When Modernism Came to Mexico
Susan Delson
Editor, writer, curator, consultant specializing in arts, culture, film and media
When Clara Porset arrived in Mexico in 1935, she was already a successful furniture designer in her native Cuba. Strongly influenced by European modernism, Porset believed that design could elevate the experience of daily life. She envisioned a homegrown modernism, international in outlook but with a uniquely Mexican perspective. And Mexico—undergoing its own rapid modernization—was receptive ground for her ideas.
“In a Cloud, In a Wall, In a Chair: Six Modernists in Mexico at Midcentury,” which will be on view at the Art Institute of Chicago from Sept. 6 to Jan. 12, 2020, presents the U.S.’s neighbor to the south as a center of forward-thinking, cosmopolitan culture. With Porset (1895-1981) as its starting point, the show focuses on international artists and designers of different generations whose time in Mexico transformed their work.
Read the full story in this weekend's Wall Street Journal, or online at wsj.com: https://on.wsj.com/2NrLeCD