Contemporary Latino art in Michigan, the Midwest, and the Southwest.

This dissertation examines the evolution of contemporary Latino art in Michigan, the Midwest, and the Southwest. Latino art represents the cultural expressions of the United States Latino population, which includes Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, Cubans, Central and South Americans, and other persons of Spanish, Indian, and African origins. Both diversity and unity are expressed in the styles and themes of Latino artists, each reflecting a specific Latino cultural background and a broader American experience of cultural pluralism. Their artistic responses to the environment make an important contribution to their own communities as well as to American culture and art. This work records the origins of Latino art in Michigan, its relationship to Latino art in the Midwest and Southwest, and chronicles the emergence of the contemporary Mexican-American/Chicano art movement, which explored the Chicano experience as members of an oppressed racial/ethnic minority. The dissertation is organized in two parts, Part I, The Historical Context, documents the history of Latinos in the U.S. Chapter One profiles the Latino population (largely mestizo, or of mixed blood), focusing on the Mexican-American/Chicano sub-group. Issues of identity and sociopolitical freedom are examined by looking at the Chicano political movement of the 1960's/1970's. Chapter Two reviews the Pre-Columbian or Mexican connection to the ancient Indian cultures of Michigan and other Indian cultures of North America. Chapter Three portrays the history of the Mexican presence in modern Michigan, including Mexican laborers' contributions to Michigan's economic prosperity. Part II, The Art, discusses the evolution of contemporary Latino art in Michigan, the Midwest, and the Southwest. Chapter Four describes early Latino art in Michigan and the U.S., focusing on the influence of Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo in Michigan. Chapter Five records Michigan Latino artists (as well as artists of Latino descent) of the 1940's, 1950's, and 1960's. Chapter Six studies the growth of contemporary Latino art, 1970-1980, exploring the birth of the Mexican-American/Chicano art movement. Chapter Seven presents the biographies of four professional Michigan Latino artists and reviews their contributions to Latino art and American culture.PhDArt educationEducationUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/128292/2/8907160.pd