Mexico: Mexican Muralism (1900-1950) | DMA Staging Content Management System

GENERAL DESCRIPTION

The bourgeoning arts scene in Mexico during the first half of the 20th century is usually associated with the Mexican School of Painting and with muralism, its best-known movement. A realist practice promoted and supported by the Mexican government, muralism aimed to bring art closer to the people of Mexico. In turn, a large portion of the work produced between 1900 and 1950 used clear, direct political and social messages. Muralism reached its height during the early decades of last century and has been singled out as the driving force behind this prolific era.

The most visible artists during this era are known as Los Tres Grandes, or the “Big Three”: José Clemente Orozco, David Alfaro Siqueiros, and Diego Rivera. Despite the fact that they are often grouped together, they had distinct visual languages and subject matters. A diversity of themes and aesthetic continuity existed in Mexican art during this timeframe, and Mexican artists garnered international success in the wake of the 20th century. A number of artists overshadowed the “Big Three,” who over the last few decades have added Frida Kahlo to their ranks. Foreign artists were attracted to Mexico, and there was a strong influence of Mexican art abroad.

In the late 1930s, Mexico would become the hinge on which two hemispheres of the surrealist movement would fold. For European artists and writers fleeing the onslaught of World War II, Mexico was a site equipped to hold surrealist encounters with the nation’s natural environment and cultural past. André Breton, enchanted by the traditions and captivated by the abundant flora, fauna, and seemingly untamable nature of the country, declared Mexico “the surrealist place par excellence.” Many Mexican artists such as Frida Kahlo and María Izquierdo welcomed surrealist tenets into their lives and artistic practices as a way to negotiate their conflicting artistic, national, and for some, gender identities.

However, artists such as David Alfaro Siqueiros and Diego Rivera were deeply influenced by direct contact with European expressionists. They, and artists like them, refined their techniques and expanded their visual vocabularies abroad and returned to Mexico seeking to develop a new, nationalistic art movement. Social realism and the muralist movement were in full swing by the 1930s, and artists worked in a monumental scale to express political ideologies and social commentaries. This method of artistic production created a multidimensional aesthetic lens through which Mexico and the work of its artists can be viewed and interpreted today.

Artists of various nationalities worked in Mexico in the early 20th century. In many ways, these artists should be considered colleagues: they lived and worked in the same regions, drew inspiration from the same natural and cultural sources, relied on the same visual vocabulary, and sought to share the common values shared by many of Mexico’s indigenous cultures.

Adapted from

México 1900-1950: Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo, José Clemente Orozco, and the Avant Garde, Gallery text [Introduction], 2017.
Tower Gallery: Latin American Art, Gallery text [Mexico: 1930s–1950s], 2017.

NOTES

México 1900-1950: Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo, José Clemente Orozco, and the Avant Garde.
Tower Gallery: Latin American Art.
Note: author may be either Erin Piñon or Sue Canterbury, or both.

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WEB RESOURCES

Khan Academy~Learn more about Mexican muralism and David Alfaro Siqueiros, Diego Rivera, and José Clemente Orozco.
Khan Academy~Read more about Latin American art.
Khan Academy~Learn about modernism from 1850 to 1960.
Khan Academy~Read more about modernism and its legacy.
Khan Academy~View a video about art and identity and explore how artists like Frida Kahlo, Glenn Ligon, and Andy Warhol investigate and express ideas about identity in their work.
Khan Academy~Watch a video with Curator Chris Stephens as he explores art of the 1930s at the Tate.
Khan Academy~Watch a video with Curator Chris Stephens he explores art of the 1940s at the Tate.
Khan Academy~Watch a video with Curator Chris Stephens as he explores art of the 1950s at the Tate.

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