Art, revolution, and indigenous subjects

The Mexican Revolution (1910-1920) propelled a cultural renaissance at home and sparked the imagination of leftist intellectuals throughout Latin America, who dreamed of a future in which a commitment to social justice would replace centuries of oppression and inequality. The conflict, which began as liberal opposition to the re-election of Porfirio Díaz, president since 1876, became an unequivocal expression of discontent from Mexico’s disenfranchised communities. ¹ United in the south under Emiliano Zapata and under Pancho Villa in the north, revolutionaries demanded land reform, improved working conditions, and betterments to social welfare from the state-calls answered by the Constitution of 1917. The post-revolutionary moment became a time of spirited optimism during which different public actors worked together to construct a new society.