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What are the origins of the Mexican bookcase in Britain?
It is surely very curious that a furniture style from a country with no strong historical, geographical or cultural links with Britain should have become so immensely popular. In trying to unravel this mystery, perhaps the answer can be found in considering the history of both countries. The Republic of Mexico immediately to the south of the USA was originally populated and governed by civilisations such as the Olmec, the Maya and the Aztecs (none of whom had Mexican bookcases!). The Spanish then made Mexico a colony in 1521 and the country remained under Spanish rule until it gained its independence in 1821.
After three hundred years as a part of the Spanish Empire it is little wonder that the country acquired many of the trappings of its European rulers. The more obvious signs would include things such as language while the less obvious included a similarity in the style of furniture - perhaps even including Mexican bookcases. A study of Spanish Colonial furniture styles shows it has many similarities to that of Mexican furniture. In Mexico, styling was embellished and adapted with, for example, the use of bold metal fittings designed to show off the metalworking skills of local craftsmen.
When Mexico gained its independence in 1821, it is easy to forget that its territory at that time still included Texas, California, Wyoming, Idaho, Oklahoma, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado. During the course of the 19th Century these territories were all lost to the USA and then, in the 1860s, Mexico was again invaded and colonised, this time by France.
Spanish or Mexican furniture?Why is all this relevant to the presence of Mexican furniture and Mexican bookcases in particular in Britain today? Well firstly it establishes the connection between Spanish and Mexican furniture styles and secondly the French influence may explain the fashion for Mexican furniture to have been painted. But surely, Mexican furniture is not painted? This may be true today, but an American researcher suggests this might have come about due more to a misunderstanding than anything else.
In the 18th and 19th Centuries, it was fashionable in Europe for furniture to be painted and not just in white, but in a host of different colours including reds and blues. The American research shows this style was also common in Mexico. So Mexican bookcases at this time might could have appeared in white, red, or even blue colour finishes. However, it would appear that as this painted furniture grew old and was replaced, many householders simply put it in any convenient place outside.
This discarded furniture would have been preserved in the dry Mexican climate but the combined effects of sun and wind would have sandblasted off old paintwork and bleached the timbers. Consequently by the 1950s when American tourists began travelling Mexico they discovered this distressed, bare wood furniture and, taking it to be ‘traditional’ Mexican furniture bought it from locals to furnish their own homes in the USA. According to the researchers, this is how the myth was created that Mexican furniture was typically rustic and had a rough, bleached appearance.
This is an effective explanation of the Mexican bookcase’s arrival in the United States of America but it still does not explain its popularity in the UK. External influences on Britain’s furniture styles came, logically, from its European neighbours and its own colonies, dependencies’, protectorates and so forth. While this would explain African or Indian influences, Britain had almost no interests in or near Mexico (except for the Bahamas, British Honduras, British Guiana and the West Indies).
American influence on British consumersThere are perhaps two possible explanations as to the arrival of Mexican-style furniture in Britain. The first is that it might just have been another element in the American influence on British consumers that began with the arrival of GIs in Britain during World War 2. Chewing gum, nylon stockings and Cocoa Cola were all early American imports, closely followed by American music and in the 1950s American car styling. It is feasible that, especially after the spread of television, American-style furniture would have become a logical extension to the trend.
The other theory revolves around the development of cheap air travel and the overseas package holiday that appeared in Britain during the 1960s. For the first time ever, many ordinary British people had the means and opportunity to travel abroad on holiday – particularly to Spain. Once they were there, it is possible that the appeal of their surroundings may have encouraged many to try and recreate the look in their own homes back in Britain.
A certain degree of credibility is lent to this theory by the fact that, in the 1970s, many bungalows were built in Britain with Spanish-style architectural features. Spain, in common with most other parts of Europe, had stopped painting its furniture long before this time so any shrewd furniture importer would have seen the similarity between Spanish and Mexican-style furniture and taken matters on from there - hence a UK market for Mexican bookcases!