Mexican Muralism Movement Founders – Biographical Information
Diego Rivera, Jose Clemente Orozco and David Alfaro Siqueiros are considered the organizers and most important participants in the Mexican Mural movement. While they were united by the same desire to promote education, social equality and national identity through their art, their personal lives differed considerably. It is important to learn about them as individuals who witnessed dramatic social events, such as the Mexican revolution, the first world war, and the financial collapse that marked the beginning of the Great Depression in the United States, to comprehend their uniqueness. Those events, and others, left an indelible stamp on the content of the muralists’ work. As a teacher, I want my students to understand the way circumstances shaped the work of the Mexican muralists. Because of limitations in this unit, I am including only brief biographical information about each artist. Teachers interested in gaining a broader understanding about the lives of the Mexican muralists may want to consult some of the resources included in the list at the end of this unit.
Jose Clemente Orozco
Born in a middle-class family that had the financial means to provide him with an education, Orozco witnessed the horrors of the Mexican revolution. As a young man, he met Jose Guadalupe Posadas, the famous political illustrator and creator of the world-known dancing skeletons (calaveras) who would permanently influence Orozco’s artistic career with his humorous and sarcastic cartoons. Orozco studied art at San Carlos Academy, in Mexico City, a center known for the large number of distinguished artists who graduated from that institution. After Orozco’s father suddenly died, he left school and searched for ways to support his mother and two siblings. At age 21, while preparing fireworks to sell, Orozco triggered an explosion and lost his left hand. In addition, he became ill with rheumatoid arthritis. Despite those challenges, he was determined to fulfill his artistic aspirations. He became a successful artist, who was known by his very quiet manner and a somewhat somber personality that may have left a mark in many of his paintings. Whereas Siqueiros and Rivera were highly popular and maintained very social lives, Orozco kept himself away from the masses.
Orozco is remembered by his numerous murals of highly dramatic images. On page 2 of his article, Orozco's Prometheus: Summation, Transition, Innovation, published by the College Art Association, (http://www.collegeart.org/) David W. Scott says,
“In June, 1930, José Clemente Orozco finished the first Mexican fresco to be painted in the United States. In at least one fundamental sense, the Prometheus at Pomona College (Claremont, California) was the first major “modern” fresco in this country and thus epochal in the history of the medium. It revealed a new concept of mural painting, a greatly heightened direct and personal expression. It challenged accepted conventions which decreed that wall decoration should be flat and graceful, pleasant, decorous, and impersonal. In the Prometheus, Expressionism achieved a monumental scale.”
In the series American Masters, PBS.org offers a clear glimpse into the life of this extraordinaire artist:
“…Orozco spent a total of ten years in the United States. He created four major murals here (at Pomona College, the New School for Social Research, Dartmouth College, and the Museum of Modern Art), along with hundreds of easel paintings and graphic works that challenged U.S. stereotypes of Mexican art. Despite episodes of censorship and periods of financial deprivation, Orozco became a pioneer of the public arts movement of the 1930s and 40s. Isamu Noguchi, Ben Shahn, Jackson Pollock, Philip Guston, and Jacob Lawrence were among the American artists influenced by his expressionist style. In the 1960s and 70s, Orozco’s work helped inspire a new generation of Chicano and African American muralists to reinvent public art within their communities. His legacy continues today among contemporary artists on both sides of the border.”
David Alfaro Siqueiros
Born in a middle-class family, Siqueiros was an art student at the prestigious San Carlos Academy in Mexico City. He showed early signs of his artistic abilities, inquisitive mind, and rebellious personality. Disenchanted with the lack of social equality and absence of opportunities that chronically plagued most of the population, Orozco saw a path to creating a better world in Communist ideals. Firmly determined to use his artistic abilities to improve the living and social conditions of millions of illiterate Mexicans, Siqueiros embraced an ideology and activism that left no room for contradictions or negotiations with those he considered enemies of the people. His radical ideas and continuous political rebellion would place Siqueiros in dangerous situations on more than one occasion, but no danger would stop him from painting the world as he saw it. He enlisted in the Mexican revolutionary military for a short period of time, and served as a captain. Soon thereafter, Siqueiros came to the United States, where he was appalled by the racial discrimination that was common practice during those years. He would later travel to Europe and became familiar with the new painting styles, including cubism. While in Europe faithful to his social ideals, Siqueiros refused to work on projects that he felt could betray his principles. Soon after the end of the Mexican revolution, Siqueiros returned to Mexico to work under the patronage of Jose Vasconcelos, then President of the National University. There, he would lead a successful and productive career. On its website, The Art Story Organization (http://www.theartstory.org/) mentions some of Orozco’s achievements:
“To create his activist and revolutionary public art, Siqueiros brought together elements of avant-garde painting with traditional art historical symbolism and folk art. With this combination, he believed that he generated dynamic forms with popular appeal, capable of delivering educational content to a disenfranchised public.”
“In his experimentation with unconventional materials and industrial techniques, Siqueiros expanded the range of avant-garde painting. His Siqueiros Experimental Workshop, led in New York, exposed students (including Jackson Pollock) to contemporary notions of automatism and accident, and encouraged them to adopt new approaches to how paint could be applied. His leadership was crucial in breaking away from traditional techniques of fine art to more gestural and individualistic means of painting.”
Diego Rivera
The best known in the trio of muralists, Rivera demonstrated an exceptional artistic talent since his childhood. He attended the San Carlos Academy when he was still a child, and presented his first art exhibition when he was only 21 years old. He spent years in Europe, where he carefully studied different painting styles, including cubism. On page 24 of his book, Mexican Muralists: Rivera, Orozco, Siqueiros, Desmond Rochfort says,
“The impact of Cubism on Rivera was immense. For four years, influenced by the examples of Picasso, Braque and Juan Gris, Rivera immersed himself in the movement, contributing much to its diversity of style. Although he never forgot the lessons of Cubism, the movement ultimately proved inadequate for Rivera’s need to express the social and political realities that were increasingly engaging his attention.”
In Mexico, Rivera accepted several assignments to paint in different important public buildings, all part of the program of public murals commissions that Jose Vasconcelos implemented. Orozco and Siqueiros would also be part of these efforts to bring art to places used for educational purposes. Over time, Rivera would receive assignments that allowed him to create his monumental murals in many public buildings.
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