6 Artists of Mexican Muralism
Global Historic Backdrop, Influential Artists, and Legacy on Modern Art
While artists have played many roles in society, they’ve always been messengers to the masses. Using art as a podium, artists communicate religious and national ideology, along with voicing their own personal convictions. For much of human history, placing imagery in bustling areas was one of the most effective ways to reach a large audience (especially during pre-digital eras when communities were commonly unschooled and illiterate). Murals have only gained popularity through time and are abundant today: some cities boast 1,000s, creating more momentum and opportunities for artists to express and deliver their message to the public.
During the period of Mexican Muralism in the early 1900s, artists dually served as activists. They advocated for the right to advance in society and celebrated pre-Columbian heritage: a message for the people from the people. Ideas melded around the world, and shaped the Western modern art movement.
This article demonstrates international key events that set the stage for the period, along with depicting six artists and their influential work. In understanding Mexican Muralism, we strengthen our perspective of modern art history and can better appreciate our global network of influence.
The Region of Mexico has a long history of detailed murals and progressive societies. The civilizations of the area painted symbolic murals and created cities at the same time that culture was also rich in ancient Greece, Rome, and Egypt. External forces such as colonialism and political ideology merged with internal electricity to ignite a highly charged art movement in the 1900s. The events leading to Mexican Muralism anchor the significance of the period locally and internationally.
Indigenous Mural Tradition — 200BC - 1400AD
- The Indigenous people of Mexico, such as: Maya, Olmec, and Teotihuacan civilizations, have a long tradition of painting murals dating to 200 BC. Their scenes are characterized by detailed historic feats and ceremonial celebrations, along with demonstrating sophisticated style and color choices.
- The Mayans reined as one of the most advanced civilizations of the time: having a written language, inventing the mathematical concept of zero, and creating a complex calendar. Their culture grew to 10M+ people and enjoyed many art forms and styles, influenced by trade and travel.
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Art in Colonial Mexico— 1492–1900s
- At the suffrage of the Native people, the settlers pushed their ideals and aimed to recreate Spain in the New World. They painted murals to reinforce their own religious doctrine and artistic language. Because of this, traditional culture and art shifted towards the European influences.
The Mexican Revolution and Art — Early 1900
- Themes included: empowering the people of Mexico to write their own story and to have the chance to climb in society; pride in Native cultures; allowing laborers to own and control land; public education; healthcare resources; and civil liberty.
- The beginning of the revolution sought to remove President Profririo Diaz from office. Contributions to culture and art were stifled under his 30-year rule: art production was at an all time low.
- Dr. Atl was a political activist and artist who centered the Indigenous people and culture of Mexico; in 1906, he issued a manifesto for public murals. In 1910, months before the start of the revolution, Dr. Alt painted the first modern mural, lighting the fire for further activism. Dr. Alt became an art teacher to powerful generation of artists, including: Diego Rivera, Orozco, and Siqueiros, who’d become “Los tres grandes”.
- The new government commissioned many artists to spread reborn Mexican pride and values, and also educate through imagery. From there, artists desired to speak their own voice and created pieces from the people’s perspective.
Influences of the Soviet Union — 1900s
- In the early 1900s in Russia, Marxism believed the struggle of society was the harsh class system that didn’t allow for any upward mobility. In that space, your life was chose by fate: you were born into your career and money-earning abilities. Opposing views argued on what Communism ultimately meant and how to achieve it; it continued to form in the 1920s from different angles. Some Mexican revolutionaries were attracted to the ideals of Communism in its infancy, while Mexico had its own strong nationalism.
- This was before Josef Stalin’s horrific totalitarianism in the 1950s and before Fidel Castro’s tyrannical dictatorship during 1958–1976. We now see the failings of Communism; however in the early 1900s, optimism for an improved society through ideology of Marxism and Communism seemed possible and exiting to some who were passionate for change.
- In 1924, Mexico was the first Western nation to form a political relationship with Russia furthering the cross-influence between the two areas. Many activists, including leftist artists were Marxists who believed that the Soviet Union was “the land of the future”.
In understanding our global timeline of influence, we can better appreciate the view from the artists’ individual lenses that resulted in large-format murals and strong messaging. Artists championed progressive ideas and rallied crowds to push for change.
6 Influential Artists
Artists communicated change and empowerment through story-telling imagery; many spoke of new political and societal systems. They reached masses of people and poured their talents to tip the scale for change while developing progressive methods to create new visuals. Below is an introduction to six of the many influential creatives of the period.
1 — Diego Rivera (1886 — 1957)
- Dedicated Marxist and part of the Mexican Communist Party; Rivera’s art represents progressive themes and attacked capitalism; his work was highly controversial and taken down at some locations for pushing the edge with content. He’s considered one of the most important Mexican artists.
- After studying the practice of fresco in Italy which involves painting on wet plaster, he began painting murals in Mexico, as he believed this was the most accessible form of art. He re-instated fresco to modern art and architecture. He painted many murals in Mexico and the United States, and was a known figure during his time.
- Married to famous painter, Frida Kahlo, whom he painted into his mural In the Arsenal where she distributes weapons to revolutionary soldiers. They had a passionate and complex romance.
- Speaking of Pan American Unity, He said “My mural will picture the fusion between the great past of the Latin American lands, as it is deeply rooted in the soil, and the high mechanical developments of the United States”
- While painting scenes of American life on public buildings, Rivera provided inspiration for Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s WPA program that sponsored hundreds of American artists. Rivera’s influence continues with his style and revolutionary ideas: his work is imitated around the world.
2 — José Clemente Orozco (1883 —1949)
- “Everything should be done against the grain, against the current,” he wrote. Orozco’s themes included human suffering and the life of peasants and laborers.
- Damien Cave writes,“While Rivera was a romantic, Orozco was a realist and a prophet. In a country of kisses on the cheek, Orozco chose confrontation. He painted the subjects of the day — revolution, workers, war, and religion — but with skeptical strokes, and dark colors.”
- Inspired by political cartoons alongside his travel. Orozco developed an increasingly loose and expressive style, incorporating caricature and satire from his early political illustrations.
- Orozco painted the first modern fresco mural by a Mexican artist on U.S. soil in 1930, with Prometheus, which greatly inspired Jackson Pollock’s The Flame in color and form. He also inspired Philip Guston and Jacob Lawrence.
3 — David Alfaro Siqueiros (1896 — 1974)
- Of “los tres grandes”, Siquieros is considered the most politically radical and experimental in his work. He explored automotive lacquer, asbestos, and pyroxene. His pieces suggest a futuristic world where the working class rules with might.
- He refused any commissions that didn’t align with his beliefs. His commitment to education and his belief that public art could inform and inspire the masses to demand revolution has served as a model of activism for subsequent artists with political or social agendas.
- Founded New York’s Experimental Workshop in 1936 on the conviction that art must be inventive to be radical and that old practices must be abandoned.
- As an impressionable young painter there, Jackson Pollock was exposed to Siguieros’ adaption of “controlled accident”, including pouring and dripping paint onto canvases, more than a decade before he would introduce his first “drip paintings” in 1947.
4 — Aurora Reyes Flores (1908–1985)
- Aurora Reyes Flores, also known as Aurora Reyes, was the first woman muralist in Mexico, along with being a celebrated author: this was rare and huge feat in a male-dominant culture.
- She confronted gender stereotypes and was a political activist pioneering a voice for women and Native people. Became friends with Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera while at prep school.
- Her mural “El primer encuentro” (The first encounter) highlights the rich day-to-day life of the Coyoacán people on the left and the catastrophe of Spanish landing on the right. She inserts symbols and important historical events: Xitle volcano that formed the area known as El Pedregal; the religious festival Xócotl-Huetzin, and sculptures creating the circular Piedra de Sol.
5 — Elena Huerta Múzquiz (1908–1997)
- Elena Huerta created the biggest mural painted by a woman in Mexico, at 4840 ft² (450m²) at the age of 65 during a time when these opportunities were not readily available to women. Her talent awarded her a large mural in her home town.
- She’s known for her political activism. she and her daughter were referred to as Las Rusitas (“the Little Russians”), and traveled to the Soviet Union frequently.
- She was inspired by her worldly travels and was featured around the globe. Her group shows include locations in: Mexico, Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, China, Hong Long, Canada, and Japan.
- She taught art most of her career, and was one of the founders of the Compañía de Teatro Infantil, the Liga de Escritores y Artistas Revolucionarios, and a founding member of the Salón de la Plástica Mexicana.
6 — Rina Lazo Wasem (1923–2019)
- Rina Lazo was a Gautemalan-Meixcan painter who committed herself to social justice through her work; she criticized artists for being too commercialized.
- She spent three months studying in the jungle in situ at a Mayan temple at Bonampak before painting her reproductions at the new National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City.
- She worked directly for Diego Rivera for 10 years until his death, and was called his “right hand and his best student”. During this time, she also blossomed into her own art style.
- She said, “That’s the point of art — to excite. But if you excite people, and also give them a message, then you’ve created real art.”
This period inspired many internationally and demonstrates the powerful role of the artist in society to create change and deliver messages to the masses. Artists raised their voices loudly to reach their audiences: they spoke for equity and a culturally rich society that embraced their heritage.
Many other American and European intellectuals and creators sought inspiration outside of European cubism and abstraction, and flocked to Mexico. Reporters sent home stories of a new desirable equitable society and culture. While the period started there, Marcela Guerrero, assistant curator of Whitney says, “Sometimes we talk about American art or Mexican art, but these are really fictitious borders, frontiers that do not actually exist.” We still see the effects of murals and political art around us today, and we will continue to shape movements with our global neighbors into the future.
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