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David Alfaro Siqueiros
3
Early Life
David was four years old when his mother passed away and his father sent the children to live with their paternal grandparents
He went to Mexico City in 1908 to study art and architecture in the Franco-English College
He became very political at a young age due to the Mexican Revolution in 1910
In 1911, at age fifteen, Siqueiros was involved in a student strike at the Academy of San Carlos of the National Academy of Fine Arts
Biography
Siqueiros was born on December 29, 1896 in Chihuahua, Mexico.
Siqueiros died on January 6, 1974 in Cuernavaca, Morelos
Was very political his whole life
Adulthood
When 18, David joined Venustiano Carranza’s Constitutional Army which overthrew the government of Mexico
Siqueiros switch his given name of “José de Jesús” to "David"
He was often jailed for his political work
Participated in an unsuccessful attempt to assassinate Leon Trotsky in May 1940.
Influences
David Alfaro Siqueiros
Old Age
By Carlos, Andres, and Sara
In 1959 the Mexican government sentenced Siqueiros to five years in jail for supporting a railroad workers' union.
Showed support for left-wing causes when he was released in 1964
He strongly backed the new Cuban government and its leader, Fidel Castro, and came out swinging against the U.S. and its war in Vietnam.
*Embraced Communist ideaology, and incorporated his political beliefs into his murals and other works
*In Italy, he greatly admired the murals of the Italian Renaissance.
*His big and bold murals were often infused with causes that supported his leftist politics.
*His involvement in the Spanish civil war and Mexican civil wars influenced some of his works to depict the effects of war.
*Part of the artists' movement that took inspiration from the ideas of Geraldo Murillo, called "Dr. Atl"
*Called for the rejection of European academism and for the creation of a Mexican National Art based on Pre-Columbian Native American art.
*Painted from his experiences during the Mexican Revolution
*In Paris, he absorbed the influence of cubism
*Paul Cézanne and his usage of bright colors and big blocks inspired David
Echo of a Scream
*Painted with enamel on wood
*Completed in 1937
*Now located in the Museum of Modern Art, New York City, N.Y.
*Dimensions of 48 x 36 inches
This painting was his most symbolic work during the spanish civil war. One describes it as:
The painting depicts the bleakness, despair, and destruction of war. It shows a child who is crying because his future is uncertain due to the instability of his home country. It also shows swirls of smoke, which given the circumstances, can be looked at as hopes of the people which are floating away because there is no way that they will come true under the current status of their environment. Due to the lack of hope in the piece, it is directly related to the theme of silence because under all the paintings, there is an obvious lack of hope or possibility for any of the subjects.
~Lauren.H
It is also pointed out by others that the painting "represents the terrifying conditions of human suffering, tragedy, and loss and emphasizes the internal suffering of the innocent victims of the revolution." They also believe that the "field of mangled remains of machinery and other structures was based on press photographs of current events" and that the "infants eyebrow is contorted to show anguish" while its "frail limbs of its body are perched helplessly on an endless heap of scrap metal."
New Democracy
Experts at the University of Chicago describe the mural as follows. "The New Democracy depicts a woman who is trying to shatter the bonds of oppression and exploitation. She is shown carrying a torch of freedom to symbolize the new order. Siqueiros includes strong visions of the future, similar to Rivera. Classical influence is shown in his approach to idealize human body form. Sometimes he exaggerates with expressive emotion, similar to Diego Rivera."
Still others add, "She carries a torch of freedom in her right hand, this symbolizes the new order [and] in her left hand she carries a flower, this represents peace. [There is] a Nazi soldier faceless and dead, this represents the victims of fascists."
*Painted with pyroxylin on wood panel
*Compleated in 1944
*Now located in the Palace of Fine Arts, Mexico City
*It has dimentiones of BIG!
The Proletarian Victim
This piece has two popular interpretations. It is observed that," [some] says that it expresses the personal impact that social oppression has on the human. The rope binding the body symbolizes the oppressive government and the upper class over peasants. [While others] says that this piece is of a bound Chinese woman who has been shot in the head. This refers to the abuse the Chinese suffered during the Japanese invasion in the early 30’s,"
~keskinner
*Painted with enamel on burlap
*Completed in 1933
*Now located at The Museum of Modern Art, New York, New York
*Dimensions of 6' 9" x 47 1/2"
From the Dictatorship of Porfirio Diaz to the Revolution
He characterized his art as both a depiction of the past in connection with the present, and this piece is a great example of this theme. It is describe and explained by an expert as follows:
The mural represents a union of opposites. On the left hand side are the main forces of the revolution, its political leaders and the masses of armed peasants. Looking closely into the crowd, we are able to recognize leaders like Zapata, Obregon, Villa and Carranza. Siqueiros’ intent was to blend these revolutionary figures in with the people, showing how they are products of the social forces from which they emerged.
On the right hand side is Porfirio Diaz, Mexico’s authoritian leader from 1876 to 1911, surrounded by luxury and his political stooges. Finally, Siqueiros’ central image is a representation of the continuing struggle for independence. We see the miners of Cananea facing off with Willian C. Green of the Green Consolidated Copper Company of America, struggling for control over the national flag of Mexico. The industrial strike at Cananea in Sonora in 1906 was an event that many mark as the beginning of the Mexican Revolution.
~Stevie Merino
*Completed between 1957-65.
*Painted with Acrylic on plywood.
*Located in Hall of the Revolution, National History Museum, Chapultepec Castle, Mexico City, Mexico.
*Dimensions of HUGE!
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:David_Alfaro_Siqueiros_-_Murales_at_the_Castle_Chapultepec.ogg
Bibliografía
http://www.biography.com/people/david-alfaro-siqueiros-9485144?page=1