In 1922, Jose Vasconcelos, Secretary of Public Education for the popular presidency of Alvaro Obregon, hero of the Mexican Revolution, initiated a program to develop a new, Americanista culture and educate the masses through public art—a program that would eventually be picked up by Roosevelt’s WPA and is still transforming concrete walls into vivid murals around Chicago. This exhibition traces that path that began so gloriously and explosively with los tres grandes: Diego Rivera (1886-1957), Jose Orozco (1883-1949) and David Siqueiros (1896-1974). Perhaps because those three had lived through the chaos, idealism and disappointment of the revolutionary period, their work continues to stand out from those who followed. And unlike the social realist painters of Soviet Union, they led careers as artists that were independent of any regime or even nationality, as they moved freely between Mexico and the United States. Probably the most influential of all was Orozco, whose powerful spirit, evident in the Christian mural as well as the simple charcoal figure sketches that are included in this show, seems to run through the entire tradition like a high-voltage electrical current. Being propaganda, there’s a lot that’s simple-minded here: the evil, vicious forces of repression versus the good, innocent common folk. But this exhibition shows how that strong spirit lived on even after the politics was over, in the post-political career of Sequeiros and in Jackson Pollock, who was never politically minded at all, but who followed and even adapted the work of Orozco to express his own kind of anger and personal despair. Mostly, the exhibition focuses on the two decades from 1930-1950, and among the Americans shown, special emphasis is given to those from Chicago. (Chris Miller)
Through August 1 at the National Museum of Mexican Art, 1852 West 19th Street
Art 50 2023: Chicago’s Artists' Artists Every single artist seems to know and care about every single other artist. This is a signature element of art in Chicago—a powerful sense of community that transcends the competitiveness and careerism that undermines other places.
