Mexican Mural Art

Murals have been an important medium of public expression in Mexico since the Mexican Revolution, and names such as Diego Rivera, David Alfaro Siqueiros, and José Clemente Orozco will forever be linked with this revolutionary art form. Many people, however, believe that Mexico's renowned mural tradition died with these famous practitioners, and today's mural artists labor in obscurity as many of their creations are destroyed through hostility or neglect. This book traces the ongoing critical contributions of mural arts to public life in Mexico to show how postrevolutionary murals have been overshadowed both by the Mexican School and by the exclusionary nature of official public arts. By documenting a range of mural practices—from fixed-site murals to mantas (banner murals) to graffiti—Bruce Campbell evaluates the ways in which the practical and aesthetic components of revolutionary Mexican muralism have been appropriated and redeployed within the context of Mexico's ongoing economic and political crisis. Four dozen photographs illustrate the text. Blending ethnography, political science, and sociology with art history, Campbell traces the emergence of modern Mexican mural art as a composite of aesthetic, discursive, and performative elements through which collective interests and identities are shaped. He focuses on mural activists engaged combatively with the state—in barrios, unions, and street protests—to show that mural arts that are neither connected to the elite art world nor supported by the government have made significant contributions to Mexican culture. Campbell brings all previous studies of Mexican muralism up to date by revealing the wealth of art that has flourished in the shadows of official recognition. His work shows that interpretations by art historians preoccupied with contemporary high art have been incomplete—and that a rich mural tradition still survives, and thrives, in Mexico.

This volume collects the work of prominent art critics, art historians, and literary critics who study the art, lives, and times of the leading Mexican muralists José Clemente Orozco, Diego Rivera and, among other artists, David Alfaro Siqueiros. Written exclusively for this book in English or in Spanish, and with a full-length introduction (in English), the selected essays respond to a surging interest in Mexican mural art, bringing forth new interpretations and perspectives from the standpoint of the 21st century. The volume’s innovative and varied critical approaches will be of interest to a wide readership, including professors and students of Mexican muralism, as well as the speculative reader, public libraries, and art galleries around the world.

Los tres grandes: Jose Clemente Orozco, Diego Rivera, and David Alfaro Siqueiros. Now legendary, these men have emerged as the most prominent figures of the famed Mexican mural movement, which lasted from the '20s through the early '70s and was hailed as the most significant achievement in public art of the 20th century. The dramatic story of the movement is told here in a fascinating history of the artists, accompanied by over 100 spectacular color reproductions of the murals. Showcasing popular as well as lesser-known works from around the US and Mexico, this is the first high-quality paperback to do justice to a subject that will captivate every lover of Mexican art and culture, Rivera fan, and art historian, as well as anyone who appreciates a beautiful, intelligent art book.

This is a study of the reciprocal relationship between Mexican muralism and the three major Mexican museums&—the Palace of Fine Arts, the National History Museum, and the National Anthropology Museum.

In this comprehensive collection of essays, three generations of international scholars examine Mexican muralism in its broad artistic and historical contexts, from its iconic figuresÑDiego Rivera, JosŽ Clemente Orozco, and David Alfaro SiquierosÑto their successors in Mexico, the United States, and across Latin America. These muralists conceived of their art as a political weapon in popular struggles over revolution and resistance, state modernization and civic participation, artistic freedom and cultural imperialism. The contributors to this volume show how these artistsÕ murals transcended borders to engage major issues raised by the many different forms of modernity that emerged throughout the Americas during the twentieth century.

A study of the work of the great Mexican muralists, Orozco, Rivera, and Siqueiros in the 1930s, their influence upon US artists, the decline in interest in their work after WWII, and the resurrection of the 60s and 70s. Some 240 plates of fair to good quality (only 16 in color). Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Mural Painting and Social Revolution in Mexico, 1920-1940 is the first full-length account of this major movement in the history of Modernism. Following the Revolution of 1910, Mexican society underwent a profound transformation in every sector of political and cultural life. Mexican artists participated in this social revolution during a vital two-decade period through public art programmes funded by the government and other institutions. Applying a social-historical methodology, Leonard Folgarait examines this phenomenon and focuses on the mural paintings of Diego Rivera, José Orozco, and David Siqueiros produced during this period. He provides an indepth analysis of the form and meaning of these mural cycles, while documenting the system of patronage, the critical connections between state policy and aesthetics, and the visual strategies devised by patrons and artists in order to maximise the impact of these propagandistic images.