University of Texas Press Creating Pátzcuaro, Creating Mexico: Art, Tourism, and Nation Building under Lázaro Cárdenas (Joe R. and Teresa Long Series in Latin American and Latino Art and Culture)

In the 1930s, the artistic and cultural patronage of celebrated Mexican president Lázaro Cárdenas transformed a small Michoacán city, Pátzcuaro, into a popular center for national tourism. Cárdenas commissioned public monuments and archeological excavations; supported new schools, libraries, and a public theater; developed tourism sites and infrastructure, including the Museo de Artes e Industrias Populares; and hired artists to paint murals celebrating regional history, traditions, and culture. The creation of Pátzcuaro was formative for Mexico; not only did it provide an early model for regional economic and cultural development, but it also helped establish some of Mexico's most enduring national myths, rituals, and institutions. In Creating Pátzcuaro, Creating Mexico, Jennifer Jolly argues that Pátzcuaro became a microcosm of cultural power during the 1930s and that we find the foundations of modern Mexico in its creation. Her extensive historical and archival research reveals how Cárdenas and the artists and intellectuals who worked with him used cultural patronage as a guise for radical modernization in the region. Jolly demonstrates that the Pátzcuaro project helped define a new modern body politic for Mexico, in which the population was asked to emulate Cárdenas by touring the country and seeing and embracing its land, history, and people. Ultimately, by offering Mexicans a means to identify and engage with power and privilege, the creation of Pátzcuaro placed art and tourism at the center of Mexico's postrevolutionary nation building project. Review [A] magisterial study of cultural patronage and the construction of regional identity in Pátzcuaro...one of the most interesting new books on the history of modern Mexican art to appear in the past several years...It will long stand as the definitive account of this particular time and place...Jolly's book sets a high bar for future scholars who seek to excavate the histories of these and other sites, where regional differences remain resilient, notwithstanding the forces of industrialisation and globalisation.-- "Bulletin of Latin American Research" (1/21/2020 12:00:00 AM) [A] wonderful book...Richly illustrated...Jolly skillfully highlights the connections between the regional and the national...[and] skillfully interrogates elite ideas about Indians and race as Pátzcuaro's indigenous past and present were propped up as tourist attractions.-- "Latin American Research Review" (3/9/2021 12:00:00 AM) A fascinating journey into art and tourism in Pátzcuaro...a welcome contribution to our understanding of regional art institutions and monuments, the interdisciplinary study of Mexican nation- and region-formation during the 1930s, and most importantly, the emergence of domestic tourism in postrevolutionary Mexico.-- "The Americas" (7/1/2019 12:00:00 AM) As a compelling account of the creation of a particular historical and cultural narrative for Pátzcuaro in the context of building a national Mexican identity, Jolly's book constitutes both an excellent scholarly contribution and a fascinating and insightful story well worth reading.-- "Monthly Review" (1/1/2020 12:00:00 AM) Creating Mexico is a much welcomed addition to Mexican regional history...[Jolly] brings to light how the periphery informed nation-state building. -- "The Public Historian" (2/1/2019 12:00:00 AM) Creating Pátzcuaro, Creating Mexico makes important contributions to our understanding of 1930s Mexico, tourism development, art history, and the role of cultural policy in nation building. The book is essential for scholars interested in these fields and accessible for graduate and advanced undergraduate students.-- "Hispanic American Historical Review" (5/1/2019 12:00:00 AM) Jolly's acute book is successful in giving us a comprehensive view of the mechanisms by which the image of Pátzcuaro was created through a process of power engineering...Creating Pátzcuaro, Creating Mexico dem