Man of Fire: José Clemente Orozco
an illustrated talk by Jane Weissman
A community muralist and historian, Jane Weissman is co-director of Artmakers Inc. and co-author of On the Wall: Four Decades of Community Murals in New York City.
Beginning in 1922, Mexican artists Diego Rivera, David Alfaro Siqueiros and José Clemente Orozco produced extraordinary murals filled with startling, harrowing, memorable images that illuminated and commented on Mexican history, politics and culture. Of Los Tres Grandes (or the Three Great Ones, as they are commonly known), José Clemente Orozco (1883-1949) painted riveting murals that are considered by many, including this presenter, to be the strongest and most politically charged.
Orozco witnessed the carnage and treachery of the Mexican revolution (1910-20),
economic hardship following New York’s stock market crash in 1929 (he lived in the United States from1928-34 and painted murals at The New School and Dartmouth College), and the rise of fascism on his 1932 trip to Europe. From these experiences, Orozco developed an aesthetic and moral vision that informed his stinging, and often funny, characterizations of oppression, hypocrisy and greed. The only one of Los Tres Grandes who didn’t join a political party, Orozco was equally critical of government, the church and military. Like the subjects of his Prometheus (Pomona College) and
undisputed masterpiece Man of Fire (Guadalajara), he braved the flames, arriving at truths that continue to resonate today.
Info: Jane Weissman, urbecoart@aol.com or 212.989.3006
