Three Brothers (1997) This picture was taken in the Summer of 1997, but I met these kids back before the youngest one was born. One of the joys of doing long-term field research is to see children grow up year after year.

African Roots Stretch Deep Into Mexico

March 3, 1996 — In Mexico, various Indian peoples still play ancient instruments. And their songs and dances — which tell of uprisings against their masters — pay tribute to their ancestors. These Mexicans play African “hand pianos” and perform “the dance of the black people.” Mexican “corridos” — or song-stories — tell of slave […]

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Reportaje La Fiesta Popular

Es en las comunidades campesinas del país en donde la fiesta se celebra con mayor intensidad. Destacan también algunos grupos indígenas que buscan conservar intactas sus tradiciones. En los estados como Guerrero, Oaxaca, Veracruz, Puebla, así como el Distrito Federal, Morelos, Hidalgo y Chiapas, las festividades alcanzan un alto índice de participación, conviertiéndose en un […]

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Untitled, undated collage by artist Richard Reagan © Tony Burton, 2017

Artist Richard Hay Reagan (1929-2012) first visited Mexico in the 1950s

Exploring Mexico’s Artists and Artisans Richard Hay Reagan had three great loves — art, jazz and Jeanora Bartlet. Jeanora is now a sprightly octogenarian and as we chat at her home in Bruton, Somerset, England, she is, initially, not too keen to share memories of her late partner. I had originally sought out Jeanora because […]

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Untitled, undated collage is the work of Richard Hay Reagan © Tony Burton, 2017

Artist Richard Hay Reagan (1929-2012) revisited Mexico in 1970

Return to the U.S.The following year, Rick decided to return to North America. With financial help from brother Pete, he flew back to California. Jeanora took several of Rick’s large paintings and returned to France, planning to sell them in Paris to raise her own plane fare back. En route, she raised some funds by […]

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The National Ceramic Museum, Tonalá, Photo © Kinich Ramirez 2006

Uncovering Tonala’s history at the National Ceramic Museum

For me, Tonalá has always seemed like a magical sort of place, like something that one would only stumble upon in the make-believe world of fiction. Its narrow, dusty streets lined with unadorned buildings give Tonalá a rather unpolished look as compared with neighboring Tlaquepaque or Guadalajara’s downtown. Yet there are treasures to be discovered […]

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The legacy of Agustin Victor Casasola

The legacy of Agustin Victor Casasola (Photographer 1874 – 1938)

Agustín Victor Casasola was not a painter or a poet or one of the many intellectuals or revolutionaries during the early decades of the twentieth century who consciously strove to forge a Mexican identity. Yet, as witness and recorder of those tumultuous years, his influence was as great and may prove to be more lasting. […]

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The ten foot tall Olmec head in the square of Santiago Tuxtla

The Preclassic or Formative Period ( 1500 BC – 300 AD )

The Formative Period begins with the first appearance of pottery and ends with the rise of the Teotihuacan and Mayan civilizations. It was an epoch marked by the emergence of effective agriculture, the establishment of human settlements and the development of fundamental arts. The earliest site of the period discovered so far is Chiapa de […]

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