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Impact of the Mexican Revolution on
the Arts
Educational reforms
of Vasconcelos
Music
Literature
Murals: Rivera,
Orozco, Siqueiros
Mahon 2011
Ideas of the Revolution: SPIRE *
Siqueiros, From the Dictatorship of
Porfirio Diaz to the Revolution—
The People in Arms (detail), 1957–65
• Social – new Mexican
identity – mestizo blend
• Political – rejection of
dictatorship
• Ideological – socialism,
communism, anarchy
• Religious – role of the
church
• Economic – land & labor
reform
New Ideas
• Communism –
Karl Marx,
resources are
held in common
(ejidos)
• Socialism – both
private & public
• Anarchy – no
gov’t is needed
Diego Rivera Paisaje Zapatista
(Zapatist Landscape) 1915
Educating for the Revolution,1921
Jose Vasconcelos, Minister of Education
Article 3 of constitution
70-80% illiteracy rate
Objective: Forge a national identity
Mestiso, unique blend of races = La
raza cosmica (cosmic race)
Tools: Schools - 50% increase,
Libraries – ~2,000
& Fine arts - academy,
conservatory & symphony
Obregon
Carranza
1 million dead
Stabilize
Popular Music of the Revolution:
Corridos – voice of the common man
•Simple, poetic form & basic
music
•Common language
•Themes – heroes; fighting
unjust authority
•1st stanza provides a setting
for the story
•Structure: 6 stanzas of 6 lines
each (New Corrido of Madero)
OR
•9 stanzas of 4 lines each
(Tillers of the Land (Track 6)
Pablo Picasso. Three Musicians, 1921
Music
Nuevo Corrido De Madero
New Corrido of Madero (Track 9)
LA 4/25/1930
En mil novecientos diez,
en la suida de San Luis
Expidio su plan Madero
Pa Porfirio combatir:
Empezo por Ciudad Juaez
A recorrer el pais.
In nineteen hundred and ten,
In the city of San Luis (Potosi),
Madero set up his plan
To battle Porfirio (Diaz):
He set out from Ciudad Juarez
On a nationwide campaign.
Ah, que Madero tan hombre,
Le conozco sus acciones!
Derecho se fue a la carcel
A echar fuera las prisiones:
Virgen Santa ‘e Guadalupe
Lo Ilene de bendiciones.
What a man Madero was?
I know his deeds,
He went straight to the jails
And set free the prisoners,
May the Saintly Virgin of Guadalupe
Fill him with blessings.
Aqui me siento a cantar
Estos versos familiares:
Comenzare con la muerte
De Madero y Pino Suarez,
Que a Mexico traicionaron
Esas fuerzas federales.
Here I sit to sing,
These familiar lyrics,
I’ll begin with the deaths
Of Maderso and Pino Suarez
And how those federal forces
Betrayed Mexico.
La viuda le dice a Huerta
Que no subiera al sillon
Que no despues anduviera
Con dolor de corazon,
Porque alla viene Carranza
Con nueva revolucion.
Carranza Le Puso un parte,
Que no perdia la esperanza
De tumbarlo de la silla
Con su punal y su lanza,
Para que gritaran todos:
-Muchachos, viva Carranza!Pancho Villa y Maytorena,
Que en el norte se voltearon,
Reconocieron las causas
Que de un prencipio pelearon,
Y se unieron al partido
Que ellos mismos derrotaron.
The widow (of Madero) told Huerta
Not to assume the presidential seat,
Because it would end up
breaking his heart,
And Carranza was coming right behind
With another revolution.
Carranza sent (Huerta) a message
Saying he didn’t lose hope
Of toppling his government
By sword and knife,
So that everyone would shout:
“Viva Caranza!”
Pancho Villa and Maytorena,
Who switched sides up North,
Acknowledged those they had
originally fought against
And joined the forces
They had once defeated.
Music
Let us march, agaristas, to the fields,
To sow the seeds of progress,
Let us march always united, without fail,
Working for the peace of our nation.
El Corrido Del Agrarista
Tillers of the Land (Track 6)
New York, 08/1929
Ay, ay, ay…
Struggling for our dreams
We don’t want any more dissension among brothers, Many of our brothers died,
May God have them in heaven.
Let us forget our ill feelings, friends,
Let the granaries be filled with wheat
Porfirio and his government
And may our long-awaited redemption arrive.
Formed by dictators
Never listened to the complains
I shall sing the song
And demands of the people.
Of the agarista,
It will tell you many truths,
Always work, and more work,
Capitalist gentlemen.
And always owing to the company
store,
This is the song of the poor
And when harvest time came
Who work in the fields,
The sharecropper ended up losing.
Of those of us who sweat
To work our land.
Our hovels and shacks
Were always filled with grief,
For a long time we’ve suffered
We lived like animals
the slavery of the vanquished
Surrounded by wealth.
Until we finally could see
Our people together.
Ay, ay, ay…etc.
Spoken:
The tenth parter
If to an inn or café
A poor man arrives
Immediately a servan comes out
Saying: “you have to wait.”
But if it is a rich man
Who asks for a meanl or a drink,
They say: “ May I help you, sir,
Please order, what will you have?’
Because in this establisment
The poor man is out of place.”
The ranchers, on the other hand,
Owners of life and land,
Acted with indifference,
Without hearing our complaints.
Music
Classical – The Symphonic Voice
• Carlos Chavez – composer (1899-1978)
• 1921 - Mexican nationalist music with
Aztec themes
• Elevates indigenous
musical elements
– Rhythms
– Sounds
– Instruments
Music
Silvestre Revueltas – composer (1899-1949)
• Colleague of Chavez
• Movie, Redes, 1934 –
community fights corruption
Literature – Voice of the Educated
• Mariano Azuela
(1875-1952)
• Los de abajo [the
Underdogs] (1915)
Rivera´s paintings with Poncho
Villa and Zapata, National Palace
Martin Luis Guzman (1887-1976)
La sombra del caudillo (1929) critique of Calles’ regime
The Visual Arts - Muralists
Siqueiros
Orozco
Rivera
Visual Arts
LEADER: Gerardo Murillo, Dr. Atl (1875-1964)
• Academy of San Carlos
• Cooperative works
• Murals, art for the public
• National identity in
indigenous cultures
• Art as a force for change
– 1914 supports Carranza
against Villa/Zapata
Self-portrait
Post-Revolutionary Art of Mexico
Visual Arts
Realism - Associated with:
Positivism
Science = path
to knowledge
Stepping stones to
knowledge
(Empirical knowledge)
supplied thru
observing & measuring
& Porfirio Diaz’s
cientificos
Salvador Murillo El Puente del Chiquihuite (The Chiquihuite
Bridge) ca. - 1875 – Porfiriato 1876 -1910
Visual Arts
Diego Rivera
Muralist
1886-1957
Absent during revolution (*)
1921 Communist member & editor –
El machete
Expelled for bourgeois
association
National union for
artists with Orozco &
Siqueiros
Frieda Kahlo & Diego Rivera 1931
Diego Rivera,,Self-Portrait,1941
Smith College Museum of Art, MA
Husband of Frieda
Kahlo
Surrealism
Diego
Rivera
The History of Mexico: Tierra y
Libertad, Central Arch Detail,
1929-1935 Fresco Mexico City,
National Palace, Central Arch
• Zapata - top
• Bottom - struggle of
native peoples against
Spanish
• Aztec symbol – eagle
with the serpent
• Father Miguel
Hildago, hero of
independence from
Spain
• Inquisition
Diego Rivera
The History of Mexico: Mexico Tomorrow
1935
National Palace,
Mexico City
• Rebels hung
• Huelga - strike
• Rebels about to
be shot
• Corrupt priest
• Communist flag
Diego Rivera
Man at the Crossroads
1934, Palace of Fine Arts, Mexico City
Diego Rivera
City College of San Francisco Panel 1 Pan- American Unity 1940
fresco, 6.74 x 22.5m
Glorification of Pre-Hispanic
Civilization
Harmony of technology &
culture
(*)
Jose Clemente Orozco 1883-1949
Orozco
The Rich Banquet while the
Workers Fight, 1923
Pro-worker, anti-imperialist Cortés and Malinche,
Mestizo culture
1926
Jose Clemente Orozco:
The Dartmouth Mural 1932-34
Jose Clemente
Orozco
Details, Dartmouth murals
Ancient Human Sacrifice *
Gods of the Modern World
Miguel Hildago , "The People and Its Leaders" government palace
David Alfaro Siqueiros 1896-1974
Man of action -14yrs old
fought in revolution
Politically active
Interfered with ability to
complete some works
Introduced new materials & tools – spray gun
Siqueiros
David Alfaro Siqueiros (1896 - 1974)
Campesinos (Peasants) ca. 1913
Dictatorship of Porfirio
Diaz to the Revolution,
The People in Arms
Siqueiros Portrait of the Bourgeoisie,
1940
David Alfaro Siqueiros
The New Democracy
1944
Palace of Fine Arts,
Mexico City
Summary Slide
• Ideas of the Revolution
• Education program of Vasconcelos
• Music – corridos, classical – Chavez &
Revueltas
• Literature - Azuela & Guzman
• Muralists – Rivera, Orozco, & Siqueiros