THIS account of the lives and work of forty-five Mexican artists
is the second book in the "Stanford Art Series." The first volume
of the series, published in 1949, presented an illustrated and an-
notated description of the Rasmussen Collection of native arts of the
Pacific Northwest.

This second volume is concerned with the art expression of a living
culture. The author, Virginia Stewart, has appreciated the fact that the
brilliant flowering of art taking place in contemporary Mexico is a matter
of concern to us, as it is the fruition of a peoples' creative activity. The
violence and variety of the cultural traditions which form the background
of Mexican civilization, the revolutionary changes in Mexican political
and social life in modern times, and the contrasts in the geographic set-
ting of Mexican life, have all affected the lives of these artists and are
reflected in their work.

Knowing that to understand his work fully it is necessary to under-
stand the artist who produced it, the author has made a frankly human
and personal approach--not as an academic scholar collecting data, nor
as a commercial trader with a profit motive, but as a sympathetic friend.
The lasting friendships with many of the artists and their families that
have grown out of her visits to Mexico indicate a genuine sincerity of in-
terest and account for her real insight into the minds and lives of these
creative workers.

The photographs of the artists themselves, accompanying the repro-
ductions of their work, are an essential and interesting part of the book;
and the fact that this material has been assembled while most of the
artists are still living and working makes this record particularly valuable.

EDWARD M. FARMER

STANFORD, CALIFORNIA
September 1951

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