Los Tres Grandes & UAMA Visit

1/22/2014                                                                                                                               ARH 423B
                                                                                                                           Art of Modern Mexico

Modern Mexican Prints by Los Trés Grandes
(The 3 most prolific Mexican artists of early to mid 20th Century) 

 

• Diego Rivera
• David Alfaro Siqueiros
• Jose Clemente Orozco

What was in the prints at the UAMA?

Orozco. Mujeres (1934)

• Violent body language as well as an emphasis on sexuality. 
• One of the women seems to be using force against another. 
• There is a difference in skin color in the figures being represented. 
• Some women seem to be wearing heavy make up and jewelry.
• The women being represented look older and mature.
• It almost seems as if the lithograph is representing a brothel of some sort due to the way some of the women are dressed and being represented sexually. 

Diego Rivera. Zapata. (1932)

• Worker class men are being emphasized.
• Mexican campesinos are shown in the lithograph due to fact that they are wearing white clothes and sandals (huaraches)
• Revolutionaries are dressed differently from the upper class man that is shown on the ground.
• The man on the ground seems to be upper class due to what he is wearing. His fashion is different than the campesinos shown. He had a military sword and his horse was well groomed. In comparison with the campasinos, the man on the ground seems to be well-groomed and dressed differently. (He had boots for horse riding).
• The horse seems to be acknowledging his new owner by the way his eyes are meeting those of the figure being represented. 
• The scene seems to be taking place near a rain forest or a place where there's heavy agriculture due to the style of the leaves being demonstrated on the lithograph.
• The weapons being used in the riot by the campesinos are those used for agriculture working such as sickles.
• The man in front of the campesinos (Zapata) is emphasized to be the leader because of its stance and grasp on the horse.
• 8 total men in the lithograph
• the lithograph demonstrates Zapata about to take charge and start a revolution.

Siqueiros. Zapata (1983)

• The horse man seems to be a charro by the way he is dressed. 
• The stance the man is representing is that of portraiture. 
• The man looks upper class by the clothes selection in comparison with the campesino style of dress.
• Revolutionary
• the lithograph doesn't seem to demonstrate much action movement.
• the way Zapata is holding the horse seems very relaxed and demonstrates that he is in charge.

When looking at works of art, in order to analyze and interpret them, it is important to look at:

• Space: What do the surroundings represent? Is there a setting? What is it about a work of art that makes you conclude a setting?
• Figures: What are the figures doing? What is happening in the work of art?
• Visual Representations: What are the figures wearing? holding? How are they acting or standing? What are they expressing?