Mexican Muralism: Revolution, Public Art, and The Burdens of Representation

Catalog description

Muralism in Mexico has provided a model of socially-engaged aesthetic practice ever since artists first put brushes to government walls in the 1920s in the aftermath of the first social revolution of the twentieth century. This seminar explores the contested meanings, tensions, and shifting legacies of creating radical art in the public sphere, while it also seeks to analyze the movement’s claims for racial justice. Lectures focus on the divergent working practices in Mexico of los tres grandes (Diego Rivera, José Clemente Orozco, and David Alfaro Siqueiros) and the circulation of their work in the United States, Latin America, and Europe. Students have the opportunity to broaden the narrative of muralism with investigations of lesser-known artists as well as the movement’s impact on other regions of the Americas, including connections between Mexico City and Harlem and the solidarity networks forged between the so-called Mexican and “Black art” Renaissances.