Carlos Mérida illustrated two portfolios containing bright and elegant illustrations of Mexican regional clothing. Each volume of Trajes Regionales Mexicanos (Mexican Regional Dress) circulated widely in the 1940s and helped to generate awareness of the many cultures within Mexico and their distinct clothing traditions. Carlos Mérida (a Guatemalan artist) was known for employing avant-garde, European painting styles to represent Latin American themes. With their documentary-style attention to detail and lively, floral embellishments, these colorful serigraphs demonstrate his range as an artist as well as his commitment to indigenous subjects.

Carlos Mérida ilustró dos carpetas de imágenes brillantes y elegantes de atuendos regionales de México. Cada tomo de Trajes regionales mexicanos circuló ampliamente en la década de los 1940 y ayudó a generar conocimiento de las muchas culturas dentro de México con sus distintas tradiciones vestimentarias. Mérida, un artista guatemalteco, llegó a ser conocido por su uso de estilos europeos de vanguardia al representar temas latinoamericanos. Con su atención documental a los detalles, y sus vívidos adornos floridos, estas serigrafías coloridas demuestran la gama del artista tanto como su compromiso para con su temática indígena.

From the exhibition: Mexican Modernism: Revolution & Reckoning, August 29, 2019 - August 30, 2020.
Alison Rossi, Director of Learning and Community Engagement, 2019.