Thirteen children from the Lake Chapala Society (LCS) Children’s Art Program, accompanied by seven adult volunteers, took part in a 90-minute guided tour of the “Los Modernos” exhibit at the University of Guadalajara Museo de las Artes (MUSA) Tuesday, June 14.
For some of the young art students, this was their ever visit to a museum.
The show examines the common threads between European and Mexican modern art in the 20th century (1900 to 1970). The featured artists explored new ways of seeing, as well as novel ideas about the materials and functions of art itself. They broke away from the traditional narrative style to embrace abstraction.
After viewing the stunning Orozco murals that grace the museum’s auditorium, the children visited nine galleries, each featuring a different art form. For the first time, they were exposed some of the world’s most famous artists – Picasso, Matisse, Rivera, Bacon and others.
Tour guide and art student Sayuri Sanchez Rodriguez was able to convey to the children the underlying ideas behind the various styles and forms they were looking at.
The exhibit, organized for the Museo Nacional de Arte in Mexico City in collaboration with the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon, is well worth seeing and is up until July 10.
Entrance is free. Hours are from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and the museum is closed on Mondays. Address: Av. Juarez 975, corner of Enrique de Leon, across from the University of Guadalajara administrative building.
The LCS Children’s Art Program was started in 1954 by Neill James, and offers free art classes to local children every Saturday from 10 a.m. to noon at the Lake Chapala Society.