’Anthropologie de Mexico avait commissionné Zalce pour graver des récits sur Quetzalcoatl, dans le contexte de la civilisation mésoaméricaine à Tula. Zalce se met à l'œuvre et une fois le travail terminé, il tente de contacter l'architecte, mais celui-ci est introuvable. Il me vient alors l'idée de proposer au Museum une édition limitée de ces gravures pour donner vie au projet. Heureusement, aussi bien l'artiste que la direction du Museum acceptent d'éditer les 20 histoires de Quetzalcoatl. Le maître imprimeur et artiste Thomas Lucas, de l'atelier Hummingbird Press, imprime les linogravures, éditant 50 portfolios. L'ouvrage est exposé au Museum en 1998 et un catalogue pédagogique est publié avec les textes de Don McVicker, Ph.D du North Central College. Par la suite, la Fondation Alfredo Zalce publie un catalogue et expose le portfolio à Morelia, au Mexique.

Les débuts du Taller Mexicano de Grabado (TMG)

L'atelier d'estampe mexicaine voit le jour en 1990. Auparavant, un groupe de graveurs s'était rassemblé pour créer un portfolio illustrant les poèmes du désormais célèbre Chef cuisinier, Dudley Nieto. Le portfolio El Canto del Papel (Le chant du papier) comprenait sept artistes : Arturo Barrera, Carlos A. Cortéz, Nicolás de Jesús, Carlos Villanueva, Gerardo de la Barrera, Tomás Bringas, et moimême. Arturo Barrera est né et a grandi à Pilsen. Il venait de terminer ses études à l'Art Institute, où nous nous sommes rencontrés. Nicolás de Jesús pour sa part arrive à Chicago en 1988 et travaille à l'atelier Oak Park's Expression Graphics, où il réalise ses eaux fortes et aquatintes très élaborées. Carlos Villanueva, un artiste originaire de Mexico, vit à Little Village. Après sa participation au portfolio, Carlos ne participe plus aux activités du groupe. Il retourne ensuite à Mexico où il réalise des peintures murales publiques. Gerardo de la Barrera vient à Chicago depuis des années pour rendre visite à son ami, le peintre Filemón Santiago. De la Barrera s'était initié à l'estampe dans plusieurs ateliers de sa ville de résidence, Oaxaca. De retour là-bas, il continue de collaborer avec le TMG en collectionnant et en exposant des estampes dans sa région, et en participant aux enchères annuelles organisées par l'atelier.

Quant à moi, après mes études d'art imprimé à l'Art Institute, j’ai commencé à travailler au Museum en septembre 1988. J'avais besoin d'un lieu pour la création de mes estampes et pour imprimer mes éditions, et le projet d'un atelier d'estampe m'intéressait au plus haut point. J'ai participé aux activités du collectif, en occupant des fonctions différentes jusqu'en 1996. À ce moment-là, Eva Solis et Tony Galigo ont également décidé de partir. Eva Solis est retournée dans sa ville natale, Laredo, où ses parents résidaient encore. Depuis, elle enseigne au Laredo Community College. Quant à Tony Galigo, il a acheté une presse pour la taille-douce et a créé son propre atelier, où plusieurs artistes viennent imprimer leurs éditions, notamment Carlos A. Cortéz, Joel Rendón, Leopoldo M. Praxedis, Claude Villeneuve et Mark Ernst. Le Taller Gráfica Galigo (Atelier d'estampe Galigo) a publié plusieurs portfolios à thème, dont "Peace" et "Lotería". Galigo a fini par faire don de sa presse et ne participe plus à l'édition d'estampes.

Nicolás de Jesús, Un artiste nahua

De Jesús est né à Ameyaltepec, Guerrero, au Mexique, où la première langue qu’il a entendue est le nahuatl. Enfant, il regardait son père peindre des motifs élaborés sur du papier amate et sa mére réaliser des pots en terre cuite. L’amate, un papier fabriqué à partir de l’écorce d’arbres, était produit à l’époque mésoaméricaine, mais la tradition de sa fabrication a décliné après la Conquête. La tradition de peindre sur du papier amate a été ressuscitée dans les années 60 par un groupe d’individus de la région de l’Alto Basas, auquel appartenait le père de De Jesús. De Jesús utilise toujours l’amate comme support principal de ses gravures et peintures. Au cours de ses études dans la ville d’Iguala et de ses aventures à Acapulco pour vendre les peintures de la famille, il s’est retrouvé confronté à sa deuxième langue, l’espagnol. Pendant son adolescence, il a été du faire face au premier d’une série d’abus perpétrés par les autorités qui ont saisi sa marchandise de force. Sa famille a alors déménagé à Cuernavaca. Ce changement visait à échapper à ces injustice et à rechercher de meilleures opportunités pour la peinture sur amate et la vente d'articles d'art populaire.

En 1982, lors d’une visite à Mexico, il découvre l’imprimerie Artegrafias Limitadas, où il contribue à la réalisation d’un portfolio d’estampes. Cette expérience devient un pilier dans sa formation artistique, lui fournissant un nouveau média qui captive son esprit créatif. Il comprend que les gravures et les aquatintes sont des moyens puissants pour transmettre ses messages avec succès. En 1988, à la recherche de nouveaux marchés et de collectionneurs d’art, De Jesús s’installe à Chicago, après un bref séjour à San Francisco. À Chicago, il continue d’affronter de nouveaux défis : préserver son identité culturelle dans une société étrangère, soutenir sa famille de cinq personnes durant des périodes économiques difficiles, et apprendre une troisième langue. Ces changements majeurs ont marqué la vie de De Jesús, passant du déménagement de sa petite ville vers des villes et des sociétés plus grandes et plus complexes. Tout au long de cette période de déracinement, il a toujours conservé le savoir et les traditions héritées de ses parents.

Au fil des années, le contenu de ses œuvres a dépassé l’aspect touristique des amates autrefois vendus à Acapulco et Cuernavaca. Le style baroque classique qui a marqué son travail encourage et met en lumière l’importance de la critique socio-politique, des interprétations poétiques ou des valeurs traditionnelles et religieuses. En sus d’avoir hérité et perpétué une tradition ancestrale avec fierté, De Jesús a osé combiner les œuvres sur papier amate avec les techniques d’impression issues des médias modernes, le propulsant ainsi sur le devant de la scène de l’art contemporain. De Jesús a clairement élevé l’art amate à un niveau supérieur tant sur le fond que sur la forme. Parallèlement à son activisme artistique en faveur de grandes causes (Occupy Wall Street, Disparus a Ayotzinapa…), de Jesús a été invite par des institutions académiques et a participé à d’importantes expositions à Chicago, New York en Europe et en Indonésie.

Extrait du texte écrit en 1992 par René Arceo à propos de l'exposition personnelle de De Jesús au Musée national d’art mexicain de Pilsen, Chicago.

Tomás Bringas

Originaire de Durango (Mexique) et arrivé plus tardivement a Pilsen, l'artiste Bringas a été à l'origine de plusieurs projets. Lors d’une réunion informelle, il émet l'idée d'éditer un premier portfolio avec Gerardo de la Barrera, Nicolás de Jesús et moi-même. Après avoir achevé El Canto de Papel, il propose la création d'un collectif de graveurs à Pilsen. L'idée était de créer un espace où les artistes pouvaient réaliser leurs éditions, mais aussi un lieu où d'autres artistes pouvaient apprendre les techniques de l'estampe. Nous étions tous enchantés par l'idée et d'accord pour inclure d'autres artistes du quartier. Bringas quitte Chicago peu de temps après la création du TMG. De retour à son Durango natal, il reprend son poste d'enseignant à l'Université de sa ville, où il se consacre également à l'édition et à l'illustration de livres. Il fonde un collectif de graveurs appelé Perro Bravo (Chien Vaillant), auquel participent quelques-uns de ses étudiants, dont Israël Torres, qui suit toujours les traces de son mentor. Depuis Durango, Bringas participe aux expositions du TMG et soutient le collectif en envoyant ses œuvres et celles d'autres artistes aux enchères annuelles du TMG. Peu avant son décès, il organise une exposition du portfolio Centenaire de la Révolution mexicaine, édité par Arceo Press, auquel il participe avec l’un de ses étudiants.

Nicolás de Jesús quitte Chicago en 1993 et continue à soutenir le collectif en envoyant des gravures pour des expositions et pour les enchères annuelles. La publication de deux monographies sur son travail lui confère une notoriété. La première, intitulée Nicolás de Jesús : peintre et graveur, publiée en Allemagne par Harmut Zantke, est composée de textes en allemand, anglais, espagnol et également en nahuatl, suivant la volonté de l'artiste. En 2022, l'ouvrage Nicolás de Jesús : un artiste mexicain pour la justice mondiale, sur ses gravures et peintures murales, est publié en lien avec une exposition monographique, longtemps retardée par la pandémie de COVID-19, dont Patrice Giasson a été le commissaire. L'ouvrage est publié par Purchase College, Stage University of New York, et par Hirmer Publishers. De Jesús continue à venir à Chicago pour des expositions et pour participer à des événements organisés par un groupe de migrants originaires de son état natal, le Guerrero, bénéficiant du soutien du collectionneur Erasmo Salgado.

Les expositions au Taller Mexican de Grabado

Parmi les premières sites d’exposition au TMG, on peut noter Art Works in Oak Park (1990), Fiesta del Sol (1991), Truman College (1991), Ameritech in Leslie, Illinois (1991), au Chicago’s Daley Civic Center (1992), South Shore Cultural Center (1992), et à Oak Park Library (1993). Les membres du TMG font don de cinquante-six estampes au Museo Nacional de la Estampa et au Museo Carrillo Gil, tous deux situés à Mexico. En 1993, le TMG présente l'exposition 12 Parallel Lives avec une série d'estampes créée par ses membres, inspirée des témoignages de survivants guatémaltèques torturés, leurs œuvres servant à exprimer leur solidarité. La même année, le groupe expose au Surburban Fine Arts, où Elvia Rodríguez-Ochoa a bénéficié d'une exposition personnelle.

L'année 1994 a été particulièrement riche en expositions, telles que ¡Zapata Vive! Taller de Gráfica Popular, Mexico City à laquelle participaient vingt-deux artistes du TGP, une exposition monographique de Leopoldo M. Praxedis, et le Columbia College présente deux expositions, Taller de Gráfica Mexicano et Latino Graphics. Chaque année, le TMG organisait une exposition de ses membres, ainsi qu'une exposition sur le Jour des Morts. La galerie du TMG organise l'exposition Gráfica Oaxaqueña II (Estampes de Oaxaca II), qui présentait principalement les estampes d'artistes d’Oaxaca, Mexique : Modesto Bernardo, Enrique Flores, Eddie Martínez, Leovigildo Martínez, Filemón Santiago et Fernando Olivera.

TMG – Gravure sur bois monumentale

En 1994, le Taller Mexicano de Grabado (TMG, Atelier mexicain de gravure) réalisa une gigantesque gravure sur bois mesurant 1 x 60 mètres, intitulée Migrations de Chicago. Le thème avait été choisi par le collectif d’artistes en raison de l’importance de Chicago et de sa longue tradition de vagues migratoires qui ont profondément façonné la personnalité de la ville.

Alejandro Nava, un graveur et muraliste originaire de Zacatecas au Mexique, avait lancé l’idée de créer une vaste gravure sur bois pouvant être imprimée, dans la rue, en utilisant un rouleau compresseur. Nava s’était rendu à Chicago dans les années 1980 pour collaborer avec les muralistes locaux Héctor Duarte et Aurelio Díaz afin de repeindre et de modifier une fresque peinte des années plus tôt par Díaz. Un membre de l’atelier TMG, Héctor Duarte, connaissait Nava depuis leurs années passées ensemble au sein de l’Atelier de Peinture Murale Siqueiros à Cuernavaca au Mexique. Lorsque Nava a évoqué l’idée d’une vaste gravure sur bois, nous l’avons tous soutenu.

Les membres du collectif ont décidé de s’investir dans ce projet et ont commencé à élaborer des plans pour répondre aux besoins de financements, d’outillage, de localisation, de calendrier et de participants. Le projet était considérable, car ni le TMG, ni les artistes, nous n ’avions jamais entrepris quelque chose d’une telle envergure. Étant donné que René Arceo travaillait au Musée national de l’Art mexicain, il a demandé au directeur, Carlos Tortolero, si le Musée et lui-même seraient disposés à aider un groupe de graveurs de Pilsen. Carlos a immédiatement adhéré à l’idée et a proposé de faire participer le département artistique de la ville. Bien qu’Arceo ne se souvienne pas clairement du processus, le fait est que Tortolero a réussi à convaincre la première chargée des affaires culturelles de la ville, Lois Weisberg, de soutenir le projet et de prêter main forte à sa réalisation, en centre ville.

Le soutien de Weisberg permit de mettre à notre disposition les tentes estivales de la Galerie 37, située sur le bloc 37 de Chicago, afin que nous puissions y tailler nos gravures sur bois. La Galerie 37 était l’emblème du programme d’été pour la jeunesse de la ville, offrant aux jeunes la possibilité de trouver un emploi artistique dans diverses disciplines des arts visuels. Par ailleurs, la ville a apporté un soutien financier pour l’achat de matériaux et d’outils.

Les membres et amis artistes du TMG, qui travaillaient initialement à l’atelier du TMG situé au 2120 rue S. Halsted, ont ultérieurement déplacé leurs activités à la Galerie du bloc 37 pour cette occasion. Le groupe a travaillé là-bas en août et septembre, jusqu’au 11 septembre. Le membre du TMG, Tony Galigo, a résolu avec assiduité tous les détails administratifs avec la bureaucratie de la ville afin d’obtenir le permis nécessaire pour fermer la rue Randolph face à la boutique Marshall Field. Cela nous a permis d’utiliser un rouleau compresseur pour l’impression de la gravure en public le samedi 3 septembre 1994. Cet après-midi-là, le défilé annuel célébrant l’Indépendance du Mexique, a permis de garantir la présence d’un large public pour le projet.

En 1995, plusieurs expositions personnelles et collectives ont été organisées à la galerie TMG. L'exposition In Memoriam : Héctor Gómez présente les œuvres de douze membres du TMG. En 1997, l'exposition personnelle, El Koyote Kanta, a lieu dans ses murs, ainsi que les expositions personnelles des artistes Mirtes Zwierzynski, René Arceo, Marcelo Limas et Edgar Lopez. Le TMG organise également des enchères annuelles dans divers lieux, au Wild Onion Restaurant, à la Aldo Castillo Art Gallery, au Decima Musa Restaurant, et même à la résidence de Bob Ward, collectionneur et bienfaiteur du TMG.

Taller Mexicano de Grabado artistes en visite

Plusieurs artistes passèrent par le TMG dans les années 1990, dont Leopoldo Morales Praxedis qui s ’était rendu à Chicago quelques années auparavant pour une exposition au Musée mexicain. À chaque visite, il faisait une donation au TMG, enseignait et partageait ses idées pour les expositions et les projets d'éditions d'estampes. En 1994, il guide le collectif dans la création d'un deuxième portfolio d'estampes intitulé Derechos Humanos (Droits Humains), dédié à la protestation pour la justice du mouvement EZLN (Armée de Libération Nationale Zapatiste) au Chiapas, Mexique, en 1994. Pour la réalisation de ce portfolio, Praxedis enseigne à plusieurs membres, moi y compris, comment réaliser de grandes linogravures en couleur par la technique dite de la plaque perdue. Praxedis apporte son expérience en tant que membre du Taller de Gráfica Popular de Mexico. Il avait travaillé pendant des décennies au sein de collectifs d'estampe à Tlaxcala, Mexico, Managua, Nicaragua, Montréal au Canada, ainsi qu'à Cordoue, en Espagne. En 2015, Praxedis et moi-même avons travaillé ensemble sur une exposition intitulée La Hermana Muerte (Sœur Le mort), qui incluait les estampes de Francisco Plancarte, Praxedis et les miennes. Il a participé sur une longue période à de nombreux portfolios publiés par Arceo Press. Aujourd'hui, Praxedis continue à monter des projets centrés sur l'estampe et à voyager entre Mexico et Chicago.

Les membres du TMG encrent les blocs de boise de Chicago Migration’ s en 1994 (Eufemio Pulido, Jesús Acuña, José Guerrero et Eva Soliz)

Un autre artiste en visite à Chicago a été Joel Rendón en 1992, lorsqu'il découvre le TMG. Il commence à réaliser des estampes dans l'atelier, où il grave et imprime des plaques de linoleum. Rendón a ensuite bénéficié d'une résidence de l'Ambassade du Mexique pour aller travailler à New York en 1994. Il y produit un portfolio intitulé La Exhumación de Babel (L'Exhumation de Babel) qui traitait de la diversité culturelle des Etats-Unis. Après New York, il revient à Chicago pour partager le portfolio et pour travailler avec le National Museum of Mexican Art sur le projet du Yollocalli Youth Museum, où il publie un portfolio avec les étudiants. À son retour à Mexico, il décroche plusieurs commandes d'estampes, dont un portfolio de linogravures pour Artes de Mexico qui portait sur la fabrication de la Tequila. D'autres commandes suivent, des couvertures de livres, des collaborations avec l'écrivain et éditeur Alberto Ruy Sánchez et une diffusion télévisuelle pendant vingt ans de l'émission Estampa Minuto (La minute Estampe). Ces dernières années, Rendón se consacre à l'enseignement au Centre Culturel Los Pinos, équivalent mexicain de la Maison Blanche.

Deux projets uniques

En 1994, le Festival International de la Raza propose au Musée Mexicain d'accueillir un atelier de monotype-sérigraphie sur le thème Rites de passage à la frontière avec la participation de plusieurs artistes du quartier. L'atelier se déroule au deuxième étage du bâtiment APO avec la participation d’artistes tels que Oscar Moya, Sal Vega et Héctor Duarte. En 2005, le maître imprimeur d’Oaxaca, Marcos Miguel Alvarado est invité par José L. Piña à réaliser un atelier d'estampe au bâtiment APO. L'atelier initie les participants à la technique de la mixographie (un mélange de collagraphie et de peinture). Les artistes créent une matrice qui est encrée puis parfois peinte, et ensuite imprimée sur une toile. Le rendu se rapproche plus d’une peinture que d’une estampe. Oscar Moya crée plusieurs œuvres durant cet atelier.

Michoacán, un pont vers Chicago

Casas Michoacán et la Fédération des Clubs du Michoacán d'Illinois (FEDECMI) ont de manière constante, créé un pont en soutenant de nombreux projets binationaux axés sur l'estampe. Depuis le début, nous avons reçu l'encouragement de José "Pepe" Gutiérrez, co-fondateur de la FEDECMI, qui ne manquait jamais d'idées de collaboration. En 2003, la FEDECMI publie une édition limitée d'un portfolio d'estampe intitulé Bajo un Mismo Cielo (Sous un même ciel), avec la participation de douze graveurs de Michoacán et de Chicago. La plupart des artistes ont fait le voyage à Pátzcuaro, Mexique, pour créer et imprimer leurs éditions avec un maître imprimeur. Le portfolio est devenu une exposition itinérante, accompagnée d’œuvres supplémentaires de chaque artiste. L'exposition a été présentée à Pátzcuaro et à Morelia, Michoacán. Aussi en 2003, la FEDECMI et l'Association d'Artistes de Michoacán ont soutenu l'exposition Awakenings / Despertares à la galerie Colibri à Pilsen. En 2004, l'exposition Zalce: Tiempo y Testimonio (Zalce: Temps et Témoignage) a été présentée à la Casa Michoacán de Pilsen. Il y avait les œuvres d'Alfredo Zalce, Artemio Rodríguez, Francisco R. Oñate, Roberto Ferreyra, Héctor Duarte, José A Chavez, Mizraim Cárdenas et les miennes. En 2005, Casa Michoacán Gallery a présenté l'exposition 100 Años de Gráfica Michoacana (Cent ans d'estampes de Michoacán). Aussi en 2005, la galerie a présenté la sortie d'un livre et l'exposition personnelle du graveur Artemio Rodríguez, ainsi que l'exposition Memoria de un Mexicano: Homenaje a Francisco Mora, celle-ci présentée à l'Elgin Community College en 2004. L'exposition était composée d'œuvres d’Elizabeth Catlett, Carlos A. Cortéz, Jesús Macarena-Avila, Francisco Mora, et de moi-même, entre autres d'artistes. En 2007, la galerie a présenté l’exposition monographique Geografías Transitables: Mizraim Cárdenas (Géographies Traversables ). Et en 2009, elle a présenté l'exposition collective Latino / a Printmakers & Pilsen, réunissant les œuvres d'artistes de Pilsen.

Arceo Press Chicago

Arceo Press a été créé en 2005 par René Arceo à la suite d’une collaboration transfrontalière avec douze graveurs, en partenariat avec Casa Michoacán / FEDECMI à Chicago. Depuis ses débuts, Arceo Press s’est engagé à promouvoir des projets d’impression internationaux répondant à des critères de qualité spécifiques. Tout d’abord, il s ’agissait de donner aux artistes de différentes villes et pays un cadre pour collaborer autour d’un thème commun. Au cours de ses voyages, le fondateur, comptant de nombreux graveurs parmi ses connaissances, les invita à collaborer. Il s’est également interrogé sur la façon dont des artistes issus de cultures, d’expériences et d’horizons différents réagiraient à un thème particulier. De quelle manière une telle collaboration pourrait-elle enrichir un thème donné ? Quelle diversité de médias et de styles pourrait naître de ce type de collaboration ? Des graveurs confirmés ont été sélectionnés, ainsi que de jeunes artistes prometteurs afin que tous puissent bénéficier de ces projets. Ce type de collaboration relie les artistes sur la scène internationale. Parfois, il arrivent que d’autres projets naissent directement des liens et de l’intérêt commun que les artistes participants parviennent à tisser.

Un autre avantage de l’utilisation de ces portfolios est que cela permet de saisir des occasions d’exposition à l’étranger. Envoyer une exposition de son propre travail dans un autre pays peut se révéler très coûteux. En créant des tirages, les artistes ont ainsi la possibilité de les expédier plus facilement par la poste vers de potentiels lieux d’exposition à l’étranger. Un autre avantage de ces collaborations est que chaque artiste participant s ’efforce de promouvoir une exposition dans sa propre ville et son propre pays. Chaque artiste contribue en créant sa gravure et en imprimant son édition. Grâce au soutien de mécènes, Arceo Press subventionne toutes les dépenses connexes, notamment le papier, la conception et la fabrication de la couverture du portfolio, ainsi que l’expédition d’ un portfolio à chaque artiste participant. Les portfolios comprennent la participation de 24 artistes provenant d’au moins deux pays, parmi lesquels l’Espagne, la France, le Mexique, le Canada, Porto Rico, le Costa Rica, Cuba et les États-Unis. Arceo Press est particulièrement intéressé par la promotion des thèmes qui peuvent susciter de multiples interprétations et visualisations de la part des artistes, tout en étant à la fois humanistes et culturellement significatifs. Ces thématiques visent à explorer de nouveaux niveaux de signification, destinés à tous les artistes et à tous les publics.

Portfolios imprimés : Mnemonic : To Aid the Memory, 2005 ; Bestiario & Nahuals Vol. I et Vol. II, 2007 ; Día de los Muertos: Common Ground, 2008 ; Centenario de la Revolución Mexicana, 2010 ; Santitos, 2011 ; Rostros de la Migración, 2012, en collaboration avec la FEDECMI ; Posada : 100 años de su legado, 2013 : en collaboration avec la Chicago Society of Artists, trois portfolios de l’artiste ont été publiés : Chicago, 2015 ; Illinois, 2018; et Route 66 en 2022. Superstitions Vol. I, 2016; Superstitions Vol. II, 2017 ; Agua, 2018; Carlos A. Cortéz Centennial, 2023. En collaboration avec l’Institut ukrainien d’art moderne, le portfolio Chornobyl: Artists Respond a été publié en 2015.

Depuis 2018, la FEDECMI a financé trois projets binationaux d'estampe. Pour le premier projet en 2018, des graveurs de l'état de Michoacán et de Chicago ont créé des images sur le thème Acordes de la Vida: Guitarras Gráficas (Les accords de vie : guitares graphiques). En 2022, le deuxième projet, Mariposas Migrantes: Gráfica Michoacana (Papillons migrateurs : Estampes de Michoacán) a réuni cent vingt-cinq graveurs qui ont comparé la migration du papillon monarque avec les expériences des migrants mexicains. Le troisième projet, en 2023, porte sur le thème des pollinisateurs et leurs périls, présenté lors de l'exposition Recolectores: Gráfica de la Polinización (Collectionneurs: Estampes de Pollinisation). Les trois projets ont été présentés à Casa Michoacán Pilsen, Casa Michoacán DuPage, Aurora Public Art Commission Gallery, et Aurora University, ainsi qu’à Morelia, Pátzcuaro et Uruapan, dans l'état de Michoacán.

Prospectus Art Gallery, Pilsen

La galerie promeut des artistes du quartier depuis trente ans, sous la direction de son propriétaire, Israël Hernandez. Elle a présenté plusieurs expositions d'estampes. En 1992, un grand nombre d'artistes de Pilsen, graveurs compris, répondent à l'appel à participation à l'exposition 500 Years of Resistance, portant sur le choc des cultures depuis 1492. Mon exposition personnelle Between the Instinctive and the Rational, en 2010, reprenait le thème de mon premier livre éponyme. Deux expositions personnelles de Carlos Barberena ont suivi : Paradise Lost en 2012 et In greed we trust, en 2014. Les expositions Juncture: Benjamin Anaya & Carlos Barberena et Immoral Reality: César Barberena & Carlos Barberena ont été présentées en 2011, ainsi que Repenser la Tradition : Carlos Barberena & Joseph Velasquez, en 2015. Mon exposition personnelle Generations a été présentée en 2016. En 2017, Mizraim Cárdenas fait le voyage depuis Morelia pour présenter une exposition personnelle de ses gravures au burin et ses linogravures, intitulée First Garden. En 2023, après la pandémie, la galerie a rouvert ses portes pour accueillir une exposition que j'ai montée, intitulée Committed to Print, à laquelle ont participé cinquante-sept artistes venus de tous les États-Unis.

L'exposition faisait partie de la foire annuelle de l'estampe Grabadolandia, et comprenait l'édition d'un catalogue.

D'autres lieux d'exposition

Un grand nombre d'autres lieux présentent des estampes mexicaines dans des expositions personnelles ou collectives. En voici quelques exemples : en 1990, le North Lakeside Cultural Center a accueilli mon exposition personnelle René Arceo: Prints and Drawings. La SAIC’s Betty Rymer Gallery a présenté l'exposition Imaging Aztlán: Thirty-Three Printmakers from the Chicago-Area Mexican Community, curatée par José Agustin Andreu. En 1997, le Chicago Cultural Center a accueilli l'exposition Shared Continents: Latin American Printmaking. La Llorona Art Gallery m'a accueilli en 2001 pour une exposition personnelle, René Arceo: Rétrospective. Aussi en 2001, j'ai eu une exposition personnelle au Jumping Bean Café, un espace culturel très dynamique et point de rencontre d'artistes mexicains. Le Café présente prioritairement les artistes du quartier, ainsi que des performances poétiques et musicales. En 2003, le Café Mestizo a accueilli une exposition personnelle de mes gravures, intitulée René Arceo: Aliento de la Tierra. En 2014, le Bridgeport Art Center (BAC), grand espace hébergeant des ateliers d'artistes et deux galeries, a présenté Gestos Graficos: René Arceo & Friends avec la participation de dix-huit graveurs du quartier. OPEN Center for the Arts a accueilli Tierra Herida: Printmaking from the Americas, en 2018. En 2019, le BAC a présenté l'exposition itinérante The Border Crossed Us, organisée par le campus de Morelia de l’UNAM, dont le commissariat a été confié à Eugenia Macias. En 2017, le BAC a accueilli “Diverse Realities: 6 Chicago Latino Artists", dont deux graveurs, Barberena et Arceo. Co-Prosperity a exposé Let It Grow: 10 Years of Collaborative

Printmaking at Hoofprint, dont le commissariat a été assuré par Liz Born et Gabe Hoare, en 2022. En 2023, le Chicago Printmakers Collaborative a présenté Grabado Popular: Prints for the People, des artistes Atlan Arceo-Witzl, Carlos Barberena et CHema Skandal. En 2014, la Catrina Café a présenté le portfolio d'estampes Dichos y Diretes de l'Instituto Gráfico de Chicago (IGC)’s ainsi que ACE: an Exhibition of Sociopolitical Printmaking, avec les oeuvres d'Alynn Guerra, Carlos Barberena et Eric J García. Le Citlalin Gallery & Theater, dirigé par Gustavo Sánchez, a accueilli divers événements de musique, poésie, théâtre, ainsi que des expositions, dont Xantolo: Tribute Exhibition to the Engraver Don José Guadalupe Posada en 2021.

Carlos Barberena, graveur né au Nicaragua, fait partie du groupe d'artistes mexicains, actif à Pilsen depuis 2009. Il est très inspiré par la tradition du TGP, et plus particulièrement par le style de Leopoldo Méndez. Barberena participe régulièrement à divers projets aux côtés d'artistes mexicains. Parmi ses expositions personnelles figurent, en 2010, Eye Denounce / Imágenes de denuncia, au Café Efebina, puis en 2011, Master prints au Northern Illinois (NIU) Fine Arts Gallery, Master Prints and Años de Miedo sur le campus central du NIU, et également en 2011, Lustful Appetite au Human Thread Center. En 2016, Promised Land a été accueillie au Pilsen Outpost, et ensuite à la galerie de l'Université de Saint Xavier. En 2017, Memories of Resistance a été présentée au Café La Catrina et Graphic Resistance au Pilsen Outpost Gallery, en 2019. Parmi les expositions collectives figurent Print à Anywhere in Space en 2010, Posada Presente, le portfolio d'IGC au campus de l'UNAM en 2014, Labor / Immigration / Gulf - Rostros de la Migración au Di Franco Studio/Gallery, en 2017. L'exposition Grabando Résistance / Printing Resistencia, dont Carlos Barberena était le commissaire, a été présentée au Pilsen Arts & Community House (PACH) en 2023.

Hoofprint Shop

En seulement dix ans d’existence, le Hoofprint Shop, sous la direction des maîtres imprimeurs Liz Born et Gabe Hoare, a joué un rôle important dans la promotion de l'estampe. L'atelier participe chaque année à Grabandolandia et à ses événements connexes, il soutient le Chicago Printmakers Guild et s ’est fait remarquer dans les foires d'estampe nationales. L'atelier a accompagné plusieurs artistes de façon remarquable, notamment Ricardo Santos Hernández, en imprimant ses lithographies extrêmement détaillées. Salvado Jiménez Florez est également passé par l'atelier pour faire imprimer ses lithographies en plusieurs couleurs. Dernièrement, Sal Vega y a travaillé sur une eau-forte intitulée Flor de Esperanza, ainsi que sur une lithographie en couleur pour le portfolio du Centenaire de Carlos A. Cortéz, en 2023. Une sérigraphie en couleur de Jesús Acuña a également été imprimée à Hoofprint.

Atlan Arceo-Witzl, Nuevo Objeto - Chican@ Myth Making, 2023 Lithograph printed by Hoofprint 30"x22.5"

L'Instituto Gráfico de Chicago (IGC)

L'IGC a été créé par un groupe de graveurs basés à Pilsen ou liés à cette ville. Certains étaient des employés du Musée national d'art mexicain, d'autres y avaient exposé ou avaient participé à des projets qu'ils ont parrainés. En 2010, les neuf membres fondateurs de ce collectif étaient Eric J. García, Carlos Barberena, Ricardo X. Serment, Antonio Pazaran, CHema Skandal!, José Luis Gutiérrez, Salvador Jiménez Flores, Eric Gazca et Laura NussbaumBarberena. De nouveaux membres s’y sont ajoutés : Cynthia "Marris" Juárez, Vanessa Sánchez, Amanda Cortes, Marcela Andrade, et Atlan Arceo-Witzl (fils de René H. Arceo).

La déclaration de la page web du groupe insiste sur leurs principes fondateurs : « L’IGC se consacre au maintien de la tradition activiste critique des graveurs latinos qui unit les communautés de lutte à travers le monde ». Le groupe s'efforce de promouvoir et de développer la gravure dans la région de Chicago par le biais de présentations, d'expositions, de conférences, d'ateliers, de publication de portfolios et de l'organisation de Grabadolandia, foire annuelle des imprimeurs et des vendeurs. Ouverte à tous publics, cette foire, qui a lieu au Musée national d'art mexicain, est gratuite. Elle implique la participation de plus de trente graveurs individuels et de collectifs de la ville, des environs et d'ailleurs. Chaque artiste participant propose aux visiteurs des démonstrations d’impression de leur projet gravé et leur enseigne le processus de création tout en les incitant à s’y impliquer et à y participer. L'objectif est de sensibiliser le public aux procédés d'impression et de démystifier ces procédés, en mettant des techniques variées directement entre les mains des visiteurs. Ceuxci repartent avec des tirages originaux en main avec l’idée qu'ils développeront un sentiment d'appréciation et qu'ils ajouteront une valeur aux tirages obtenus en comprenant comment ils ont été créés.

En 2023, la liste des participants à Grabadolandia comprenait Alejandra Carrillo, Alex Velazquez Brightbill (Riverside, IL), Anna Hasseltine, Carl Richardson, Chicago Printers Guild, Chicago Printmakers Collaborative, Eddy Lopez, Expressions Graphics (Oak Park, IL), Francisco Delgado (El Paso, TX), Héctor Duarte (Chicago, IL), Nicole Marroquín (Ann Arbor, MI), Hoofprint (Chicago, IL), Instituto Grafico de Chicago, JustSeeds, La Onda Gráfica, Marco Sánchez (El Paso, TX), Marimacha Monarca Press (Chicago, IL), Mehdi Darvishi / Metaluna Press (Chicago, IL), Miguel A. Aragón (New York City), Montserrat Alsina (Chicago, IL), Printstitute (Chicago, IL), Reinaldo Gil Zambrano (Spokane, WA), René Arceo (Chicago, IL), Roberto Ferreyra Chicago, IL), SAIC Printmedia (Chicago, IL), Steve Walters, William Estrada, Roberto Torres Mata (Madison, WI), et Rebo (Houston, TX).

L’IGC a publié six portfolios imprimés avec la participation de ses membres et d'invités internationaux. Les portfolios publiés sont les suivants : Immigration ; Día de Muertos ; Posada Presente (2013) ; Dichos y Diretes (2014) ; Chicago Style Prints (2015) ; et Contra / Against (2017).

Nicole Marroquín documente depuis plusieurs années les sérigraphies historiques imprimées par Hoofprint. Gabe Hoare m'a aidé à imprimer une gravure sur bois trop grande pour ma presse. Plusieurs graveurs sont passés imprimer leurs éditions sur les presses de Hoofprint, à l’instar d’Elvia Rodríguez Ochoa et de Saúl Aguirre. Lors de la venue à Chicago du Maître Shinzaburo Takeda pour la foire Grabadolandia, l'atelier Hoofprint a imprimé une édition de ses lithographies. En 2017, Hoofprint a organisé une exposition du portfolio réalisé par l'IGC Contra / Against, et le groupe a également exposé Prints of Unusual Size

Conclusion

Les expositions dans des galeries, musées, centres communautaires, collèges et cafés mentionnés précédemment témoignent de la longue et vivante tradition de l'estampe à Chicago. La production de gravures, qui remonte à cent ans en arrière, continue à se développer grâce aux galeries, aux mécènes et aux collectionneurs, ainsi qu’au développement de lieux alternatifs. Des artistes, tant individuellement qu'en collectifs, ont contribué de faire de Chicago une ville d'estampe emblématique. Les jeunes générations se lancent dans la création de collectifs comme l'Institut Graphique de Chicago qui participe à des programmes éducatifs et promotionnels. Ces jeunes repoussent les frontières et explorent des voies créatives originales. Les artistes investissent de nouveaux espaces de travail et y collaborent, comme le Chicago Printmaker Collective, Chicago Printers Guild, Hoofprint Shop, Hummingbird Press, Expressions Graphics, et d'autres ateliers d'estampe particuliers ou collectifs implantés dans la ville de Chicago ou dans ses environs. La communauté d'artistes pratiquant l'estampe est solide, et leur avenir est très prometteur.