María Teresa Pomar

María Teresa Pomar (December 15, 1919 – January 12, 2010) was a Mexican art historian. She was a collector, researcher and promoter of Mexican handcrafts and folk art along with the communities associated with them. She began as a collector then working with museums to promote handcrafts and then working to found a number of museums and other organizations to the same purpose. She became one of Mexico's foremost experts on the subject, serving as director of different organizations and judge at competitions in Mexico and abroad. She died in 2010 while she was serving as the director of the Museo Universitario de Artes Populares of the University of Colima, which changed its name to honor her.

Life She was born on December 15, 1919, in Guanajuato. She moved to Guadalajara as a child, following her father who was a professional musician. There her mother died when she was only eight years old and was raised by her grandmother Antonia Badajos.

Career As a collector, she began to research the items and the people who made them. She also made her collections available for special exhibitions in both Mexico and abroad until her death, for example the lending of 99 niños dios figures to the Instituto de Desarrollo Artesanal del Estado de Zacatecas for a temporary exhibit. She also made donations to museums in both Mexico and abroad including textiles to the Museo de Arte Popular in São Paulo, Brazil and the Sobichille Museum in Siena, Italy. Her donation of 1,700 pieces to the Museo de Guanajuato allowed for the opening of a hall dedicated to miniatures.

Her work made her one of Mexico's foremost experts in handcrafts. Her work documenting the copper work in Santa Clara del Cobre earned her the Manuel Gamio Prize in 1985. She received the Diego Rivera State Art Prize by the Colima state congress in 2007.