Mexican muralism

Mexican muralism
Mural by Diego Rivera showing the city of Tenochtitlán in Aztec times. In the Palacio Nacional in Mexico City.

Mexican muralism is a Mexican art movement. The most important period of this movement took place primarily from the 1920s to the 1960s, though it exerted an influence on later generations of Mexican artists. The movement stands out historically because of its political undertones, the majority of which are of a Marxist nature, or related to a social and political situation of post-revolutionary Mexico.

Contents

About the movement

The early post-revolutionary period found many Mexican artists looking to indigenous traditions and subject matter for inspiration. A number of like-minded artists in Mexico turned to their own history and artistic heritage, namely Mexico's pre-Columbian cultures and indigenous peoples, contributing to a renaissance of Mexican painting. The 1920s were the height of the muralist effort in Mexico, a movement which marked the high point of Mexican influence throughout Latin America and the United States. made in 1945

Even though Mexican muralism is considered an artistic movement, it can also be considered a social and political movement. This style was thought of as a teaching method and it was expressed in public places where all people could have access to it regardless of race and social class. Muralists worked over a concrete surface or on the façade of a building. The themes involved events from the political climate of the time and as a reaction to the Mexican Revolution.

Beginning in the 1920s and continuing to mid century, artists were commissioned by the local government to cover the walls of official institutions such as Mexico’s schools, ministerial buildings, churches and museums. Murals from this movement can be found on the majority of the public buildings in Mexico City and throughout other cities in Mexico, such as Guadalajara, that played important roles in Mexico’s history.

The movement's influence subsequently spread throughout North America, acting as the primary inspiration for the Works Progress Administration's art movement of 1940s America, which sought to employ artists through government patronage. Leading artist Diego Rivera in fact was commissioned by private investors such as Ford Motor Company in Detroit and Rockefeller in New York City. During his stay in the US, several WPA muralists assisted and studied under him, learning the techniques needed for modern fresco painting.

Artists and artworks

Felix candela en Casino

The leading muralists were Diego Rivera, José Orozco and David Siqueiros, each of whom also worked in the United States at some point in their artistic careers. Rivera and Orozco utilized the classical tradition of fresco painting, while Siqueiros preferred using innovative materials such as pyroxylin. All three saw mural painting as a means of social protest with an obvious appeal to the left wing, a dominant force in American cultural life throughout the Depression decade. As their nickname would suggest – los tres grandes ("the three great ones") – these three are usually grouped together, when in fact their individual styles and temperaments were very different from each other and they worked throughout overlapping but various periods. Siqueiros for example worked well into the 1970s.

Besides fresco and pyroxylin, artists in the movement used encaustic and acrylic painting.

Exponents


  • Roberto Montenegro
    • Alegoría del viento, 1928, located in the Palace of Fine Arts, Mexico City
    • Ex Templo de San Pedro y San Pablo, today the Museum of Mexican Constitutions, Mexico City
    • Secretaria de Educacion Publica, Salon Hispanoamericano, Mexico City
  • Roberto Montenegro & Federico Cantú
    • Vida y Muerte de Arlequin, 1934 Bar Papillon
  • Federico Cantú
    • Federico Cantú Garza#External links)
    • La ultima cena Capilla San Miguel Allende , 1942
    • Informantes de Sahún Pinacoteca 1948
    • Los Cuatro Jinetes del Apocalipsis 1954
    • Capilla de los misioneros de Guadalupe 1954
    • Universidad de Nuevo León 1964
Presencia de América Latina by Jorge González Camarena (1964-65).
  • Desiderio Hernández Xochitiotzin
    • Government Palace of the state of Tlaxcala
    • Seminary at Apizaco, Tlaxcala
    • Mayolica Ceramic Building in front of the Cathedral of Puebla
  • The architect Juan O'Gorman also created murals, out of which the most prominent are the ones at the Independence house at the Castle of Chapultepec. By the main staircase is a mural that represents the most prominent stages of the History of Mexico which also includes over a hundred important historical figures such as: Cuauhtémoc, Moctezuma, Hernán Cortés, Miguel Hidalgo, José María Morelos y Pavón, Porfirio Díaz, Emiliano Zapata, and Francisco Villa amongst others. He also painted the outside of Biblioteca Central in Ciudad Universitaria.
  • Pablo O'Higgins, murals at the Secretaria de Educación Pública and at the Escuela de Agricultura in Chapingo.
  • Centro SCOP, Mexico City
  • Centro Medico Nacional Siglo XXI, Mexico City
  • Secretaria de Educacion Publica, Mexico City
  • Museo Regional de Guanajuato, Guanajuato, Mexico
  • Ramon Alva de la Canal
  • Fernando Leal
  • Amado de la Cueva
  • Fermín Revueltas
  • Ramon Cano Manilla painted several murals in Tamaulipas, beginning in 1948.

References

  • Arnason, H. H.; Marla Prather, Daniel Wheeler (1998). History of Modern Art. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc. 
  • Campbell, Bruce (2003). Mexican Murals in times of Crisis. Tucson: University of Arizona Press. ISBN 0-8165-2239-1. 
  • Folgarait, Leonard (1998). Mural Painting and Social Revolution in Mexico, 1920-1940 : Art of the New Order. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-58147-8. 
  • Lucie-Smith, Edward (1993). Latin American Art of the 20th Century. London: Thames & Hudson, Ltd. 
  • Lucie-Smith, Edward (1996). Visual Arts in the Twentieth Century. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc. 
  • Nieto, Margarita, Ph.D.; Louis Stern (2009). Alfredo Ramos Martínez & Modernismo. West Hollywood: The Alfredo Ramos Martínez Research Project. ISBN 978-0-6153-1520-1. 
  • "How a young revolutionary fooled the city elders". The Economist. Sep 23rd 2010. http://www.economist.com/node/17090723. Retrieved Sept. 25 2010. 

Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужно сделать НИР?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Mexican murals — are an important part of Mexican culture and history. Murals have been used for political, social, environmental, and cultural representation. Mayans and Aztecs Mural painting has deep roots in the history of Mexico. For thousands of years… …   Wikipedia

  • Father of Mexican Muralism — Dr Atl (born Gerardo Murillo) …   Eponyms, nicknames, and geographical games

  • muralism — /myoor euh liz euhm/, n. (sometimes cap.) an artistic movement identified chiefly with the Mexican painters José Orozco, Diego Rivera, and David Siqueiros and exemplified by their grand scale, narrative murals on humanitarian, social, and… …   Universalium

  • muralism — /myoor euh liz euhm/, n. (sometimes cap.) an artistic movement identified chiefly with the Mexican painters José Orozco, Diego Rivera, and David Siqueiros and exemplified by their grand scale, narrative murals on humanitarian, social, and… …   Useful english dictionary

  • Arnold Belkin — (December 9, 1930 in Calgary, Alberta ndash; July 3, 1992 in Mexico City, Distrito Federal) was a Mexican painter, who has often been referred as The Canadian Son of Mexican Muralism . Arnold s father was a Russian Jew and his mother was an… …   Wikipedia

  • David Alfaro Siqueiros — This name uses Spanish naming customs; the first or paternal family name is Alfaro and the second or maternal family name is Siqueiros. David Alfaro Siqueiros Born December 29, 1896( …   Wikipedia

  • Colegio Cesar Chavez — Jose Romero, co founder of Colegio Cesar Chavez, with college sign. Colegio Cesar Chavez (Spanish for Cesar Chavez College ) was a U.S. college without walls in Mount Angel, Oregon. The college was named after Mexican American civil rights… …   Wikipedia

  • Mexico — This article is about the country in North America. For other uses, see Mexico (disambiguation). United Mexican States Estados Unidos Mexicanos  …   Wikipedia

  • Diego Rivera — Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera in 1932, Photo by: Carl Van Vechten Birth name Diego María de la Concepción Juan Nepomuceno Estanislao de la Rivera y Barrientos Acosta y Rodríguez …   Wikipedia

  • Latin American art — has its origins in the many different indigenous cultures that inhabited the continent before the Spanish invasion in the 16th Century. Each culture developed sophisticated artistic criteria, which in most cases was strongly linked with religious …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
… Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”