Black Mountain College and Mexico (BMC/MX)

Over the course of its short life, Black Mountain College (1933–1957) was a hotbed of creativity, welcoming and inspiring artists and intellectuals from around the world. In the same period, Mexico’s innovations and age-old traditions—in visual arts, poetry, music, performance, design, and more—dovetailed with global impulses toward modernism. Black Mountain had crucial ties to Mexico that until now have been little investigated. Black Mountain College and Mexico (BMC/MX) explores these links, and broadly considers ways in which cultural legacies of the 20th century impact artists and thinkers of today.

Numerous key Black Mountain College figures were indelibly touched by experiences in Mexico—from Anni and Josef Albers to Ruth Asawa, John Cage, Lou Harrison, Robert Motherwell, and Charles Olson, among many others. The progressive educational theories of John Dewey were vitally formative both at the school and in Mexico. And ideas and philosophies crossed the border in both directions: several prominent Mexico-based artists traveled to BMC to visit or teach, among them, painters Jean Charlot and Carlos Mérida, and designer Clara Porset. 

In turn, engagements with Black Mountain College and its cultural legacy have helped shape contemporary approaches to art in Mexico, as seen in works by Jorge Méndez Blake, Iñaki Bonillas,  Abraham Cruzvillegas, Jose Dávila, ektor garcia, Gerda Gruber, Alberto Gutiérrez Chong, Lake Verea, Edgar Orlaineta, Gabriel Orozco, Damián Ortega, and Ygnacio Rivero—all featured in BMC/MX.

BMC/MX, produced in conjunction with the 2023 exhibition at the Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center, juxtaposes new historical research by the show’s curators, Project Director Eric Baden, Diana Stoll, and David Miranda, with trenchant free-form discourses, as well as essays by artist Abraham Cruzvillegas, design scholar Ana Elena Mallet, and poet/activist Margaret Randall. With its lively design and copious illustrations, Black Mountain College and Mexico offers readers a rich and stimulating look at places of connection—the arenas where new ideas and alliances may be forged.

Book Information:

Published by Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center

152 full-color pages

Dimensions: 18.8 x 19.8 cm

Paperback

Designed by Helen Robinson and Eric Baden

Printed in Mexico City by Offset Rebosán

ISBN: 9798218316426