Yesterday and Today

The History of the Mazatlan Museum of Art Building

By: Museo de Arte - Photos: Ivan Lizárraga

What is today the Mazatlan Art Museum was originally conceived as the Culture House.  According to an investigation done in the city Record and Property Archives, the building was constructed in 1898 by Pablo Hidalgo, a shipping agent and business man who installed an exhibition here of materials for large ships.  The building was the object of a series of exchanges, mortgages and failed sales.  Recollected testimonies show that during the Revolutionary period, the house was a post office whose boss was Bernardo Felix, father of the renowned Mexican artist, Maria Felix. In the same house there was also the workshop of the newspaper “The Sinaloan Democrat”, along with the immigration offices.  It was also a transmission office for the army.  Later on there was a fishing store run by Angel Favo and in the 1960s, incredibly enough, there was a bowling alley!  Most recently the building housed the public bathrooms for Carnival in the 1970s and then a hardware store and then, finally, an electrical workshop run by Don Pablo Velasquez.

The Museum of Art was founded in November of 1998.  It is located on the corner of Sixto Osuna St. and Venustiano Carranza, just a block from Olas Altas, right in front of the Archeology Museum.   Its architecture fits in nicely with the neo-tropical style of the rest of downtown.  The museum has many important purposes and features commercial, social, industrial, institutional, educational, fishing and agriculture activities, along with, of course, cultural and artistic events.  It is a space open to the proposals of the community in general and is there for historical expression, current events and the hopes of the population.  It is to reflect not only the vision of the port, but also the entire entity of expression. Therefore, many writers, painters, poets, actors, journalists, musicians, academics, photographers and political analyists all use the space if they have the need to express themselves.

Currently the museum features two exhibition rooms, one permanent and the other showcasing temporary shows.  In the first room, the cultural heritage of the city is shown through the presence of local and national artists.  Here you can find works by internationally known Mexican artists such as Rufino Tamayo, Francisco Toledo, Antonio Lopez Saenz, Jose Luis Cuevas, Vincente Rojo, Edgardo Coughlin and others.  There are 28 first rate pieces.  In the temporary room there are shows each month of various artists from all over.  When you visit the Mazatlan Art Museum you will fall in love with the mystical quality of the space and be able to better appreciate the work exhibited there.