MEXICAN MURALISM: LOS TRES GRANDES

After the Rockefeller Center mural was destroyed in 1934, Diego Rivera recreated this version, named "Man, Controller of the Universe", which is on display at the Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City.

"Man at the Crossroads" was its original title.

Orozco

During the violent battles of the Mexican Revolution, ________________ worked as an illustrator for a pro-Carranza newspaper called La Vanguardia.

Painted by Diego Rivera

His first commission from Mexican Minister of Education Jose Vasconcelos, Creation is the first of his many murals and a touchstone for Mexican Muralism.

Diego Rivera

Mexican culture and history constituted the major themes and influence on this painter's art. A lifelong Marxist who belonged to the Mexican Communist Party and had important ties to the Soviet Union, this painter is an exemplar of the socially committed artist.

Painted by José Clemente Orozco

The Banquet of the Rich (1923-4) In it, we see the painter's characteristic caricature style, which was notably different to the Mexican-Italianate style being developed by Diego Rivera.

This fascinating mural cycle comprised of 24 panels, covering four walls in the Baker Library, is a complex and layered depiction of the history of the American continent.

The Epic of American Civilization (1932-34) by José Clemente Orozco

Painted by José Clemente Orozco

The Table of Universal Brotherhood (1931) This stark scene is one of a series of murals at The New School in New York City and is complemented by three others, which are allegories of the Mexican Revolution using images of Gandhi, Carrillo Puerto, and Lenin. The cycle culminates with this view of a victory and an idealized brotherhood of man.

Mexican Muralism was a heavy predecessor of today's public art. It liberated art from the art market and its elitism,

making it free and available to all people.

Mexico has a long tradition of mural painting. This legacy dates back to the pre-Hispanic period with an ancient civilization called

the Olmecs, which produced some of the earliest known painted art in South America.

Murals were inclined toward the favoring of socialism - as did its most important artists including Diego Rivera - but they would evolve over time to also favorably portray

the industrial revolution, the progress of technology, and capitalism.

Murals

were originally used as a way to spread visual messages to an illiterate population, which opened up new possibilities in the inclusion and cohesiveness of community within a people.