Jose David Alfaro Siqueiros
Artistic Style
As a muralist, Siqueiros believed art should be public, educational, and ideological. He painted mostly murals and other portraits of the revolution - its goals, its past, and the current oppression of the working classes. Because he was painting a story of human struggle to overcome authoritarian, capitalist rule, he painted the everyday people ideally involved in this struggle. Though his pieces sometimes include landscapes or figures of Mexican history and mythology, these elements often appear as mere accessories to the story of a revolutionary hero or heroes (several works depict the revolutionary "masses," such as the mural at Chapultepec).His interest in the human form developed at the Academy in Mexico City. His accentuation of the angles of the body, its muscles and joints, can be seen throughout his career in his portrayal of the strong revolutionary body. In addition, many works, especially in the 1930s, prominently feature hands, which could be interpreted as another heroic symbol of proletarian strength through work.
Mexican Muralists: Orozco, Rivera, Siqueiros
The paintings themselves reflect diverse artistic influences--surrealism, cubism, and illustration, most notable among them. Their bold colors and strong imagery practically bound out of the 150 color plates in this book. Mexican muralist and scholar Desmond Rochfort lucidly traces the development of the movement to place the work in context and provides a solid history of each of the artists' social and artistic influences. This is an excellent overview of work that should appeal both to fans of the individual artists and Mexican art in general.
Opening with a poignant gallery of photographic portraits of the Mexican people dating from Revolutionary times, Mexican Muralists offers a sweeping visual account of these towering works and their creation, replete with copious photographic details and an admirable pictorial treatment that positions the murals firmly in their architectural context. A key element in the drama of a successful public work lies in how it is integrated with its physical environment, and the books shows plentiful examples of the use that the muralists made of theirs settings, from deconsecrated churches (which provided their own ironic points of reference) to unusual architectural details and, occasionally, unconventional media (Rivera's remarkable, sprawling mosaics, for example).
Jose David Alfaro Siqueiros paintings for sale
Fetching RSS feed... please stand bySiqueiros: Artist and Warrior
The life of Mexican muralist David Alfaro Siqueiros (1896-1974) was one of passion, political commitment, and controversy, perilous adventure, and prolific artistic achievement. With Diego Rivera and Jose Orozco, Siqueiros was a leader of the Mexican mural movement. While each of these artists was concerned with producing popular, public, and political art for a revolutionary society, Siqueiros was the most politically active of them all. A stormy, iconoclastic personality, he was one of the great desperadoes of modern art. Siqueiros regarded his life and his painting as a battle with himself and against social injustice. A revolutionary and innovative creator, he lived, fought, and painted with extreme passion. This program captures the fire, turmoil, and talent that is Siqueiros.
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Jose David Alfaro Siqueiros art in the News!
- : The Exile and Murder of Leon Trotsky
- He knew he too was marked for liquidation when the Mexican painter David Alfaro Siqueiros led an attack on his villa-fortress in May 1940. ...
- Wall of contention
- A revolutionary mural entitled Ejercicio Plástico by David Alfaro Siqueiros is loaded with history, finds Le Monde's Christine Legrand. ...
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- ... Clemente Orozco, and David Alfaro Siqueiros as well as artists from the succeeding generation associated with the Taller de Gráfica Popular, ...
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