This exhibition, organized by the Mexican Embassy in Portugal, sought to show to the Portuguese public the main aspects of Mexican engraving produced on that last decade, emphasising the plurality of the expression forms, its creativity and originality, as well as the diversity of used materials

Inaugurated on the 8th of September 1988, the exhibition was held at the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation´s (FCG) Main Building Temporary Exhibitions Gallery (Lower Ground Floor),

According to Teresa del Conde, from the Instituto de Investigaciones Estéticas da Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México [Institute of Aesthetic Studies of the National Autonomous University of Mexico], author of the exhibition’s catalogue text, the featured set of artworks was intended to be “not only representative of the kind of graphic styles currently in practice in Mexico but also of the positions assumed by the artists towards this phenomenon” (Gravura Mexicana Contemporânea, 1988, p.7).

129 engravings from 12 artists were exhibit, all produced between the years of 1975 and 1987.  The selection of works was coordinated by Manuel Felguérez, a Mexican painter and sculptor. Felguérez brought together artists who were essentially divided into two groups, the first being defined by artists who dedicated themselves exclusively to the graphic disciplines and who were part of the Latin-American arts’ panorama, such as José Luis Cuevas (1934-2017), Francisco Toledo (1940) and Luis Lopez Loza (1939). The second group consisted of painters who occasionally dedicated themselves to engraving, such as Juan Soriano (1920-2006), Manuel Felguérez and Vicente Rojo (1932).