Carlos Mérida

Mazatecs of the State of Oaxaca, 1941

color serigraph

17 x 13 in

Mexican Costume is a portfolio that contains the ethnographic vision and respect that linked the Guatemalan artist with Mexico. Mérida admired the typical clothing and the cultural richness to the point of containing in his graphic work the abstraction of the cultural imaginary that the Mexican textile designs contained, the hard work of the communities on their typical costumes is revealed in each of the graphic pieces. The typical costumes are one of the most subtle and transcendent forms within the typical Mexican culture. Rene d'Harnoncourt comments on the matter of Carlos Mérida's folder, the following:"The richness of Mexican folk costumes is almost limitless, but Carlos Mérida has given us the very essence of the subject in his illustrations for this book. He has carefully selected contemporary Mexican folk costumes, which are genuinely developed by their different regional areas ... Carlos Mérida, a great admirer of Mexican culture, shows in this folder his wide respect for the artisan genius. "