Other Artists and Revolution

Two great Mexican muralists and artists that used art to speak their political views are José Clemente Orozco (1883-1949) and David Alfaro Siqueiros (1896 - 1974).

Orozco was born in Jalisco and frequently criticized various aspects of the Revolution that he had witnessed personally. Frequent themes that appear in Orozco's works are inequality, corruption, cruelty, bribery and false nature of government officials, submission and suffering or death of the masses for their ideals, somberness and solitude.

Siquieros dedicated the great part of his life to political and economic struggles and personally participated in union labor movements and support of revolutionary forces in Mexico and Spain. His energy, dynamic and aggressive nature and enthusiasm for controversial political activities landed him in jail for periods of time. Siqueiros' themes are always social: the suffering of the working class; the conflict between Socialism and Capitalism, the progress of the people, the shout out against injustice and misery.

View the following works of art and answer the questions.

El sollozo (1939) The Sob ~ David Siqueiros
http://www.moma.org/collection/browse_results.php?object_id=79820

In the painting,

1. What part of the body do you notice the most? Why is this part chosen over any other?
2. The woman depicted is Spanish and expressing her feelings during the Spanish Civil War. List three or four feelings that this woman is demonstrating.

La trinchera (1923 -1926) The trench ~ José Orozco
http://oblivionesse.files.wordpress.com/2009/03/latrinchera_orozco.jpg

1. What is the theme of the work?
2. The bodies of two dead figures, one crossed over the other in the form of an X, and a third one kneeling and shielding his face, all set against a red background evoke a sense of what emotions?

Before reading "Un día de éstos"

Gabriel Garcia Marquez is a famous contemproary Latin American Writer and the recipient of the 1982 Nobel Prize for Literature. This native Colombian started to write for a newspaper then began writing short stories and novels. He achieved world fame in 1967 with his novel Cien años de soledad, which has been translated into more than thirty languages.

"Un día de éstos" takes place in the office of the only dentist in a poor and dusty small town. Its background is the violence that began in Colombia in 1948 and continued for more than a decade. About 200,000 people died in the conflict between liberals and conservatives that pitted brother against brother and neighbor against neighbor. "Un día de éstos" give the reader an inside look at "la violencia."

Look at the painting Junta militar (1971)by Colombian Fernando Botero .
http://www.divart.com/Junta.jpg
Look at the faces of the figures, their sizes and the background of the painting then respond to the following questions

1. What does each of the figures represent?
2. What perspective of these figures does the painter give us?
3. The little black "specks" in the painting are actually flies. Why would the painter place flies around the central figure?

Group discussion

Three common causes for revolutionary conflicts are poverty, injustice and desperation. Put the three causes in order of importance and explain your choice.