In his journeys south of the border (where he met the Mexican photographer Manuel Álvarez Bravo), he portrayed the life of the Mexican Indians, particularly in Michoacán.
Exhibitions have generally been thematic, but photographers with solo retrospectives have included Manuel Álvarez Bravo, Shisei Kuwabara and others.
Manuel Álvarez Bravo (February 4, 1902 – October 19, 2002), Mexican photographer
From 1994 to 1995 Evidencias de lo invisible, cien fotografías (Evidence of the Invisible, One Hundred Photographs) was presented at the Fine Arts Museum in New Delhi, the Imperial Palace in Beijing and the Belém Cultural Center in Lisbon.
Manuel Noriega | Joan Manuel Serrat | Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, 3rd Duke of Alba | Manuel I of Portugal | Valle de Bravo | Manuel de Falla | Juan Manuel Santos | Manuel L. Quezon | Manuel Belgrano | Manuel Alejandro | Manuel Castells | Manuel Zelaya | Manuel Álvarez Bravo | Juan Manuel de Rosas | Juan Bravo (rebel) | Juan Bravo | Víctor Manuel | Richard Manuel | Manuel Requena | Manuel Mujica Láinez | Manuel II of Portugal | Fernando Álvarez de Toledo | Alvarez hypothesis | Walter Alvarez | Manuel Roxas | Manuel Pineda Munoz | Manuel Oribe | Manuel Mijares | Manuel L. Quezon University | Leonel Álvarez |
Over the years, exhibitions have presented the works of Manuel Alvarez Bravo, Gisèle Freund, Alfred Guzzetti, Josef Koudelka, Henri Lartique, Sally Mann, Duane Michals, Inge Morath, Georg Oddner, Yoko Ono, Man Ray, Viggo Rivad, Bruce Gilden and many more.
In 1958/1959 Méndez left the Taller de la Gráfica Popular due to ideological differences and founded a new publishing concern called the Fondo Editorial de la Plástica Mexicana along with Manuel Álvarez Bravo, Carlos Pellicer, Rafael Carrillo Azpeitia and Ricardo J. Zevada.
Many Mexican artists has been exhibited in the temporary exhibitions, among them: Manuel Álvarez Bravo, Hermenegildo Bustos, Julio Galán, Matthias Goeritz, Teodoro González de León, Enrique Guzmán, Ricardo Legorreta, Ricardo Mazal, Miriam Medrez, Armando Salas Portugal, Rodolfo Morales, Paula Santiago, Alberto Vargas and Frida Kahlo.
The museum also hosts a permanent collection of art from Gelsen Gas, Frida Kahlo, Olga Costa, Diego Rivera, David Alfaro Siqueiros, José Clemente Orozco, Manuel Álvarez Bravo, Leonora Carrington, Rufino Tamayo, Juan Soriano, and Vicente Rojo.