Mexican Art and Its Collections in Europe (16th-21st Centuries): Interwoven Histories.

The Institute of Art History at the University of Wrocław invites you to attend an international academic conference exploring the rich and complex history of Mexican art and its presence in European collections from the 16th to the 21st centuries.

This interdisciplinary conference brings together scholars from across Europe and Mexico to examine the cultural exchanges, collecting practices, and reception histories of Mexican art in European contexts. The conference is structured around three thematic sessions featuring presentations on colonial art, indigenous artifacts, manuscripts, paintings, and the diplomatic role of art in international relations.

Full Program

8:40 – 9:00 Participants login time
9:00 – 9:15 Opening Remarks
Speaker: Assoc. Prof. Rafał Eysymontt, Director of the Institute of Art History, University of Wrocław

Session 1: Perspectives, Categories, Methodologies: Critical Approaches in the Study of Mexican Art
Chair: Dr. Emilia Kiecko, University of Wrocław
9:15-9:35 Assoc. Prof. Luisa Elena Alcalá, Universidad Autónoma of Madrid
Mexican Colonial Art in Spain: Facing the Record and Making it Known
9:35-9:55 Dr. Pascal Mongne, Ecole du Louvre, Paris
The Deforming Mirror of the Americas. Replicas, pastiches and "américaineries" in the traditional American arts
9:55-10:15 Dr. Marta Skwirowska, State Ethnographic Museum in Warsaw
Arte popular or folk art? Terminological reflections based on the Mexican collection of the State Ethnographic Museum in Warsaw
10:15-10:35 Dr. Anna Boroffka, Centre for the Study of Manuscript Cultures (CSMC), University of Hamburg
Books on Display - Mexican Manuscripts in Early Modern Collections and Discourses
10:35-10:55 Discussion
10:55-11:15 Coffee Break

Session 2: Objects in Motion: Biographies of Mexican Artifacts in European Collections
Chair: Assoc. Prof. Agata Kubala, University of Wrocław
11:15-11:35 Christel Andrik, University of Utrecht
New World artefacts in the Medici collection (1554-1570)
11:35-11:55 Joanna Hili Micallef, Heritage Malta
Seventeen Paintings in Malta painted by Juan Patricio Morlete Ruiz in 18th Century Mexico
11:55-12:10 Aneta Giebuta, Wawel Royal Castle
The Wawel Medicine Box: The Enigmas of a Small Piece of Furniture – Form and Decoration (announcement)
12:10-12:30 Dr. Claudia de Sevilla, Musée du quai Branly-Jacques Chirac in Paris
Discovery and display of Lacandon objects in France: the Charnay and Soustelle collections in the Musée du Quai Branly-Jacques Chirac
12:30-13:00 Discussion
13:00-14:00 Lunch Break

Session 3: Cultural Bridges: Presentation and Reception of Mexican Art in Europe
Chair: Assoc. Prof. Luisa Elena Alcalá, Universidad Autónoma of Madrid
14:00-14:20 Dr. Pascal Riviale, Archives nationales de France
Eugène Boban's scientific network
14:20-14:40 Dr. Daniel Sobrino Ralston, National Gallery, London
José María Velasco Abroad: Paris, Prague, and London
14:40-15:00 Dr. Sonia Irene Ocaña Ruiz, Universidad Juárez Autónoma de Tabasco
Mexican Enconchados in Spanish Collections: From Almost Invisible...to Coveted?
15:00-15:20 Discussion
15:20-15:40 Coffee Break
15:40-16:00 Adrián Rioja Herrero, Spanish National Research Council in Madrid
Towards a 'Mexican room': Cultural Diplomacy and Hispano-Mexican Relations in 1930s Spain
16:00-16:20 Dr. Monika Brenišínová, Charles University in Prague
Exhibition of Mexican Graphic Art in Czechoslovakia in the 1950s and its Reception
16:20-16:40 Discussion
16:40-17:00 Closing Remarks

The conference will take place online via Microsoft Teams. Participation is free of charge and no registration is required. We welcome all scholars, students, and professionals interested in Mexican art history and its European contexts.

To join the conference, please use the link: https://tiny.pl/gdw0wxcs