Composed of 12,351 works, including original prints, editions and matrices, the collection of the National Museum of the Estampa returns to this museum site in the repository of one of the most important graphic work collections in the country. From its characterization, it is possible to understand the multiple paths taken by an artistic tradition that places Mexico as an important reference in the universal development of modern and contemporary graphics. It includes works by prominent Mexican creators and creators who have dedicated or dedicated themselves to this artistic discipline and who have helped to scale the contribution of Mexican graphic art in the history of universal art.
Likewise, in the collection of the National Museum of the Estampa identifies different uses given to the print and the stamp that defined these disciplines as effective means of communication, while serving as platforms for different ideological, artistic, editorial and aesthetic expressions. In the same way, this multiple identity of the Munae collection also allows us to recognize the expansion of technical resources that have characterized the historical development of graphic art, from the exclusive use of traditional techniques such as xylography, intaglio and lithography, to the incorporation of digital technologies. On the other hand, this characterization highlights the most different thematic, aesthetic, experimental and conceptual drifts that, for many years, have returned to graphics in one of the most prolific and ingrained artistic languages in our visual culture.
Although the conformation of the collection and the foundation of the Museum were understood, to a large extent, in order to preserve and foster interest among the public for a deeply rooted artistic tradition, the qualitative and quantitative increase of this collection denotes not only the solid validity that keeps from its origin the vocation of the National Museum of the Estampa in the museum scene of Mexico, but also the importance of this discipline in the evolution of contemporary artistic creation, nationally and internationally.
From the original integration of its collection, thanks to the allocation of the graphic funds of the INBA, the artistic heritage that this site houses and disseminates has been enriched through different mechanisms, among them the different competitions organized under the initiative of the Museum, like the Mini-stamp Biennial. It also highlights the generosity of institutions, collectors, artists, editors and workshops, whose donation initiatives have allowed to increase the Museum's collection.
The collection also recognizes the presence of emblematic authors of the nineteenth and twentieth century Mexican graphics, from Manuel Manilla, Santiago Hernández and José Guadalupe Posada, to Francisco Díaz de León, Erasto Cortés, Gabriel Fernández Ledesma, Carlos Alvarado Lang and Emilio Amero ; of the artists identified with the Taller de Gráfica Popular and the Mexican Society of Engravers, which today enjoy wide recognition in the history of Mexican graphic art of the last century, such as Leopoldo Méndez, Pablo O'Higgins, Jesús Escobedo, Alfredo Zalce, Fernando Castro Pacheco, Abelardo Ávila, José Chávez Morado, Isidoro Ocampo, Mariana Yampolsky, Andrea Gómez, Everardo Ramírez, Ángel Bracho, Elizabeth Catlett, Alberto Beltrán, Vita Castro, Ángeles Garduño, among others.
Also worth mentioning are works by other great exponents of modern and contemporary Mexican graphic art, such as Julio Ruelas, Raul Anguiano, Jean Charlot, Rufino Tamayo, José Clemente Orozco, Celia Calderón, David Alfaro Siqueiros, Gunther Gerzso, Mathias Goeritz, Antonio Rodríguez Luna, José Luis Cuevas, Manuel Felguérez, Carlos Mérida, Amador Lugo, Gilberto Aceves Navarro, Vicente Rojo, Helen Escobedo, Angelina Beloff, Arnold Belkin, Leonora Carrington, Alberto Gironella, Lola Cueto, Grupo Suma and Francisco Toledo, to name a few. Likewise, the Munae collections represent representative productions of artists, workshops, collectives and publishing agents that have positioned themselves in the contemporary and emerging artistic scene within the disciplinary territory of graphic art.
Likewise, works that significantly complement some specific funds of the collection have been incorporated into the collection, such as the important acquisition of 90 works by José Guadalupe Posada, printed by the famous publisher Vanegas Arroyo. Additionally, the collection of this site has opened gaps for the inclusion of work by international graphic authors and has participated in various exhibition projects in the Museum throughout its history, such as Antonio Saura, Pierre Alechinsky, Salvador Dalí, Oswaldo Guayasamín, Jesús Rafael Soto, Carlos Cruz-Diez, Richard Serra, Honoré Daumier, Antoni Tàpies, among others.
