Mexican Muralists and the Mexican Revolution

The Mexican Muralists - Diego Rivera, Jose Clemente Orozco, and David Alfaro Siqueiros- were not "...artistically nor intellectually isolated from Mexican society." They were part and parcel of the revolutionary life of Mexico just after the 1910-17 nationalist revolution. They were each essentially different, yet all three dominated the nature of the movement.

They were products of the "Porfiriato", the pre-revolutionary society that flourished under the 30 year dictatorship of Porfirio Diaz whose administration crumbled from within in 1911 and who then fled to Europe. It is interesting to note that he returned from exile in the 30's to convince Mexico to join Hitler's followers. Mexico rejected him. However, the years following the fall of the Porfiriato was marked with revolution and chaos.

Out of this revolutionary chaos emerged the school of Mexican modernism "... amongst whom was Diego Rivera, (who) took a stand against the analytical and objective realism which they saw as a reflection of the prevailing ruling ideology of scientific positivism of the Diaz dictatorship...". The group had been born partly from the exhibition of Dr. Atl, a fascinating figure who traveled through Europe and returned to Mexico in 1903 pushing the idea of the Italian renaissance mural.

Orozco joined with Atl in his Centro Artistico (Artistic Center) which looked for walls of public buildings on which to paint murals. Then came José Vasconcelas. "As one of the major intellectuals of Mexico's revolutionary cultural renaissance, Vasconcelos became one of its key inspirational figures". Like Roy Stryker and the Farm Service Administration in the development of American photography; Vasconcelos also made his openness of vision and fine eye do the really important action that makes art. He funded it.

In 1920 under General Obregòn, he became Rector of the National University and announced his intention to bring the revolution to education. In 1921 he became Secretary of State for Public Education. He funded books in a nation of illiterates and non-readers. He found funds and made jobs to fit the needs of the muralists in a country hardly noted for
leadership in the visual arts. He was noted for his "cunning and daring with his philosophic idealism...". He hid the funds given to painters under titles that were more easily acceptable to the public. "Siqueiros for example, was appointed to the position of Eighth Teacher of Drawing and Manual Crafts, with a salary of 3.30 pesos per day, while Jean Charlot recalled that Vasconcelos employed him to assist Diego Rivera on his first mural under the guise of Inspector of Drawing in the Public Schools of Mexico City Transferred to the Jurisdiction the Ministry of Public Education."

Article Author: Howard Dratch

Howard writes on science, books, movies and news for Blogcritics and on his own blogs from the border of North and Central America.

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