The Mexican Collections in the Náprstek Museum as the Witnesses of History
| Pages | 3–14 |
|---|---|
| Keywords | National Museum, Naprstek Museum, Mexican culture, Mexican national identity, pre-Columbian collections, popular art, ethnographic collections. |
| Type of Article | Peer-reviewed |
| Citation | KLÁPŠŤOVÁ, Kateřina. The Mexican Collections in the Náprstek Museum as the Witnesses of History. Annals of the Náprstek Museum. Prague: National Museum, 2011, 32(1), 3–14. ISSN 0231-844X (print), 2533-5685 (online). Also available from: https://publikace.nm.cz/en/periodicals/annals-of-the-naprstek-museum/32-1/the-mexican-collections-in-the-naprstek-museum-as-the-witnesses-of-history |
The first part of this article deals with the collection of ancient pre-Columbian objects and with the modern Mexican collection, stored in the National Museum – Náprstek Museum of Asian, African and American Cultures. It also describes the creative process in putting the collections together. Later it examines the relationship between modern ethnographic artefacts and Mexican history of the 19th and 20th century. The focus is on popular handicrafts produced in the countryside and small towns (usually pottery and other crafts). These were elevated to the category of Popular Art by intellectuals and artists after the Mexican revolution and thus became representational of Mexican national culture. As such they were supported and used in the creation of a national identity.
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