Diego Rivera's historical vision
By Nadia Ugalde Gómez. Excerpt from the book 'Rivera. The Complete Murals'
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Mexican cinema began its "golden age", ushered in by directors such as Emilio "El Indio" Fernández and Julio Bracho and cinematographers such as Gabriel Figueroa. The actor Mario Moreno, "Cantinflas" (a celebrated comedian who imitated the demagogic rhetoric of politicians), starred in Ahí está el detalle, directed by Juan Bustillo Oro, and the actress María Félix, nicknamed "la Doña" (The Lady), made her debut in 1942 in Miguel Zacarías’s El peñón de las animas. Four years later, Luis Buñuel directed his first film in Mexico, Gran casino, starring Libertad Lamarque and Jorge Negrete.
In this period, too, the Instituto Nacional Indigenista was created. There were important anthropological and archaeological finds, such as the fossil remains of an individual first identified as "Tepexpan Man" and the Mayan mural paintings at Bonampak. At the end of the decade, in 1949, José Clemente Orozco died, leaving unfinished his murals at the Conservatorio Nacional de Música. A form of relatively homogeneous nationalism prevailed in the second half of the 1940s and led to the formation of the Partido Revolucionario Institucional. This was intended to mark the end of the first, socialist stage of the Mexican Revolution.
The full wealth of Mexican art
The foundation of an Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes y Literatura was first proposed during the electoral campaign of Alemán Valdés. Nationalist in orientation, the Instituto encouraged Mexican artists to develop their art along nationalist lines. The decision to create the Instituto was recorded in the Mexican Hansard, the Diario Oficial, on December 31, 1946, at the outset of Alemán’s presidency. Through the Institute, the State played a key role in promoting art by sponsoring projects, promoting and disseminating art to a mass audience and subsidizing artistic production in general, not only in the visual arts but in theater, opera, dance and literature. The Instituto crystallized the cultural policies of the time, which received clear expression in the words of the composer and conductor Carlos Chávez, its first director: "The State prefers art that is the expression of the nationalistic spirit". The official attitude was thus to embrace all ideological and aesthetic variants of mexicanidad with the goal of "democratizing" culture.
An intensive campaign was therefore launched to acquaint all Mexican citizens and all the world’s major capitals with the full wealth of Mexican art of every period and tendency. The image of a modern and cultivated country was to be fostered, overcoming the isolation Mexico had experienced in the aftermath of the Revolution. This international projection of Mexican art was also intended to encourage tourism and foreign investment, both of which were key aspects of Alemán’s economic policy. Alemán emphasized his commitment to modern Mexican art by classifying all existing or scheduled murals in public buildings as part of the national heritage. In this context, the Comisión de Pintura Mural was created. Its members, David Alfaro Siqueiros, José Clemente Orozco and Diego Rivera, selected muralists from the many candidates vying to decorate public buildings. The Commission was intended to ensure the promotion of muralism in all its aspects, although the control exerted by the "three greats" was controversial. The political nature of their murals was itself increasingly controversial as realism and abstraction battled it out on the international scene.
Page 1 2 3 4 5 6
Page 1 2 3 4 5 6
Mexican cinema began its "golden age", ushered in by directors such as Emilio "El Indio" Fernández and Julio Bracho and cinematographers such as Gabriel Figueroa. The actor Mario Moreno, "Cantinflas" (a celebrated comedian who imitated the demagogic rhetoric of politicians), starred in Ahí está el detalle, directed by Juan Bustillo Oro, and the actress María Félix, nicknamed "la Doña" (The Lady), made her debut in 1942 in Miguel Zacarías’s El peñón de las animas. Four years later, Luis Buñuel directed his first film in Mexico, Gran casino, starring Libertad Lamarque and Jorge Negrete.
In this period, too, the Instituto Nacional Indigenista was created. There were important anthropological and archaeological finds, such as the fossil remains of an individual first identified as "Tepexpan Man" and the Mayan mural paintings at Bonampak. At the end of the decade, in 1949, José Clemente Orozco died, leaving unfinished his murals at the Conservatorio Nacional de Música. A form of relatively homogeneous nationalism prevailed in the second half of the 1940s and led to the formation of the Partido Revolucionario Institucional. This was intended to mark the end of the first, socialist stage of the Mexican Revolution.
The full wealth of Mexican art
The foundation of an Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes y Literatura was first proposed during the electoral campaign of Alemán Valdés. Nationalist in orientation, the Instituto encouraged Mexican artists to develop their art along nationalist lines. The decision to create the Instituto was recorded in the Mexican Hansard, the Diario Oficial, on December 31, 1946, at the outset of Alemán’s presidency. Through the Institute, the State played a key role in promoting art by sponsoring projects, promoting and disseminating art to a mass audience and subsidizing artistic production in general, not only in the visual arts but in theater, opera, dance and literature. The Instituto crystallized the cultural policies of the time, which received clear expression in the words of the composer and conductor Carlos Chávez, its first director: "The State prefers art that is the expression of the nationalistic spirit". The official attitude was thus to embrace all ideological and aesthetic variants of mexicanidad with the goal of "democratizing" culture.
An intensive campaign was therefore launched to acquaint all Mexican citizens and all the world’s major capitals with the full wealth of Mexican art of every period and tendency. The image of a modern and cultivated country was to be fostered, overcoming the isolation Mexico had experienced in the aftermath of the Revolution. This international projection of Mexican art was also intended to encourage tourism and foreign investment, both of which were key aspects of Alemán’s economic policy. Alemán emphasized his commitment to modern Mexican art by classifying all existing or scheduled murals in public buildings as part of the national heritage. In this context, the Comisión de Pintura Mural was created. Its members, David Alfaro Siqueiros, José Clemente Orozco and Diego Rivera, selected muralists from the many candidates vying to decorate public buildings. The Commission was intended to ensure the promotion of muralism in all its aspects, although the control exerted by the "three greats" was controversial. The political nature of their murals was itself increasingly controversial as realism and abstraction battled it out on the international scene.
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