Mexico in Italy; A look from the de Micheli Fund

Abstract

The discovery of post-revolutionary Mexican art in Italy is deemed to have started in the 50s especially thanks to the studies of Mario DeMicheli, a social-art historian and protagonist in the debate on Realist Art. De Micheli,who learned about "Muralismo" through a series of trips to Mexico and through his encounters with David Alfaro Siqueiros, disseminated his work through the publication of essays, articles and the organisation of large exhibitions. A first exploration of the Ada e Mario De Micheli archive in Milan provides the primary sources for the present essay. The aim of the paper is to present an initial reconstruction of the relationship between Italian and Mexican art from the post-World War II until the 80s. The author offers a significant reflexion on the mutual influence between the two national contexts showing how muralismo has "travelled" across the Atlantic.