Indigenism and Social Realism

Indigenismo in Mexico: “the official attitude of praising and fostering

native values”

José Sabogal (Peru, 1888-1956),The Indian Major of Chincheros: Varayoc, oil, 1925

Emphasis is on ethnic pride: connection to pre-Spanish rulers of Peru

Compare: (right) Francisco Laso (Peru,1823-1869) The Indian Potter (or Dweller in the Cordillera), 1855, and Rest in the Mountains, 1859, oil, 54 in H

Rivera, Flower Day, 1925, encaustic on canvas (LACMA)

“a solemn celebration of contemporary native/mestizo life”

Rivera, National Palace Mural, The Great City of Tenochtitlán, 1929-35, daily life with flower seller and (below center) Flower Vender, oil on canvas, c. 1941

Diego Rivera, Flower Day, 1925 compared with Picasso, Three Women at the Spring, 1921

Siqueiros, Peasant Mother, 1929, o/c“Victory for the working classes will bring with it a unanimous flowering of ethnic art,

cosmologically and historically transcendent in the life of our race, comparable to that of our wonderful autochthonous civilization”

Siqueiros, Proletarian Mother, 1930 (INBA, Mexico City)

“You, the peasant on the land,fertilize the soil so that the fruitit bears is swallowed by the greedof profiteers and politicians, whileyou starve;…you, worker in the city,keep the factories going, weave thecloth, and create with your own handsmodern comforts to service prostitutesand drones while your bones shiverwith cold…” Siqueiros

Amauta, Peruvian vanguard review, Lima, September 1926, cover

“The assumption that the Indian question is an ethnic one is fostered by the most antiquated collection of imperialist ideas. The concept of racial inferiority served the white West’s program of conquest and expansion. To expect the emancipation of our indigenous peoples through the active hybridization of aboriginals and white immigrants is a piece of anti-sociological naïveté, conceivable only in the simple mind of an importer of merino sheep…” Mariátegui

José Carlos Mariátegui (1894-1930)Peruvian journalist, Marxist political Philosopher and activist. Read “The Indian Question” (Ades appendix 9.1)

Mario Urteaga (Peru, 1875-1957), Burial Procession, 1936, o/c (NYC MoMA)

Jesus Guerrero Galvan (Mexican, 1910-1973), I and My Future, 1951, o/c

Roberto Montenegro (Mexican, 1887-1968), Maya Women, 1926, o/c (NYC MOMA) (right) La Primera Dama, 1942, Oil on cardboard, 27.3 x 36 cm

Rivera in studio, 1956with Mexican folk art

Rivera, The Mansions of Xibalba, watercolor, Plate XV from Popol Vuh(right) Page from the Laud Codex (Toltec pictographs)

Diego Rivera, “The hero twins are summoned by bat messengers to play the ball game with the lords of the underworld”, watercolor, Plate IX from Popol Vuh

Jose Antonio da Silva (Brazil, 1909 -1996), The Cotton Harvest, 1948 o/c(below, left) Cotton Farming, 1950; (right) Self- Portrait, 1955

Candido Portinari (Brazil, 1903-1963), Coffee, 1936, oil(right) The Mestizo, 1934, oil

Emiliano di Cavalcanti (called Di Calvalcanti, Brazil, 1897-1976) (left) Samba 1925, o/c, 70 x 61”

(right) The Letter, lithograph, 1925