Label Type
Cultural/Historical ContextLabel
"The 1968 lithograph entitled Volcanoes by David Alfaro Siqueiros is a testament to the Mexican cultural and artistic identity established through the perseverance of the artist and his political and creative compatriots – partners such as the reclusive Dr. Atl, the grim Jose Clemente Orozco, and the radical Diego Rivera. Together they became the source and face of the Mexican Muralist Movement, reeducating the populace with images of the turbulent formation of their country through political strife and their current plight amidst metaphorical representations of the land. The volcano, a consistent image in the Mexican horizon and the works of Siqueiros and his fellow artists, stands as both a depiction of the natural landscape and a symbol of the volatility of the country due to the volcano’s discordant and yet transcendent nature. The sublime power of the Mexican landscape is entirely representative of Siqueiros’s beliefs regarding the people of his homeland and their national identity, with this particular piece in all its gloomy glory a reflection on the past and Mexico’s revolutionary history.
His personal history was one of activism; beginning his career as a student at San Carlos, Siqueiros quickly joined the ranks of protesting students and entered the army to fight in the Mexican Revolution around 1914. Siqueiros embodies this spirit of the enthusiastic Mexican revolutionary in both action and work, often described as imbuing his mural artwork with a “passionate frenzy of insurgent emotion” – a description which aptly fits the moving lines of his ‘Volcanoes’. His participation early on in revolutionary thought and battle, combined with an aesthetic developed in Europe and during exile, combined to create a unique style of dynamic realism that unabashedly relays the true horrors of the revolution in vibrant colors; Volcanoes modestly reflects this adherence to realistic portrayal with the reflection of the blood red sky in splashes across the landscape surrounding the dark mountain. Siqueiros as an extreme political activist is in essence a revolutionary painter, his work characterized by bold lines and the personification of the populace; together with his fellow artists, Siqueiros saw the variegated aspects of his country – both its physical nature and the nature of his fellow natives – and created a purely Mexican style to reflect this rediscovered identity by using the most basic and essentially Mexican aspect of the natives’ lives: their land.
In this portrait, the volcano itself – a dark mass at the center of the print – is the focal point of the piece through color and placement. The color scheme is simple, using only the primary colors of red and yellow and a secondary green with lines of black to denote the lolling shape of the landscape. This scheme, in conjunction with the massive application of ink in undulating curves and jagged cross hatching texture over color blocks, is characteristic of the choice of medium: lithography. The capability of mass production through this particular medium combined with the subject matter is in itself a commentary, particularly on commerciality. It was the condemnation of European Modern Art and Cubists’ and Futurists’ participation in the commercial scene and galleries which prompted Dr. Atl, the father of the Mexican Muralist Movement and prime source of influence to Siqueiros, to begin his search for a Mexican identity free of the elitism so characteristic of European art. It is this ideal of the accessibility of art to the entire public that became the defining characteristic of the artistic movement rooted in muralist painting in Mexico. Siqueiros uses this medium, created by and common to European countries to fulfill commercial needs, to create a visceral and unique image of the Mexican landscape – all while still fulfilling his desire to make art a public affair. The constant pursuit of a new media or technical procedure in the creative process began a revolution in art from its inception, and proceeded to take form in his presentation, subject matter, and personal style. The crimson sky and the phosphorescent yellow of the cavernous hollows portend a darkened view of the landscape, the red littering the green of the ‘ground’ ominously. This bold and dark vision of the countryside is presented to stand for the people: the black mountainous terrain was home to the enslaved and tortured ancestors of the Mexican indigenous population as portrayed by Siqueiros’s 1951 mural Tormento de Cuauhtémoc: it was a source of safety for the revolutionaries fighting for the liberty of the Mexican peasant in Emiliano Zapata’s army, as characterized in Diego Rivera’s 1915 tableau entitled Zapatista Landscape: and it was a source of future rebirth as witnessed and recorded again and again by Dr. Atl in such pieces as his 20th century Paricutin. Altogether, Volcanoes stands as a representation of the past, present, and future of the Mexican people and their native land, the land they utilized in the fight against invasive politics and died to defend.
Jordan Russell
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David Siqueiros was born in Mexico in 1896 and during his lifetime, he moved around Europe and Mexico, but lived mostly in Mexico, painting murals. He stayed in Mexico until he was no longer allowed to produce murals because of his radical political views, depicted graphically in the scenes. He showed the struggle of the Mexican people for freedom and justice. He served in the military, was imprisoned, and in 1934 was named president of the National League against War and Fascism. Some of his works can be seen in the Museum of Modern Art in New York. One of his apprentices was Jackson Pollock whom Siqueiros taught, among other things, to use industrial materials. Siqueiros did not consider himself a member of the muralist movement, and he disagreed with Orozco’s style, calling it weak and romantic. Siqueiros produced around 30 to 40 prints portraying a variety of subjects.
The print of the two Volcanoes is a lithograph. The print is made in stages, applying the lightest color first and ending with the darkest hue, black. There is no date on the print but only Siqueiros’ signature in pencil. The colors used are two different shades of red, orange, yellow, blues, and greens. Different inks and a type of crayon were used in the print’s creation. It is the 161st in 250 printed. The curved lines of the landscape and volcanoes show a continual movement throughout the print. Most of the tones used are vibrant but Siqueiros also incorporates darker colors giving the print a somber feeling. The image is of two volcanoes in the background with hills and possibly a sleeping volcano in the foreground. The sky appears to represent sunset or day-break with the use of orange-red hues. A typical print or mural created by Siqueiros had a radical theme, and most of his lithographs were produced in jail. While his greatest works are murals, his lithographs include self-portraits and the struggle of the Mexican people, along with some natural scenes.
Cassie Kelley
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