Graphic Art and Revolution: Latin American Political Posters 1968–2000
The graphic arts and the study of Latin America are two strengths of the University of New Mexico (UNM), one of the first universities to establish an area studies program dedicated to Latin America and confer degrees in Latin American Studies. Graphic Art and Revolution brings together Latin American political posters from two major repositories at the university: the University of New Mexico Art Museum and the Sam L. Slick Collection of Latin American and Iberian Posters at the Center for Southwest Research.
Graphic Art and Revolution is a collaboration between the UNM Art Museum and partners in the department of Latin American Studies (LAS) and the Latin American and Iberian Institute (LAII). It includes contributions by past and present faculty and students whose critical perspectives inform the selection and interpretation of the works on display.
Latin American Posters and the UNM Art Museum
The UNM Art Museum (UNMAM) houses the largest collection of fine art in the state. Photography and print are two of its strengths and make up most of its collection. Within the graphic art collection is a sizeable number of prints created at the Taller de Gráfica Popular in Mexico and Central and Latin American posters.
Several of the posters from the collection of the UNMAM on view in this exhibition were gifted by or in connection with David Craven (1951–2012), a scholar of Latin American art and Distinguished Professor of Art and Art History at UNM. His book, Art and Revolution in Latin America, 1910–1990 (2002) is a canonical text in the field. Two posters on display in the exhibition were donated by Craven in honor of Thomas Barrow (1938–2024), a former UNM professor of Photography and Associate Director of the UNM Art Museum.
UNMAM’s holdings complement those of the Center for Southwest Research at Zimmerman Library, a historical archive that specializes in New Mexico, the Southwest, Mexico and Latin America. CSWR preserves historical manuscripts, books, photographs, architectural drawings, recordings, and other materials related to these regions.
The Sam L. Slick Collection of Latin American and Iberian Posters
UNM’s Center for Southwest Research (CSWR) acquired the Sam L. Slick Collection of Latin American and Iberian Posters in 2001. Slick, a professor of Spanish, amassed his collection of roughly 10,000 posters from the 1970s to the 1990s through various means and contacts, especially Latin American students studying in the United States and United States embassies in Latin America. Russ Davidson, then Curator of Latin American and Iberian Collections at UNM, learned of the collection in the 1990s and facilitated its acquisition. Among the largest collections of Latin American and Iberian posters in the U.S., the Slick collection contributed to the university’s already sizeable holdings in graphic art and complemented its role as a leader in the study of Latin America.
As scholars have noted, Slick’s collecting coincided with the rise of Latin American political movements and a growing interest in using visual culture as primary sources for historical research. The posters have continued to serve as vivid artifacts of social and political movements. They have been shown in exhibitions in New Mexico and beyond and studied by multiple generations of scholars. Slick’s belief that seeing material culture brought places, cultures, and their concerns to life—his initial motivation for starting this collection—can be observed in how they are used in this exhibition and Latin American Studies classes, where they serve as points of entry into historical issues and make them come to life for a new generation.
