“Ídolos tras los altares”: the (re)construction of Mexican art in the post-revolutionary period

Abstract

Anita Brenner, Tina Modotti and Edward Weston traveled throughout the mexican interior in the early 1920’s, producing a written and imagetic record of popular and religious art. From this project resulted a book, “Ídolos tras los altares”, published first in the United States, in 1929. This article aims to analyze this book, starting from the dialogues that occurred in post-revolutionary Mexico concerning indigenous and cultural issues. It argues that this book sometimes approaches Manuel Gamio´s Indigenist theory, while sometimes it comes closer to the miscegenation, of José Vasconcelos; at other times it creates something new, close to current anthropological theories, such as those of Serge Gruzinski. In“Ídolos...”, Brenner blends popular chronicals, the results of the observation, discoveries and her own memories, in a narrative that, despite the chronological organization of the book, has the post revolution period as its reference.

Key words:
“Ídolos tras los altares”; Anita Brenner; Mexico; Art; Revolution