Octavio Medellin Art Work and Papers

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About the Collection

The Octavio Medellín Art Work and Papers digital collection is part of the Octavio Medellín Art Work and Papers, circa 1914-2015, physical collection. The digital collection mainly comprises "Series 6: Negatives/Slides," which consists of approximately 4,500 35-mm slides taken by Octavio Medellín (1907-1999), ca. 1950s-1980s.

The images are separated into categories documenting Medellín’s art career. Slides include Medellín’s artwork in progress and the processes he used to create stone, copper, and brass sculpture. Additional slides show Medellín’s art installations in the Dallas area, including his mosaic work at Saint Bernard of Clairvaux Catholic Church, stained glass windows for the Trinity Lutheran Church, and glass ceiling lights in the Mercantile Bank Building. Other images are of his students and their work at the Medellín Art School, Medellín’s molten glass experiments, and his travels to Mexico where he studied both modern and historical architecture and relief carvings at ancient sites including Chichén Itzá, Palenque, and Tula.

Several related items are also available in the digital collection, including "Maya-Toltec Temples and Carvings, 1938," an album containing photographs of Medellín’s travels in 1938 to Mexico, his family, the ruins at Chichén Itzá, people associated with the ancient Mayan sites, and his art and travel friends David and Kayla Slivka, and Medellín’s portfolio of 11 block prints titled "Xtol: Dance of the Ancient Mayan People; Murals from the Temple of the Tigers at Chichen Itza, Yucatan, Mexico," which was influenced by his 1938 trip and published by the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts in 1947.  

View the complete list of series with links to specific works of art and related groups of items in a downloadable .pdf file.

Highlights include: