Stephanie J. Smith. The Power and Politics of Art in Postrevolutionary Mexico

Stephanie J. Smith’s historical study The Power and Politics of Art in Postrevolutionary Mexico makes two important contributions. First, it offers a sustained look at the relationship between the Mexican Communist Party (PCM), artists, and the Mexican state between 1920 and 1950. In doing so, it joins Mary Coffey’s How Revolutionary Art Became Official Culture: Murals, Museums, and the Mexican State (2012) in providing a nuanced understanding of art and politics in postrevolutionary Mexico, effectively countering both revisionist narratives that posit the hegemonic state’s co-optation of radical artists, and revolutionary narratives celebrating Mexico’s artists’ autonomy from the state. Second, two chapters focus on the role of female artists and intellectuals in this configuration, to highlight the opportunities offered women working alongside the PCM and to describe the structures within and against which the women were working. The book benefits from the 2002 opening of Mexican intelligence services archives and makes use of a broad range of archival materials and period media coverage. Art historians and historians alike will find the book helpful; however, art historians might wish for additional layers in its discussion of the relationship between art and politics.

Art · Art history · Autonomy · Communism · Hegemony · Literature · Mexican State · Narrative · Political science · Politics · Power (physics) · Sociology · State (computer science) · Communism, Protests, Social Movements · Historical Studies and Socio-cultural Analysis · History · Law · Vietnamese History and Culture Studies