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See Siqueiros paintings in Bakersfield

Where:  Bakersfield Museum of Art, 1930 R St. (corner of R and 21st streets.)

When:  Jan. 12 - March 27

Museum hours:  Tuesday - Friday 10 a.m. - 4 p.m.;  Thursday 10 a.m.- 7:30 p.m.;  Saturday and Sunday:  Noon - 4 p.m.

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David Alfaro Siqueiros (1896-1974) is a famous Mexican muralist. His work is well-known in Mexico, along with that of artists Diego Rivera and Jose Clemente Orozco.  Siqueiros, Rivera and Orozco were considered the three masters of the Mexican school of mural painting.

Born in Chihuahua, México on Dec. 29, 1896, Siqueiros was not only an artist, he served as a sergeant in the Mexican Revolution and a colonel in the Spanish Civil War.

Siqueiros was noted for his social realism work, particularly his murals depicting Mexican history.

In fact, Siqueiros’ art was deeply rooted in the Mexican Revolution, a chaotic period in Mexican history in which various social and political factions fought for recognition and power. The period from the 1920s to the 1950s is known as the Mexican Renaissance, and Siqueiros tried to create an art that was at once Mexican and universal.

Political activism was also an important piece of Siqueiros’ life and frequently inspired him to set aside his artistic career.

In 1911, when he was about 15 years old, Siqueiros attended the Academy of San Carlos and participated in a student strike, protesting the academy’s teaching methods and urging the impeachment of the school’s director.

At 16, he conspired against Victoriano Huerta’s dictatorship. When he was 18, he participated in the Constitutionalist Army fighting against the forces of General Victoriano Huerta.

From 1919 to 1922, he traveled to Belgium, France, Italy, and Spain to study art.

Siqueiros  briefly gave up painting to focus on organizing miners in Jalisco.

Between 1937 and 1938, he fought in the Spanish Civil War alongside the Spanish Republican forces, in opposition to Francisco Franco’s military coup.

Siqueiros was active labor organizer, although his activism resulted in many deportations and years in jail. It was in jail where he created most of his easel works. He incorporated many new materials and techniques and began to use acrylics as a painting media.

He was exiled twice from Mexico because of his political activism, once in 1932 and again in 1940, following his assassination attempt on Leon Trotsky.

His notable projects include his collaborative mural at the Mexican Electricians’ Union (1939-40) in Mexico and his artwork themed “From Porfiriato to the Revolution” at the Museum of National History (1957-55). In the 1950s, he worked on procuring mural commissions for artists on the University City campus of the National Autonomous University of Mexico in Mexico City.

Throughout his career, he traveled internationally, promoting his version of muralism in the United States, South America (including Uruguay, Argentina and Chile), Cuba, Europe, and the Soviet Union.

Siqueiros died January 6, 1974, leaving a great legacy of Mexican art.  Part of that art will be showcased during the “Legacy of Mexican and Latin American Art Past and Present” exhibit that began Jan. 12 at the Bakersfield Museum of Art.

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Today’s Lesson

1)  _________________________ were considered the three masters of the Mexican school of mural painting.

2)  Siqueiros was born in the city and state of _____________________

3)  Siqueiros was born in the year _______________ and died in __________________

4)  In the year of ________, Siqueiros was involved in a student strike.

5)  From 1919 to 1922 Siqueiros traveled to__________________________ to study art.

Answers: 

 1)  David Alfaro Siqueiros, Diego Rivera, and José Clemente Orozco.     2)  Chihuahua, Mexico.     3)  December, 29, 1896.  January 6, 1974.     4)  1911.     5)  Belgium, France, Italy, and Spain.