The Museo de la Estampa (Museum of Graphic Arts) is a museum in

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital city, capital and primate city, largest city of Mexico, and the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North Amer ...

, dedicated to the history, preservation and promotion of Mexican graphic arts. The word “estampa” means works in the various printmaking techniques which have the quality of being reproducible and include seals,

woodcuts Woodcut is a relief printing technique in printmaking. An artist carves an image into the surface of a block of wood—typically with gouges—leaving the printing parts level with the surface while removing the non-printing parts. Areas that ...

lithography Lithography () is a planographic method of printing originally based on the immiscibility of oil and water. The printing is from a stone (lithographic limestone) or a metal plate with a smooth surface. It was invented in 1796 by the German a ...

and others. The museum was created in 1986 and located in a 19th-century

Neoclassical building Neoclassical architecture is an architectural style produced by the Neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century in Italy and France. It became one of the most prominent architectural styles in the Western world. The prevailing style ...

located in the Plaza de Santa Veracruz in the historic center of the city. This building was remodeled both to house the museum and to conserve its original look. The building houses both a permanent and multiple temporary exhibits. The permanent collection includes pre-Hispanic clay seals used for printing designs on fabrics, ceramics and other surfaces, printed material from the colonial period and more recent creations. More recent works are divided into periods such as the “age of the San Carlos Academy” (18th -19th century) and the “resurgence of the graphics arts” which covered the decades from the 1920s to the 1960s. The best-known works here are those of José Guadalupe Posada, the creator of “ La Catrina” and numerous satirical comics. It also includes video programs on graphic techniques such as wood cuts, etchings and more. Posada2

The museum works in collaboration with Museo Nacional de Arte, which holds Mexico’s largest collection of graphic arts including those done by Mexican artists José Guadalupe Posada, José Clemente Orozco and David Alfaro Siqueiros, as well as foreign artists such as

Mario Benedetti Mario Orlando Hardy Hamlet Brenno Benedetti Farrugia (; 14 September 1920 – 17 May 2009), was an Uruguayan journalist, novelist, and poet and an integral member of the Generación del 45. Despite publishing more than 80 books and being publish ...

and

Ilya Kabakov Ilya Iosifovich Kabakov (Russian: Илья́ Ио́сифович Кабако́в; born September 30, 1933), is a Russian–American conceptual artist, born in Dnipropetrovsk in what was then the Ukrainian SSR of the Soviet Union. He worked f ...

. This collection is called the National Collection of Graphic Works (Colección Nacional de Estampas). Much of the museum’s space is dedicated to temporary exhibits such as the 2003 exhibit of works from the Centro de Formación y Producción Gráfica del Antiguo Colegio Jesuita located in

Pátzcuaro Pátzcuaro () is a city and municipality located in the state of Michoacán. The town was founded sometime in the 1320s, at first becoming the capital of the Purépecha Empire and later its ceremonial center. After the Spanish took over, Vasco d ...

, Michoacán. This show had works from fifty artists including Francisco Castro Leñero, Mario Rangel Faz, Roberto Turnbull and Mónica Sotos. These temporary exhibits are part of the museum’s mission to preserve and promote the printed arts in Mexico. Temporary exhibits include works by both national and international artists from diverse periods from the 16th to the 21st century. The museum hosted ten temporary exhibitions in 2009 and registered 34,578 visitors. These expositions include the collection of Alejandro Alvarado and an exposition called “Tauromaquia, Mano a Mano” ( Bullfighting, hand to hand). The latter exhibition featured works from

Francisco de Goya y Lucientes Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (; ; 30 March 174616 April 1828) was a Spanish romantic painter and printmaker. He is considered the most important Spanish artist of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. His paintings, drawings, and ...

Salvador Dalí Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dalí i Domènech, Marquess of Dalí of Púbol (; ; ; 11 May 190423 January 1989) was a Spanish surrealist artist renowned for his technical skill, precise draftsmanship, and the striking and bizarre images in ...

, one work by

Pablo Picasso Pablo Ruiz Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist and Scenic design, theatre designer who spent most of his adult life in France. One of the most influential artists of the 20th ce ...

and filmmaker

Jean Cocteau Jean Maurice Eugène Clément Cocteau (, , ; 5 July 1889 – 11 October 1963) was a French poet, playwright, novelist, designer, filmmaker, visual artist and critic. He was one of the foremost creatives of the s ...

. The museum also supports activities related to research, but most of the space is designed to accommodate the highest number of visitors possible.

References

{{Authority control Museums in Mexico City Art museums and galleries in Mexico Museo de la Estampa Art museums established in 1986 Museo de la Estampa