Revolution Across Borders

During the postrevolutionary era, Mexico City acted as the nexus of radical artists and intellectuals—from Mexico and abroad—who met, organized, and created their works in this lively city and shaped the cultural environment in which Mexico’s leftist artists operated. In addition to Diego Rivera, David Alfaro Siqueiros, and Frida Kahlo, this presentation will consider photographer Tina Modotti (Italy), journal Mexican Folkways founder Frances (Paca) Toor (U.S.), printmaker Pablo O’Higgins (U.S.), the controversial arrival of Leon Trotsky (Soviet Union), and others, including those who fled the spread of fascism.

Stephanie Smith is an associate professor of history at The Ohio State University with a concentration on Mexico and Latin America. Smith’s second book the Power and Politics of Art in Postrevolutionary Mexico (2017) chronicles the turbulent relations between Mexico’s radical artists and the postrevolutionary state. Her first book Gender and the Mexican Revolution: Yucatán Women and the Realities of Patriarchy (2009) explores the complicated process of women’s involvement during the Mexican Revolution.