The Muralist Movement
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Art, as we all know it, is made up of diverse art materials that reflect various points of view or notions, or it might just be an interaction between paint and a brush. As spectators, one’s work may sometimes help us to escape reality, some of which we typically lose sight of. According to respected geologists, the American continents include some of the world’s most ancient places. The Iberian peoples, which make up the majority of the peoples of the Americas, were intrusive in two different epochs: they arrived during the Inca culture, which began with a small group from ten to twenty thousand years ago and ended with the migration of the Inca. The last one is where we can enjoy a mural that depicts its past being like a Neolithic forest.
The mural was preserved by Ilvo Manzano and José Vasconcelos for many years. It is located in Mexico City’s Museum of Pre-Hispanic Art (Museo Nacional de Antropología) and it shows people from a race which colonized America at least 4500 years ago. The discovery of this painting has been part of the most important articles that discuss a particular race in the history of America. There is also a sculpture, which was made by Iberian artists, representing these people. The figure described above has a very special feature: it is an extinct species who lived in America 10,000 years ago.
These continent’s most ancient people are called “atlanteans”. It seems that their existence lasted for thousands of years before they became extinct. Some scientists believe that the cause of this was a comet that struck the earth; others say it was because they had to defend themselves against enemies although there is no evidence of any such attack. From the mural, it is known that these people arrived to the islands of South America in several groups. The oldest one was called “Uqba”. A few hundred years after their arrival, a group called “Robinson” came to Antarctica. In the next period, called “Crowther”, they sailed in great ships across both Americas, reaching Tierra del Fuego (Northern Chile) and also islands of Australia and Easter Island (Tahiti). It was marked by social evolution. The first ones were technologically advanced; they could plant crops and grow fruit trees.
By firmly rooting art and culture in national heritage, Jose Vasconcelos and the muralist artists attempted to reverse Mexico’s aesthetic and intellectual dependence on foreign models. In the Introduction to his “Manifesto of Muralism” (1927), Vasconcelos wrote: The muralists were influenced by painters in the Mexican School of Painting and other international contacts, however they also incorporated modern artistic trends, including Cubism, Symbolism, and Surrealism as a means to express their country’s unique cultural identity. The Mexican muralist movement is related to international artistic currents such as Realism, Cubism, and Symbolism. In the 1920s, the Mexican muralist movement took on a great significance; it “stood at the center of a vast network of cultural exchange organized by European and American intellectuals who believed that their own countries would be saved from a rising tide of fascism and barbarism only by the ‘integral’ transformation of their societies.” During this period in America there was an explosion of murals being generated across the nation. The movement was manifested in the creation of a variety of muralists and artists.
These artists had the freedom of expression necessary to produce the art with the intention of raising the consciousness of their countrymen. Vasconcelos envisioned that murals would teach Mexicans about their history, culture, language and traditions. The goal was to transcend national boundaries. Vasconcelos wrote: “My dream is that one day in Mexico there will be more murals, more ideas in them.” Vasconcelos’ manifesto was a call for local community control, for muralists working as part of a national effort to bring out the inner richness of Mexican heritage. It was also a call for art that was thoroughly Mexican rather than imported from abroad.
In conclusion, these muralists marked the beginning of a new way of looking at art as a communication tool. The Mexican murals also promoted national self-determination. *Jose Vasconcelos (1881-1964) was one of the most important muralists and artists in Mexico. He is widely considered to be one of the founders of modern Mexican art, and helped to shape the development of modern Mexican muralism with his work. “The Problems of Life in Contemporary Mexico,” said Vasconcelos, “can only be solved by means of art.” This quote is often cited today as exemplifying his belief that art should express not just social or individual concerns but its relationship to society’s underlying structures and history.
References
(2022). Retrieved 12 March 2022, from https://www.csus.edu/indiv/o/obriene/art111/readings/vasconcelos%20cosmic%20race.pdfGmail. (2022). Retrieved 12 March 2022, from https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox/FMfcgzGmvTqZlBFTwZNcqXhzMBLwgXGb?projector=1&messagePartId=0.1
