Walter Pach and the Construction of Modern Mexican Art, 1922-1928

This paper seeks to examine the promotion of Mexican art in North America and the pivotal role played by historian and art critic Walter Pach, who organized the first exhibition of Mexican art in Manhattan in 1923 under the aegis of the Society of Independent Artists (SIA).

In his books, such as Ananias, or the False Artist (1928) and Queer Thing. Painting (1938), as well as various articles that appeared in the North American and Mexican press, Pach described the movements reshaping Mexico following the Revolution. He emphasized the ways in which they defined the art of his time and their international impact. It is worth noting that Pach also had a significant influence on the marketing and criticism of American art, which he employed to further legitimize Mexican art and demonstrate the new and close relationship between artists in Mexico and the United States.

Through the lenses of dialogue, exchange and displacement, I will focus on reconstructing the strategies of artistic promotion utilized by Pach and the ways in which they activated transnational links between Mexico and the United States.