Photo Flash: Sneak Peek at MEXICAN MUSEUM SHOWCASE at Fort Mason Center

SAN FRANCISCO, CA - September 24, 2014 - The Mexican Museum, the premier West Coast museum of Mexican, Mexican-American, Chicano, Latin American and Latino art, culture and heritage, announces an exhibition entitled MEX Collects: Recent Gifts & Acquisitions, which will feature a dramatic selection of over 30 recent pieces recently gifted to The Mexican Museum. Visuals are available upon request. Check out a sample of some of the artwork below!

The exhibition will run from Oct. 10, 2104 - Jan. 18, 2015. A special members' preview reception will take place on Thursday, October 9th at The Mexican Museum from 6pm to 8pm. The Museum is located at Fort Mason Center, Building D in San Francisco. It is open Wednesday through Sunday, from noon to 4 p.m. Admission is free.

"Each of these new pieces enhances on the tremendous breadth and diversity of The Mexican Museum's collections," said David de la Torre, Museum Director and exhibition organizer. "We are deeply grateful for the generosity and support of the individuals who have expanded Museum collections with significant art treasures that span over two millennia."

MEX Collects: Recent Gifts & Acquisitions will include these new artworks to enhance the Museum's five main collecting areas:

Pre-Hispanic Art (Meso-American, Central American, and Peruvian collections, spanning 2,500 years of history)

· An exquisite, intricately-designed tripod vessel from Costa Rica and a beautiful bird-like Mayan vessel from Honduras with polychrome color - gifted by Ms. Maggie Kent.

· An elaborately-garbed male sculpture from Nayarit - gifted from the estate of Dr. Robert David and Thea Ramsey.

Colonial Art (18th-19th century collections)

· A selection of finely-painted retablos and ex-votos on metal, depicting Santo Nino de Atocha, Nuestra Señora de Pátzcuaro, Nuestra Señora de Refugio de Pecadores, and other subjects - from the bequest of Mr. and Mrs. Hubert Fleischmann.

Popular Art (20th century folk art)

· Hand-sculpted ceramic pieces by Josefina Aguilar and Jesus Aguilar Alcantara, portraying Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo - gifted by long-time Museum supporters, Dr. Alvin and Phyllis Rutner.

· A carved, polychrome wooden lizard sculpture by Jacobo and Maria Angeles - gifted by Wanda Nichols.

· An incised copper platter from Santa Clara del Cobre illustrating the Aztec calendar - gifted by Museum Board Chair, Andrew M. Kluger, in memory of his mother, Mildred Kluger.

· A polychrome ceramic egg with an emerging frog by Sergio Bustamante, and a carved wooden horse dance mask - gifted by Steve and Dale Liebes.

· A graceful depiction of life-size paper-mache herons by Sergio Bustamante - gifted by Los Angeles patrons, Donald and Barbara Cohen.

Mexican and Latin American Art (20th century Mexican and Latin American fine art)

· Two early oil on canvas paintings by Dr. Lakra (AKA Jeronimo Ramirez Lopez) the highly acclaimed contemporary artist from Oaxaca - gifted by world renowned painter and tattoo artist Don Ed Hardy.

· A set of four color lithographs depicting ancient culture symbols, Estampes de Popul Vuh (1943) - gifted by Dr. Edward and Marjorie Cahn.

· Two prints by Mexican artists Angel Bracho and Jesus Alvarez Amaya - gifted by Taller de Grafica, Mexico City, through artist Hector Alexander Salazar, who also donated his own extraordinary ink-on-paper piece entitled Caralampia Mondongo, Countess of Tyrol, Modern Pirate (2013).

· A major collection of portfolios, pamphlets and prints by the "grandfather of Mexican printmaking," Jose Guadalupe Posada - gifted by the Rochlin-Marcus Family of Los Angeles.

· Historic photographic images from the Mexican Revolution - gifted by Diana Alaniz - and several other historic photographs by Juan Guzman and Carlos Tinoco - donated by the San Francisco Historical Society.

Mexican American, Chicano and Latino Contemporary Art (late 20th-21st century collections)

· A historically-significant serigraph by Los Angeles-based artist and muralist Frank Romero, entitled The Closing of Whittier Boulevard (1989) - gifted by Mrs. Clyde Young in memory of Thomas J. Young.

· Two abstract oil paintings by local San Francisco Bay Area artist Jose Ramon Lerma - gifted by artist, attorney and author Matt Gonzalez.

· A beautiful gouache-on-paper entitled Havana Jain II (2007) by local artist and highly-respected muralist Michael V. Rios - gifted by Victor Marquez and Matteo Garbelotto.

· A powerful serigraph entitled Jaguar and Two Dragons (2007) - gifted by artist Sal Garcia and his wife Lori Garcia.

· A lithograph by Texas artist Sandra C. Fernandez entitled La Virgen de Quito Aparacio en Austin (1975) - gifted by acclaimed art collectors Gilbert and Dolores Cardenas of Notre Dame University.

Promised Gift and Special Loan: Also to be showcased in MEX Collects: Recent Gifts & Acquisitions will be the promised gift of a major metal wall sculpture by artist Manuel Neri, entitled Mujer Pegada Series No. 4; and a special loan by Susie Tompkins Buell of a beautiful mixed-media painting by Cuban artist Nelson Dominguez.

About The Mexican Museum: Founded by San Francisco artist Peter Rodriguez in 1975 in the heart of the Mission District, The Mexican Museum is located at Fort Mason Center, is the realization of a vision to exhibit the aesthetic expression of the Mexican and Mexican American people. Today, the museum's vision has expanded to reflect the evolving scope of the Mexican, Chicano and Latino experience - including art, culture, history and heritage. In 2012, The Mexican Museum became an affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution, the nation's largest museum network. The museum currently has a permanent collection of more than 15,500 objects reflecting Pre-Hispanic, Colonial, Popular, Modern and Contemporary Mexican, Mexican-American, Latin American, Latino, and Chicano art.

The Mexican Museum is open Wednesday - Sunday from noon to 4 p.m., located at Fort Mason Center, Building D, Marina Boulevard and Buchanan Street, in San Francisco. FREE Admission. The Museum offers a wide variety of programs, including Family Sundays, exhibitions, special events, lectures and public programming throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. For more information, please visit: http://www.mexicanmuseum.org or call (415) 202-9700.

The Museum is currently preparing for the completion of its permanent home, which will be built in downtown San Francisco's Yerba Buena Garden Arts District and is expected to open in 2018.