Detroit Industry Murals (detail) by Diego Rivera, 1932–1933
As the Mexican Revolution drew to a close in 1920, Mexico’s new democratic government commissioned public images of what the nation could and should look like. For a largely illiterate public, these works served as instruction manuals for the new era.
The government encouraged images of great pre-Hispanic pyramids and deities, juxtaposed with contemporary customs and peoples, rendered in large public murals. They were painted by a legion of artists, most notably those known as “Los Tres Grandes” (“The Three Greats”): José Clemente Orozco, Diego Rivera, and David Alfaro Siqueiros. International audiences saw the appeal of larger-than-life heroes of independence in public spaces, and soon Los Tres Grandes and artists influenced by them painted works internationally, especially in the United States.
Using the imagery and influences of works painted by Orozco in New York, Siqueiros in Los Angeles, and Rivera in Detroit and San Francisco, Ellen Hoobler, curator of art of the Americas at the Walters Art Museum, explores how the ancient Americas and modern politics intertwined in 1930s and ‘40s public murals in the United States. Rivera’s Detroit murals, for example, were rated a dismal failure by scions of the city, including donors of the Detroit Institute of the Arts, who sought to have them destroyed. However, Ford Motor Company workers advocated for them as testaments to the power of organized labor and American industry. By contrast, Siqueiros’ 1932 mural, América Tropical, depicted an ancient Maya-style pyramid with a crucified Indigenous man in front of it and was whitewashed over almost immediately following its creation. It was not restored until 2012.
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