A Legacy of Change is organized around five central themes that introduce you to a significant selection of the Museum’s Permanent Collection. The themes are: Mestizaje/Connections, Conflict/Struggle, Identity/Consciousness, Death/Rebirth, and History/Memory. Collectively, these themes provide a lens with which to organize and examine artwork that has been gathered and collected over 25 years creating the first Mexican and Mexican American Museum in Texas.
This exhibition expresses the perseverance, complexity, and impact of Mexican Art, and Latina/o Art in the United States, through the presentation of artworks and material culture. These selected works and documents focus on specific issues such as the transformation of Mesoamerican cultures through Spanish Conquest and colonization, the rise of Mexican Nationalism, the Chicana/o Movement and more. Artists in the exhibition include the renowned artists, José Guadalupe Posada, Jean Charlot, Angelina Beloff, Luis Jimenez, Santa Barraza, and Regina Vater amongst many others.
Legacy of Change is also as much a story about the Museum’s foundation and growth as it is about the artworks found in the collection. The Mexic-Arte Museum began in the early 1980s when three young Latina/o artists, with a vision for cultural and social change, began to build a collection, museum, and unprecedented opportunities for the Latino community in Austin.
The material in the permanent collection can be categorized in an infinite number of ways and we encourage you to explore your own relationship to the works with the interactive resources that we provide. On behalf of our partners in the Austin community, Texas, the United States, and Mexico, we welcome you to enjoy and continue to be a part of our Legacy of Change.
Below you will find a small sampling of what you can see at The Mexic-Arte:
Arturo Garcia Bustos (b. 1926), El Tigre, linocut (courtesy of Mexic-Arte Museum’s Permanent Collection)
“Shock and Awe” by Benito Huerta
Joaquin Clausell (1866-1935), Untitled, oil on board (courtesy of Mexic-Arte Museum’s Permanent Collection)
Luis Jimenez, Fiesta, 5-color lithograph, 1985 (courtesy of Mexic-Arte Museum’s Permanent Collection)
For More information on The Mexic-Arte, please visit their website at: