Throckmorton Fine Art has
on view a special show of Mexican murals and photographs dating to the
Mexican Revolution, from 1910-1920. MURALISM…. IDENTITY AND REVOLUTION
will be on view at Throckmorton Fine Art in New York through February
29, 2020.
In a revolt against dictator Porfirio Diaz, the demand for agrarian
reform signaled a new age in Mexican society. As Civil War raged in
Mexico from 1910-1920, the people of Mexico expressed their belief that
the land should be in the hands of the laborers who worked the land. The
Mexican people also cried out for universal public education and health
care, as well as broader civil liberties.
At the end of the Revolution, the government commissioned artists to
create art that helped to educate the mostly illiterate masses about
Mexican history. The plan was to spark the Mexican people to craft the
nation’s history in a way that helped define Mexican identity after the
Revolution.
The images featured non-European heroes from Mexico’s illustrious
past, present and future – Aztec warriors battling the Spanish, humble
peasants fighting in the Revolution, common laborers of Mexico City, and
the mixed-race people rising to dominate the next decades.
The Mexican Revolution marked a true break from the past, launching a
more egalitarian age on a grand scale. The muralists reoriented
history, uncovered lost stories and created a new narrative that can
still be seen publicly in Mexico and beyond.
Spencer Throckmorton says, “Three artists are especially well known
known for the way they expressed themselves through murals. Known as Los
Tres Grandes they include David Alfaro Siqueiros, Diego Rivera and Jose
Clemente Orozco. While murals are generally defined as any piece of
artwork painted or applied directly on a wall, ceiling or other large
permanent structure, mural painting characteristically includes
architectural elements of the given space incorporated into the picture.
Tina Modotti, Mural Study, 1926-30, gelatin silver print. Throckmorton Fine Art
“We are fortunate to have on view a collection of more than a dozen
photographs by Tina Modotti of important murals created by Diego Rivera.
He is well known for his murals of Mexican workers, miners and laborers
created during the 1920s and 1930s," he says. "Among highlights are
murals from the Ministry of Education and National Palace including Revolutionary Workers, Peasants and Soldiers Laughing (1928) and the Festival of the Flowers. A photograph from World Wide Photo dating to 1933 depicts the mural Rivera created for the Detroit Institute of Art.
"
The Throckmorton MURALISM show includes photographs of Diego Rivera
by Bernard Silberstein, Edward Weston’s “Tina Reciting,” Guillermo
Zamora’s 1946 portrait of David Alfaro Siqueiros, Manuel Alvarez Bravo’s
1928-29 “Pair of Legs,” and his 1931 “Optic Parable.”
Other highlights of the show also include Hector Garcia’s 1945
portrait of Jose Clemente Orozco and a 1940 photograph by Garcia of
Diego Rivera,
Frida KahloThrockmorton Fine Art
Florence Aguin’s 1951 portrait of Frida Kahlo, Lucienne
Bloch’s 1933 photo of “Frida in Front of Unity Panel,” Lola Alvarez
Bravo’s 1942 “Judas,” Manuel Alvarez Bravo’s 1930s “Horse in Display
Window” and Tina Modotti’s 1927 “Sickle, Bandolier and Guitar.”
Lola Alvarez Bravo, JUDAS, 1942, gelatin silver print Throckmorton Fine Art
