Radical Histories: Chicanx Prints from the Smithsonian American Art Museum

Since the 1960s, Chicanx artists have used graphic arts to educate and agitate, presenting a vast array of political and social themes designed to challenge the status quo. Their artworks are declarations of political advocacy, cross-cultural solidarity, and an effort to reclaim the past. Radical Histories: Chicanx Prints from the Smithsonian American Art Museum features 60 prints drawn from SAAM’s leading collection of Latinx art. It focuses on artists creating visual counter-histories—from ancient to contemporary times—that defy notions of American exceptionalism, heteronormativity, whiteness, and borders.  

Radical Histories showcases Chicanx artists’ role in using political prints and posters to galvanize community support around issues of labor equality, exemplified by their pivotal role in the farm workers’ movements of California and Texas; to augment political actions and bring awareness to anti-war and pro-peace movements; and to grapple with the grim realities of immigration and violence in borderlands. The exhibition also explores commemorative portraiture as a genre that Chicanx printmakers utilize to resurrect and memorialize unknown and underrepresented artists and historical figures, providing long-overdue recognition of important societal contributions by individuals who are Black, Indigenous, and people of color.

These artists’ vivid images use satire, politicized pop, and conceptualism while also embracing innovative DIY printmaking methods. Their works showcase how Chicanx printmakers have reimagined traditional formats such as Mexican codices and popular calendars to present new narratives. Highlighting the importance of language in Chicanx graphics, the exhibition also examines the interplay between text and image, exploring the use of poetry, graffiti, and historical quotations, among other literary devices, in the artists’ efforts to reconceive the story of America.  

The presentation of Radical Histories exemplifies the Colby College Museum of Art’s goals to embrace the complexity of the American experience by acknowledging the wide range of hemispheric, diasporic, and immigrant experiences spanning the Americas. Several impressions of prints from the exhibition or by featured artists have recently been added to the collection as part of the museum’s Latinx collecting initiative.

Radical Histories: Chicanx Prints from the Smithsonian American Art Museum is organized by the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Generous support has been provided by the Latino Initiatives Pool, administered by the National Museum of the American Latino. 

The Colby College Museum of Art will be the debut venue for the exhibition before it travels to The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens in San Marino, California.