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SIQUEIROS
"Portrait of Mexico Today."
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As
an artist long interested in the social and political dimensions
of art, few have influenced me as much as the great Mexican artist,
David Alfaro Siqueiros. Early in my career, exposure to his profound
works of social realism not only inspired me to continue to pursue
the path of an artist, they also convinced me that art was a force
capable of changing the world. I
can happily say that the works of the great master are as relevant
as ever, and that his last surviving mural in the U.S. was presented
to the public by the Santa Barbara Museum of Art on October 20,
2002. Along with thousands of others, I attended the unveiling
ceremony for Retrato del Mexico de hoy ("Portrait
of Mexico Today:1932"), which is now in the museum's permanent
collection and on display in an alcove near the museum's entrance.
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Siqueiros
grew up in a Mexico filled with turmoil and class conflict. He
was a student radical and as a young man fought in the revolution.
He became a committed communist and a union organizer and was
repeatedly arrested for his efforts. However, the development
of his political views went hand in hand with the advent of his
innovative aesthetics. With
his contemporaries Diego Rivera and José Clemente Orozco, Siqueiros
put aside easel painting in favor of the democratic public mural.
Despite his standing as a highly regarded artist he was eventually
driven into a short exile because of his leftist ideas.
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Siqueiros
came to Los Angeles as a political refugee in 1932. He stayed
for six months before being unceremoniously deported after his
visa ran out. His arrival in the U.S. came during the great
depression when factories closed and thousands were thrown out
of work. While in L.A. he painted three important murals. The
first, Mitin
Obreo ("Worker's Meeting") was created at the
prestigious Chouinard School of Art. Siqueiros had been invited
by the school to teach a class in mural painting, and what better
way to educate his students than to directly involve them in
the creation of a mural. The 20 by 30 foot painting was on an
outside wall of the school.
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Mitin
Obrero depicted a militant union organizer and the multi-cultural
crowd of workers who had put down their tools to listen to his
oration. The painting was almost immediately covered by a tarp
to prevent public viewing and within a year it was completely
destroyed. The
mural represented a great advancement in art making in the U.S.,
it was the first outdoor mural to create a public space on the
street. It was also the very first time in the U.S. that an
artist had used a projector to transfer enlarged images to a
surface, or to use a mechanized spray gun to apply paint. This
was a technique developed by Siqueiros.
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The
second and most famous of Siqueiros' L.A. murals, América
Tropical, was painted
on a rooftop overlooking the City's historic Olvera Street.
The Plaza Art Center wanted the artist to paint an exotic picture
of Latin America replete with tropical birds and lush jungle.
Instead Siqueiros covered the 130 foot wall space with a terrifying
visage. The mural's central focus was an Indian crucified on
a cross, on top of which sat the eagle of imperialism. The background
consisted of ruined Indian pyramids, a reference to the European
sacking of indigenous grandeur. To
the left and right of this scene, armed peasants were coming
out of the jungle to wage a war of liberation. Once again the
artist used a projector to transfer his images to the wall,
and a spray gun to paint the mural. Needless to say, conservatives
were outraged over the mural and it was immediately whitewashed.
It sat abandoned for decades until the J. Paul Getty Museum
decided to restore it (a process that today is still ongoing).
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The
artist's third mural in Los Angeles, Portrait
of Mexico Today: 1932, had better luck. Film director
Dudley Murphy was a great supporter of Siqueiros, and to show
his appreciation the artist painted a mural at the director's
Pacific Palisades home. Luckily for us all, the 170 square foot
work was donated to the Santa Barbara Museum of Art in 2001.
Situated
in a semi-enclosed garden structure, the mural depicts two impoverished
peasant women with a partially clothed child standing between
them. The trio are placed on the steps of an ancient Indian
pyramid surrounded by jungle. To the extreme left of this scene
are the bodies of two slain workers, blood trickling from their
mouths.
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Overlooking
the slaughter is a portrait of the American capitalist, J.P.
Morgan. Close by and under the gaze of the approving Morgan,
sits the Mexican President, Plutarco Elías Calles. Shown as
an armed bandit with stolen money bags at his feet, Calles is
portrayed as an errand boy to the foreign masters of El Norte.
At the opposite end of the mural crouches a communist soldier
bearing a rifle, representing the forces that would forever
end the oppression of the workers.
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Siqueiros
passed away in 1974, never having achieved the recognition
in the U.S. that he so richly deserved - until the Santa Barbara
Museum of Art honored him with a community celebration. October
20th, 2002 was a milestone for the concept of freedom of expression,
but it was also a great day for art and a vindication for
those artists whose works reflect a social consciousness.
While
dozens of luminaries from the world of art, commerce, and
politics were part of the ceremony (including the Mayor of
the city of Santa Barbara and a representative from the Mexican
government), it was the thousands of ordinary people who attended
the unveiling that served as the highest tribute to the revolutionary
artist. People thirst for art that reflects their reality
and aspirations, and today's artists must rediscover the path
blazed by David Alfaro Siqueiros.
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The
Santa Barbara Museum of Art is located at 1130 State Street
* Telephone (805) 963-4364. For more info on the Siqueiros mural:
www.sbmuseart.org
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