|
|
|
SIQUEIROS
"Portrait of Mexico Today."
|
This
essay by artist Mark Vallen appeared on the Art
For A Change website, Nov. 2002
|
|
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 US was presented to the public
by the Santa Barbara Museum of Art on Oct. 20th, 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.
|
|
|
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 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.
|
|
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 US came during the
great depression when factories closed and thousands were thrown
out of work. While in LA he painted three important murals.
The first 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,
and for the first time the artist put aside his brushes and
turned to an industrial spray gun to paint the fresh concrete.
The results revolutionized mural making. The work, titled Mitin
Obrero (Worker's Meeting), 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
second and most famous of Siqueiros' LA murals 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. Titled América Tropical,
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. The mural represented a great advancement
in art making since it was the first time any artist had used
a projector to transfer enlarged images to a surface. 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).
|
|
|
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.
|
|
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.
|
|
Siqueiros
passed away in 1974, never having achieved the recognition in
the US 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 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.
¡Viva Siqueiros!
|
|
|
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
|
|
