Vida Americana: Mexican Muralists Remake American Art, 1925–1945 | Art & Artists

Feb 17, 2020–Jan 31, 2021

Exhibition works

8 total
Art as Political Activism
Read more

Art as Political Activism

A painting depicting a line of people with picket signs.
A painting depicting a line of people with picket signs.

Joe Jones, We Demand, 1934. Oil on composition board, 48 × 36 in. (121.9 × 91.4 cm). Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, Ohio; gift of Sidney Freedman 1948

Art as Political Activism

The economic and social turmoil that was unleashed by the stock market crash in 1929 caused many Americans to question a capitalist system that no longer seemed compatible with the country’s democratic ideals. Artists in larger numbers than ever before resolved to use their art to effect change. In seeking to mobilize collective energies against racial and class oppression and industrial capitalism, they turned for inspiration to the Mexican muralists, whose work was steeped in leftist social and political content. Taking their cue from these role models, artists in the United States embraced the belief that art had a social role. By depicting episodes of violence against workers as well as against Black Americans and other minorities, they hoped to provoke public outrage that would ultimately lead to a more just society. Among the most frequent subjects were police brutality against unionized labor, injustice against political radicals, and racial terror in the form of lynching.

A long mural with a man at the center surrounded by various people and statues.
A long mural with a man at the center surrounded by various people and statues.

Diego Rivera, Man, Controller of the Universe, 1934. Fresco, 15 ft. 9 in. × 37 ft. 6 in. (4.8 × 11.4 m). Palacio de Bellas Artes, INBAL, Mexico City. © 2019 Banco de México Diego Rivera Frida Kahlo Museums Trust, Mexico, D.F. / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Reproduction authorized by El Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes y Literatura, 2019

Diego Rivera, Man, Controller of the Universe, 1934

A painting depicting a crying child in a red toga in a dystopian landscape.
A painting depicting a crying child in a red toga in a dystopian landscape.

David Alfaro Siqueiros, Echo of a Scream, 1937. Enamel on wood, 48 × 36 in. (121.9 × 91.4 cm). The Museum of Modern Art, New York; gift of Edward M. M. Warburg, 1939. © 2019 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / SOMAAP, Mexico City. Image © The Museum of Modern Art/Licensed by SCALA / Art Resource, NY

David Alfaro Siqueiros, Echo of a Scream, 1937

A painting depicting a gruesome clash between police and a group of people.
A painting depicting a gruesome clash between police and a group of people.

Philip Evergood, American Tragedy, 1937. Oil on canvas, 29 1/2 × 39 1/2 in. (74.9 × 100.3 cm). Harvey and Harvey-Ann Ross

Philip Evergood, American Tragedy, 1937

A color sketch depicting two people being attacked in an alley.
A color sketch depicting two people being attacked in an alley.

Anton Refregier, Sand Lot Riots, color sketch for Rincon Annex, Post Office, San Francisco, California, 1946–47. Tempera and watercolor on composition board painted with gesso, 18 3/4 × 16 in. (47.6 × 40.6 cm). Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, New York; gift of Susan and Steven Hirsch, class of 1971 2015.23.1.21

Anton Refregier, Sand Lot Riots, color sketch for Rincon Annex, Post Office, San Francisco, California, 1946–47

A sepia-toned drawing depicting five individuals and a baby.
A sepia-toned drawing depicting five individuals and a baby.

Mitchell Siporin, Cartoon for Abraham Lincoln and John Peter Altgeld mural, U.S. Post Office, Decatur, Illinois, c. 1938. Charcoal on paper, 52 × 66 in. (132.2 × 167.7 cm). University of Kentucky Art Museum, Lexington; allocated by the U.S. Government Federal Art Project 1943.2.31

Mitchell Siporin, Cartoon for Abraham Lincoln and John Peter Altgeld mural, U.S. Post Office, Decatur, Illinois, c. 1938

Artists

Explore works from this exhibition
in the Whitney's collection

View 10 works

On the Hour

A 30-second online art project:
Frank WANG Yefeng, The Levitating Perils #2

Learn more about this project

Learn more at whitney.org/artport

On the Hour projects can contain motion and sound. To respect your accessibility settings autoplay is disabled.