Siqueiros: A Muralist’s Long Reach

Autry National Center
    The great thing about conversations like the one occurring around the muralist David Alfaro Siqueiros (1896-1974) — in advance of Los Angeles exhibitions at the Autry and the Museum of Latin American Art detailing his work and life — is that they glean a richer understanding of our modern living-color reality.
    That conversation gained considerable focus on July 16 at Olvera Street, the site of the second in a series of three panel discussions sponsored by the Mexican Cultural Institute about the controversial Mexican artist.
    “Artist Warrior: Siqueiros to Carrasco and Beyond” brought together four Southern California artists who are muralists, who consider Siqueiros a key influence, and who, like Siqueiros, believe their political beliefs are an integral part of their work.
    José Antonio Aguirre, Glenna Ávila, Barbara Carrasco and Wayne Healy spoke about their own struggles and triumphs in a conversation moderated by Raoul de la Sota, himself a recognized artist whose work has spotlighted the Chicano experience.
    “I like to think of Siqueiros as the first Chicano muralist, even though he was Mexicano,” Healy said. “The spirit with which he painted was the spirit that came alive during the (Chicano) Moratorium.”
    The Chicano Moratorium, known officially as the National Chicano Moratorium Committee, was a group of Chicano anti-war activists who brought together various Latino groups to organize opposition to the Vietnam War. Young artists studying in area universities became a major voice for them, and their activities culminated in a march in East Los Angeles on Aug. 29, 1970 that drew 30,000 people.
    Each of the artists talked about the significance of Siqueiros, known as one of Los Tres Grandes, the Three Great Ones of Mexican muralism (the other two are Diego Rivera and José Clemente Orozco), and how his work had influenced their own development as artists.
    And because Siqueiros was also a significant figure in Mexican political history of the 20th Century, they spoke very personally about how Siqueiros’ willingness to integrate his politics in his art influenced their own activism.
    Carrasco said Siqueiros’ stance on public art directly inspired her to get involved in the work of Cesar Chávez, painting banners for his United Farm Workers union from 1976 to 1991. In 1989, she even designed a computer-animated video for the Spectacolor lightboard at Times Square that drew attention to the dangers of pesticides. She considers that one of her most significant works.
    Each of the artists in the panel also talked about how they have had to finesse efforts by government officials to censor their work, a problem Siqueiros faced throughout his life. The Autry’s exhibition, in fact, tells the story of how one of Siqueiros’ mural commissions in Los Angeles, América Tropical, caused such controversy when it was unveiled that his critics almost immediately mounted a campaign to keep it from public view.
    “Any time you work with a government agency or any kind of public funding, there is this fine line that you have to walk,” said Ávila, whose career has included supervising the painting of murals throughout the city. “On the one hand, you want to see the project completed and put up, and on the other hand, you don’t want to compromise your vision.”
    Carrasco said she had to negotiate similar criticism when she included a symbolic image of U.S. internment of Japanese-Americans in refugee camps during World War II in one of the first major murals she painted, “L.A. History.” The sixteen-by-eighty-foot portable mural was done under the auspices of the Community Redevelopment Agency, supposedly to celebrate the city’s bicentennial, and officials objected to the less-than-flattering story it told. But Japanese-American community organizations wrote letters to Mayor Tom Bradley on Carrasco’s behalf urging that the image remain, because it represented a part of local history that should never be repeated.
    “That was really inspiring to me to get that support from them,” Carrasco said.
    The Autry will feature Siqueiros’ work in its special exhibition “Siqueiros in Los Angeles: Censorship Defied,” from Sept. 24, 2010 to Jan. 9, 2011. The Museum of Latin American Art will present another perspective on Siqueiros in its “Siqueiros Paisajista/Siqueiros: Landscape Painter” exhibition, from Sept. 12, 2010 to Jan. 30, 2011.