La Jornada: Exhibition analyzes the ideal of beauty, from classical art to mass culture

Doryphorus and Discophorus, plaster replicas of the Greek sculptor Polycletus, creator of the canon of perfection of the proportions of the human body, welcome visitors to the exhibition The imaginary of the heroic body and its avatars, that explores 2,500 years of an idea of ​​beauty that has been replicated, criticized and reappropriated by societies.

The exhibition, which is on display from today until October 25 at the National Museum of San Carlos, begins with a series of models, mainly made of plaster, that arrived in Mexico to serve as a reference for art students. From there we derive the terms model and mold, which share the same root.

Unlike modern art, which encourages creative individuality, Greco-Latin art viewed originality as a transpersonal gift. The ideal models had to be replicated because, in addition to emulating beauty, their function was to educate and train.

The director of the National Museum of San Carlos, Jorge Reynoso Pohlenz, indicated that the exhibition focuses on the ideal of the body, a concept that was transmitted during the 17th century, but that found its impetus in the West and its sphere of influence from the Renaissance. “This intellectual movement sought to rescue the notion of the body typical of the Hellenic culture of the Greek people.”

In the academies, the canon of beauty was adapted to contexts where discipline, competitiveness, training and leadership were associated with health, patriotism, organization and social progress. This generated contradictions in cultures foreign to the Greco-Latin past, such as Mexico.

That is why the exhibition does not remain in the classic plaster. It proposes a counterpoint between those models and visual products from other times, from academic painting to mass culture.

“In the exhibition there is also a critical vision, because they are elements that we inherited from an alien tradition that comes with the imposition of Western imaginaries, and there are forms of integration,” commented Reynoso Pohlenz.

He pointed out that a bronze version of the Tlaxcalan general called Tlahuicole, by Manuel Vilar, is one of the most important pieces in the exhibition, because the Catalan sculptor unified the classical Greco-Latin aesthetic with a plastic proposal of Mexican ethnicity.

“We also include photos from the series Urban Apolo, by the artist Armando Cristeto, to begin this dialogue between the remote past and more recent elements. This type of image or proportion corresponded to sports heroes, legendary heroes and images of the gods,” added the director and curator of the exhibition.

The exhibition’s discourse investigates how the class of men that Plato wanted to elevate “from Hades to the mansion of the gods” were formed. He asks what happens when that model is imposed as the only one, when the ideal body becomes a social mold.

The exhibition, Reynoso explained, explores the historical relationship between classical art, the ideal of the male body and its evolution towards sport, social organization and its representations.

The exhibition is divided into four thematic cores. The first addresses the corporal and social ideal: the coordination, organization and proportion of the body as a reflection of a civic order. The second focuses on training, because the hero, even with divine gifts, must strive to reach the goal, a sporting notion.

The third explores sacrifice and agony. In its Greek origin, the word agon designates the fight against an opponent, but also the internal struggle against oneself or against destiny: personal sacrifice for the common good. Finally, the fourth is glory: the communal celebration of heroes. There reappear symbols that persist in our urban culture, such as the goddess of victory, with her laurel wreath for the victors.

Through 130 pieces, including sculpture, drawing, engraving, posters and videos from various periods, the exhibition examines the heroic construction of the male body linked to both ancient military tradition and sports training.

The tour includes the projection of audiovisual fragments ranging from Leni Riefenstahl’s documentaries about the 1936 Berlin Olympics to Rocky’s iconic training film sequence on the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

The pieces that make up the exhibition belong to the collection of the national museums of Art (Munal), San Carlos, World Cultures, as well as the Academy of San Carlos, the Faculty of Arts and Design of the National Autonomous University of Mexico, the Museo Casa Estudio Diego Rivera y Frida Kahlo, the El Estanquillo Colecciones Carlos Monsiváis and private collections.

As part of the exhibition, drawing workshops with dry materials and with a model will be held on Wednesdays, June 10 and 17 at 6 p.m. On Sundays the 14th and 21st at 1:00 p.m. the workshop will be offered. collage Rethinking the hero: From the individual to the community.

The imaginary of the heroic body and its avatars It opens today at 1:00 p.m. at the National Museum of San Carlos (50 Mexico-Tenochtitlan Avenue, Tabacalera neighborhood).