| 21 October 2009
Benito Juarez is now a part of Chicago. At least, that’s the message the Chicago History Museum and the National Museum of Mexican Art conveyed on October 10 when they welcomed visitors to their new co-curated exhibit Benito Juarez and the Making of Modern Mexico alongside the Abraham Lincoln Transformed exhibit that celebrates Lincoln’s bicentennial.
The side-by-side exhibitions are an exploration of two iconic North American presidents leading their respective nations in times of war, revolution and reform. Chief Curator Olivia Mahoney hopes the Benito Juarez exhibit will show visitors the other events that were taking place in the mid 1800’s in North America. Choosing Benito Juarez for this showcase was not a strange marketing choice for the museum considering the reported 1.3 million Mexicans currently living in Chicago. “We have a very large Hispanic population and we’re trying to reach out to that audience,” admits Mahoney.
Even though both the Lincoln and Juarez exhibits begin with a display of the original black silk top hats and dark overcoats worn by each president, the similarities between the two legendary figures literally stop near the door. Lincoln and Juarez never met face-to-face and the museum succeeds in presenting the two historical icons in their own light and space.
Taking a walk through the tall red, white, and blue walls of the Lincoln exhibit, decorated with vibrant war and peace quotes, comes with a certain familiarity to anybody who studied Lincoln in grammar school. There is some knowledge and expectation put to rest by the Lincoln regalia like The Railsplitter Painting – a floor-to-ceiling canvas of Lincoln splitting wood near a river – original Lincoln manuscripts, copper slave tags and artifacts, and Civil War weaponry found scattered throughout various glass cases.
The Juarez exhibit on the other hand, was truly treated as a treasured gem. The red and green earth-tones, guitar music, and warm lighting help set the mood for anybody venturing into the history and legacy of Benito Juarez as the exhibit presents it. The curator for the National Museum of Mexican Art, Cesareo Moreno, explains that the Juarez exhibit boasts over 25 national treasures from Mexico never before seen in the United States.
Among these is a family genealogical tree handcrafted for Juarez and personally donated to the National Museum of Mexican Art by Joaquin Rivera, the son of Vicente Rivera Melo, the historian who along with his wife, compiled Juarez’s family history.
“There’s an anecdote that says that when my father sent my mother to see Juarez’s daughters to ask for facts and dates for the family tree, they welcomed her into the living room and then called the commissary. It turns out that a journalist had asked for the same information not too long before and the Juarez family never heard of what she did with the information. They apologized to my mother and that’s when Juarez’s daughters authorized and authenticated this family tree. They both signed here,” said Rivera as he lifted his wooden cane to point to two signatures underneath the photographs of Juarez’s daughters inside the display case of the Juarez family tree.
Some of the other artifacts in the Juarez exhibit include an oil on canvas painting of Juarez by Jorge Gonzalez Camarena that offers visitors a romanticized and mural-like depiction of the president, Juarez’s varnished bronze death mask, and the original bust of Juarez that used to be on display on Michigan Avenue.
The Chicago History Museum plans on running both exhibits until April of 2010 and hopes to make a statement to the Hispanic community that it is now an integral part of Chicago. “This is what Chicago is all about. We all have our different heroes but they all come together here and they make sense here,” exclaims Moreno as he does a quick run through of the exhibit making sure everything is in place for visitors.
IF YOU GO
Benito Juarez and the Making of Modern Mexico/Abraham Lincoln Transformed
WHEN: Ends April 12
WHERE: Chicago History Museum, 1601 N. Clark St., Chicago
INFO: (312) 642-4600, http://chicagohistory.org/
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