The Caracol Museum exhibits Julio Prieto's work that illustrates the country's educational history.

▲ One of the 52 pieces on display for the first time. It's part of the illustrations Prieto created for stories published by the SEP 90 years ago. Photo from the artist's family collection.

▲ Engraving by Julio Prieto on display at the Museo del Caracol Gallery, which celebrates its 65th anniversary in 2025.

Fabiola Palapa Quijas

La Jornada Newspaper, Sunday, July 6, 2025, p. 5

In the 1930s, the illustrator, set designer and academic Julio Prieto (1912-1977) possessed a broad visual culture and a skillful hand, since with a bottle of India ink and some pieces of paper, he was able to represent scenes of nature, children, animals, fantastic beings and indignant mice that tell of the country's educational history.

The temporary exhibition Julio Prieto: Illustrator for Education opened yesterday at the Museo del Caracol's History Gallery, which celebrates its 65th anniversary this year. Curated by historians Pavel Luna and Bertha Hernández, it brings together 52 pieces on display for the first time.

These are the illustrations Prieto created for a series of stories published by the Ministry of Public Education (SEP) 90 years ago. The texts are part of a period in Mexican educational history known as socialist education , which had a strong rationalist component. Therefore, the characters in the stories are mice who want to work and have rights, wizards who lose their power in the face of technological advancement, and children who aspire to escape poverty and exploitation.

Bertha Hernández indicated that the purpose of the exhibition is to recover Prieto's facet as an illustrator and engraver, and to showcase art in education. His work allows us to go back 90 years to his educational life, when in his youth he illustrated stories for a contest organized by the SEP (Spanish Ministry of Education). From that material, a selection was made for the graphic work that the public can see today.

The exhibition is a piece of biography, but also of our educational history, which aims to highlight a connection that was long forgotten.

Pavel Luna commented that Prieto's role in the theater world is well-known, and that he was one of the creators of the dioramas at the Museo del Caracol. However, his work in the educational field has gone unnoticed, something that happens to many artists of that era.

He explained that the artist's illustrations for the stories depict likable and charming characters, but that a careful analysis reveals the spirit of an entire era and the values ​​it promoted. Luna emphasized that this education teaches children to fight for their rights, revolutionary principles, and faith in science .

For Hernández, the exhibition recovers nine decades of work that suddenly becomes more important because it touches the lives of thousands of Mexicans. We can say that Julio Prieto is being revived today, but there are other textbooks from that era with illustrations, for example, by José Chávez Morado. Historians have even worked on murals in schools, and we see the great artists of that technique .

According to the curators, the graphic works on display are five stories: "Many Are Many," by Mariana Frenk; "Panchito the Mouse," by Blanca Lydia Trejo; "The Defeat of Geniolandia," by Carlos Mata; "Trinidad," by N. Sevilla Serdán; and "The Hunter Who Doesn't Hunt," by Manuel Velázquez Andrade. All materials come from the collection of Julio Prieto's heirs.

The exhibition is completed by a selection of pieces created by Julio Prieto for the print version of Troka, El Poderoso, a series of short stories created in 1933 by the writer and poet Germán List Arzubide for the SEP radio station. In 1939, the stories were published as a book for the Teacher's Library, published by the government newspaper El Nacional.

This selection includes representations of the robot Troka, The Powerful, a synthesis of progress and technology.

The exhibition also highlights the relationship between art and education in Mexico. Hernández stated: the great figures of muralism never left school . Julio Prieto: Illustrator for Education shows how the Mexican government has used art to support schoolchildren and promote aesthetic experience.

Also participating in the opening of the exhibition were Julieta Gil Elorduy, director of the Museo del Caracol, and Carmen Ortiz Prieto, granddaughter of the Mexican illustrator and set designer.

The exhibition, located in Chapultepec Park, will remain open to the public until November, from Tuesday to Sunday, from 9 a.m. to 4:15 p.m.