Siqueiros Online Video Stream

An online streaming video is now available for Siqueiros: The Art of Censorship, a recent speakers forum about David Alfaro Siqueiros, his murals, Los Angeles history, and public art. Held last November 9th, 2006, at the Los Angeles Times Harry Chandler Auditorium, the forum was attended by some 300 persons and recorded by L.A. public television station, Channel 36 - who makes the video stream available from their website.

Speakers included Luis Garza - the instigator behind the future exhibition Legacy & Legend: Siqueiros & America Tropical-Censorship Defied, Judith F. Baca - muralist and founder of SPARC (the Social and Public Art Resource Center in Venice, California), William F. Deverell - director of the Huntington/USC Institute on California and the West, Suzanne Muchnic - Los Angeles Times art writer, and Patt Morrison - writer and columnist.

To view the video, go to: www.la36.org/arts - just make sure you have a fast internet connection that can handle the video streaming. On the right-hand side of the page you’ll find a menu that you can scroll through, allowing you to select from an assortment of videos. Search for "Siqueiros Speaker Series: The Art of Censorship," and click on the link that reads "View Video." The video will then start playing in the built-in player on the webpage.

L.A.’s Siqueiros Mural To Live Again

On August 2nd, 2006, after spending my entire adult life reading about América Tropical, the internationally famous mural painted in Los Angeles by Mexican Muralist master, David Alfaro Siqueiros, there I was, for the very first time - barely inches from the huge masterwork. Just the day before I had received a telephone call from friend and associate, Luis Garza, who sits on the city’s Siqueiros Mural, Events, and Marketing Committee overseeing the restoration of the mural. Garza had called to invite me to the important press conference where L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa would have exciting news regarding the mural.

[ A detail of the famous Olvera Street Siqueiros mural, América Tropical. ]

Mayor Villaraigosa’s press conference took place early in the morning on Olvera Street, the city’s founding avenue and location of the Siqueiros mural. That morning the historic area of the city, known officially as the El Pueblo Historic Monument, was bristling with television, newspaper and radio reporters eager to cover the story. Before a large crowd of city officials, local business people, artists and reporters, the Mayor publicly announced the city’s collaboration with the Getty Foundation on finalizing conservation efforts and providing public access to the mural. At last, the day many of us had dreamed of for years had finally arrived. It was official, a budget for the project had been approved - the renowned mural would live again.

[ Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa at the Siqueiros mural press conference. ]

At the press conference Mayor Villaraigosa remarked: "The people of the city of Los Angeles will finally be able to view this cultural treasure long obscured from sight. The mural, while controversial in its time, will allow adults and children of all ages to learn about and appreciate the diverse history of this city, the importance of freedom of artistic expression and the origins of the muralist movement in this city." The Mayor added, "While people can agree or disagree with the message, what’s important is that it was art, and art, while sometimes controversial, is important - because what it does is to lift the soul." The Mayor’s comment that the mural was "controversial in its time" treats the work as if it were safely and firmly rooted in the past and without relevance to our present political situation. In fact, the work may be more provocative today than when it was first painted - especially during this time of world crisis. Rather than shying away from the artist’s political message to concentrate on his mural as purely an artistic triumph, we should celebrate and defend the anti-Imperialist politics of América Tropical. That being said, I must applaud the Mayor’s bold leadership in campaigning for the conservation of this priceless and influential artwork.

After his comments the Mayor introduced the three representatives from the Getty who were on hand to talk about the museum’s role in the conservation project. Deborah Marrow, Interim President and CEO of the J. Paul Getty Trust, Timothy Whalen, Director of the Getty Conservation Institute (GCI), and Joan Weinstein, Interim Director of the Getty Foundation. The three spoke of the Getty Foundation’s commitment to the project, from the construction of a protective shelter and viewing platform for the mural, to the installation of an interpretive center that would place the artwork in historical and artistic context. The overall cost of the project is $7.8 million, with the Getty and the City of Los Angeles basically splitting the expense. The Mayor next introduced Judy Baca, famed L.A. muralist and the Founder/Artistic Director of the Social and Public Art Resource Center of Venice, California. She gave an impassioned speech on the importance of the Siqueiros mural and of muralism in general, noting L.A.’s reputation as the mural capital of the world, and imploring those present to support a revitalization and expansion of the L.A. muralist movement.

[ Artist’s rendition of the viewing platform to be constructed by the Getty. ]

As the press conference concluded, officials announced that everyone was invited to the Italian Hall, the historic building on Olvera Street where Siqueiros painted his 80-by-18 foot rooftop mural on an outside second-story wall. We were given a rare opportunity to stand on the roof where we could examine the mural. In actuality, the artwork is now sheltered by a metal covering, over which is stretched a digital reproduction of the mural as it looked before it was censored by a coat of whitewash in 1932. The Getty’s plan is to preserve the mural just as it is - a ghost image - and not to repaint or fully restore it. There are several reasons for this approach, the chief cause being that the artist painted his work in a way that had not yet been proven. Abandoning the traditional method of fresco painting whereupon tempera pigments are painted onto fresh limestone plaster, the experimentally minded Siqueiros painted his mural on concrete using Pyroxylin, a newly developed material that was primarily used to paint automobiles. Conservators have found that the paint’s adhesion to the wall was flawed, adding to the problems of restoration.

[ Artist Mark Vallen - Photo by Gary Leonard, echobark@aol.com. ]

From atop Italian Hall there is a dazzling view of downtown L.A., and one can just imagine the splendor of the site once the Getty builds the mural’s protective shelter and viewing platform. A representative of the Mayor’s office requested that all of the artists present stand before the mural so as to be photographed - a tribute to Siqueiros and the impact the Mexican Muralist had upon the artistic community of Los Angeles. I noticed that one of the photographers taking pictures of the proceedings was an old acquaintance - L.A.’s own Gary Leonard. He deftly took a quick shot of me, and naturally we ended up talking about the significance of the day. Interestingly enough, Leonard is related by marriage to Philip Stein (aka Estaño), the American social realist artist who for ten years worked in Mexico with Siqueiros on creating some of the master’s finest works.

Fleeing repression and persecution in Mexico, Siqueiros came to Los Angeles in 1932. During his six month stay here he painted three important murals before being brusquely deported by the U.S. government. His first mural was Mitin Obrero (Worker’s Meeting), a two story creation painted on the side of a building at Chouinard School of Art - where he had been teaching mural painting techniques. It was the very first time anyone in the world had used an industrial spray gun to paint a mural directly on cement. Finished in July 1932, the mural was almost immediately painted over by right-wing authorities. Siqueiros’ second mural was América Tropical, and his third, Retrato del Mexico de Hoy (Portrait of Mexico Today), only survived because it had been painted on the wall of an outdoor patio at the private residence of film director, Dudley Murphy.

[ A full view of the rooftop mural. ]

Back in 2002, I wrote about the experience of attending the Santa Barbara Museum of Art’s unveiling of Portrait of Mexico Today, a work acquired and placed on permanent display by the museum. Thousands attended the unveiling ceremony, and countless others have since visited to see the mural. Unquestionably that painting has enriched us all and contributed to the general prosperity of Santa Barbara. The fact that América Tropical is a more well known and significant work, indicates that its reinvigorated presence will no doubt render tremendous positive effects for the people and city of Los Angeles.

[ UPDATE: On August 8, 2006, I received the following e-mail from Peter Lincroft, the son of famed American muralist, Eva Cockcroft. Peter’s letter seemed an appropriate update to my original article:

"Excellent blog entry on the exciting news about America Tropical. In addition to its historical importance, the mural has a personal meaning for me, because it was the subject of the last mural ever painted by my mother, Eva Cockcroft, before she passed away on April 1, 1999. My mother's mural, which she painted in collaboration with Alessandra Moctezuma, is in East LA and is a reproduction of (and tribute to) the original. You can get more info, as well as see pictures of the mural at this website." ]

Siqueiros: Spirit of a Revolutionary

The works of David Alfaro Siqueiros are being exhibited at The Museo de las Américas in Denver Colorado through April 23rd, 2005. Siqueiros: Spirit of a Revolutionary, will feature 22 paintings and drawings by the revolutionary artist that bridge his entire career. A highlight of the exhibit is the 12-foot long study for the 108-foot-long mosaic mural Siqueiros created on the exterior of the National Autonomous University of Mexico in Mexico City. The works on display demonstrate Siqueiros' fondness for experimentation and improvising. He was one of the first to paint with the newly developed acrylic medium, and he also used a spray gun and lustrous enamel automobile paint called pyroxylin for his murals and small paintings. Many of the works in the Denver Colorado exhibit come from the Museo Soumaya in Mexico City, where they were shown in 2004 to commemorate the 30th anniversary of Siqueiros' death. There has been much renewed interest in the art of Siqueiros, and for good reason… his works offer profound and meaningful content delivered with masterful figurative realist style. Philip Stein (aka Estaño), an artist who painted alongside Siqueiros for ten years, put it this way, “When an artist is having a problem in seriously seeking a meaningful basis for their artistic endeavors, they could consider it a stroke of good luck if they should stumble on to the Mexican Mural Movement.”

Siqueiros Mural Discovery!

Worker's Meeting (or “Mitin Obrero”), was a two-story mural painted by Mexican artist David Alfaro Siqueiros. Created on an outside wall of the Chouinard School of Art in Los Angeles, it depicted a militant union organizer addressing a multi-ethnic crowd on a LA street corner. The mural was revolutionary in more ways than one. It was the first time anyone had used an industrial spray gun to paint a mural directly on cement (graffiti artists take note). Unveiled to a throng of hundreds on July 7th, 1932, the pro-worker politics of the artwork were enough to infuriate conservatives. But it was the artist’s depiction of interracial unity that made the mural truly ahead of its time, unacceptable to racists of the day, and a target for destruction. By the time Chouinard had closed its doors in 1972 the mural was all but forgotten. After the school folded, the building passed from hand to hand and eventually became a Korean Church. Now a startling new discovery has been made. Due to the investigations of several autonomous researchers the mural has been found intact and a possible candidate for restoration. Chouinard has re-opened in South Pasadena and is playing a key role in the hoped-for renovation. Negotiations are underway to reacquire the old building and have its famous artwork reconstructed. Professional conservators have been brought in and they’ve found evidence of bright hues and shapes under layers of obliterating whitewash. If brought back to life the monumental work could serve as a major cultural landmark for Los Angeles and the world.

Part of "Los Tres Grandes" (the triumvirate of eminent Mexican muralists that also included Diego Rivera and José Clemente Orozco), Siqueiros visited LA as a political refugee in 1932. During his six-month stay here he painted three important murals -Worker's Meeting, América Tropical and Portrait of Mexico Today (painted at a private residence in Pacific Palisades). These would be the only murals he would paint in the US. The first two public artworks were marvels of innovation, employing techniques that had never been utilized before, like using camera-projections to transfer the artist’s sketches to the walls. Those first two murals were also destroyed by reactionaries who could not tolerate dissenting opinions - but the fresco Portrait of Mexico Today survived because it had been created on private property (it is now part of the Santa Barbara Museum’s permanent collection).

My colleague Luis Garza is a skilled photographer who documented the Chicano movement of the late sixties, and in an extraordinary suite of photos also captured Siqueiros in Mexico. Along with his associates, Luis established the Legacy & Legend Fund in an effort to help restore Siqueiros’ ruined América Tropical mural. I phoned Luis shortly after the story of the Chouinard mural discovery was made public in the LA Times on January 9, 2005. He expressed guarded optimism about Worker's Meeting being restored, and voiced the opinion that only mass community involvement and support would guarantee success for the renovation projects.

Philip Stein (also known as Estaño), is another artist with a personal interest in seeing the LA murals restored. He worked alongside Siqueiros in Mexico for ten years, assisting the master in painting some of his most famous works. I wrote my good friend Philip and asked for his opinion regarding the Chouinard mural discovery: “What an amazing discovery to find that the mural Worker’s Meeting or Street Meeting (Siqueiros referred to this mural often using both titles), should show signs of some degree of preservation under layers of whitewash. Siqueiros himself was not conscious of the fact that the obliteration of the mural (as ordered by the LA Police) was done with coats of whitewash rather than total removal as he always believed. Now 73 years after it was first painted and presumed gone forever, and 31 years after Siqueiros’ death, this remarkable and historically important work holds forth promise that it may one day reappear in its full aesthetic, technical and political glory as Siqueiros had meant it to be seen.”

The works of Siqueiros have had a profound impact on me over the years, and to some extent I credit him for making me the artist I am today. I was only a boy when I picked up an art book and saw his evocative, Echo of a Scream, a nightmarish portrait of a weeping child sitting in the rubble of a war-shattered landscape. Being born and raised in Los Angeles I’ve spent much time on the city’s founding avenue of Olvera Street, where Siqueiros painted América Tropical. At fifteen I learned that the city had whitewashed that mural in 1932 because of its political content - which for me served as an early lesson on the power of art. My hometown of LA will forever be linked to Siqueiros, whose works eventually helped inspire the Chicano Arts Movement of the late sixties. Today the art of Siqueiros is reaching out to us from an earlier time, and if we pay close attention we won’t find ancient relics from an irrelevant past, but a militantly humanistic aesthetic that can be applied to the present.