Toluca Market

Object Details

graphic artist

Crane, Alan

Description

This scene of the Toluca market was depicted by Alan Crane in 1946. Housed in the Graphic Arts Collection of the National Museum of American History, it is one of a series of lithographs of Mexican landscapes and genre scenes he printed during the 1940s. The growth of the tourist industry, rebounding after WWII, created a market for images of an idyllic Mexico—peaceful, scenic, and premodern. The elements of everyday life shown here—the densely packed stands of the ceramics vendors, the pulquería (a cantina that serves pulque, the fermented juice of the maguey plant), and the traditional dress of the marketeers—were as foreign to the urbanized Mexican American youth in Los Angeles, El Paso, and San Antonio as they were to American tourists seeking a memento of "Old Mexico." The generations of youths who grew up in the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s were fundamental in negotiating the language, aesthetics, and political vision that would constitute the contemporary culture of Mexican Americans. These young men and women, many of whom were war veterans as well as industrial and agricultural workers, created empowering images of Mexican Americans as they defined new roles for themselves as activists during the civil rights struggles of the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s.

Description (Spanish)

Esta escena del mercado de Toluca es una estampa de Alan Crane pintada en 1946. Pertenece a la Colección de Artes Gráficas del Museo Nacional de Historia Americana, parte de una serie de litografías que grabó durante la década de 1940 en las que representa paisajes de México y escenas de género. El crecimiento de la industria turística, en recuperación después de la Segunda Guerra Mundial, abrió un mercado para las imágenes del México idílico—pacífico, escénico y premoderno. Los elementos de la vida diaria que aquí se observan—como los puestos atiborrados de cerámicas de los vendedores, la pulquería (cantina que sirve pulque, jugo fermentado de la planta de maguey) y la vestimenta tradicional de los mercaderes—eran tan ajenos para los jóvenes urbanos mexicoamericanos de Los Ángeles, El Paso y San Antonio, como lo eran para los turistas americanos que buscaban un recuerdo del "Viejo México". Las generaciones de jóvenes que crecieron durante las décadas de 1930, 1940 y 1950 fueron esenciales en la negociación del lenguaje, la estética y la visión política que constituiría la cultura contemporánea de los mexicoamericanos. Estos jóvenes, muchos de los cuales eran veteranos de guerra y trabajadores fabriles y agrícolas, crearon imágenes que fortalecieron a los mexiconamericanos en la definición de su nuevo rol de activistas durante las luchas por los derechos civiles de las décadas de 1950, 1960 y 1970.

Location

Currently not on view

Credit Line

Mrs. Alan H. Crane

1946

ID Number

GA.23825

catalog number

23825

accession number

306563

Object Name

print

Object Type

Lithograph

Other Terms

print; Planographic; Lithograph

Physical Description

paper (overall material)

ink (overall material)

Measurements

overall: 32 cm x 41.8 cm; 12 5/8 in x 16 7/16 in

place made

Mexico

See more items in

Work and Industry: Graphic Arts

Cultures & Communities

Mexican America

Art

Title (Spanish)

Mercado de Toluca

National Museum of American History

subject

Latino

Tourist trade

Record ID

nmah_785425

Metadata Usage (text)

CC0

GUID (Link to Original Record)

http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746a5-be9d-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa