Uncommissioned Mural Analysis

The ever so common breach of artist freedom was brought to life in 1934 when Diego Rivera’s commissioned painting, Man at the Crossroads, was destroyed for its controversial content. This piece, originally commissioned by the Rockefellers to place on the ground floor of Rockefeller Center, representing hope and a new future. Rivera’s depiction of this began with painting a man controlling a machine at the center of the mural, surrounded by what Rivera called “elongated ellipses” that were filled alternately with cell patterns and cosmological explosions (qtd. In Social History of the United States 325). Within his first few weeks of painting the mural, the New-York World Telegram called the mural “anti-capitalist propaganda”. After Rivera saw this article he was outraged,he sent his assistant to get pictures of renown communist Vladimir Lenin quoting, “ If you want communism, I will paint communism” (qtd. In Destroyed by Rockefellers, NPR). After this addition, the news outlets went haywire and the Rockefellers tried to get Rivera to remove Lenin. When he wouldn’t they fired him and left the painting incomplete until it was destroyed by workers in 1934.

     Public art conquers so much more than the simple task of making the street a little easier to look at. It involves those who created it, those who supplied the means to create it, and those whose lives it continues to impact. Wall paintings in particular take an important role in working for a greater good. Judith F. Baca, a Hispanic-American woman and artist- activist has contributed an unaccountable amount to the mural movement in Los Angeles. She has accomplished this by giving individuals the chance to create art and develop a sense of pride, she has taught younger generations a respect for their ethnic identity, and from the many walks of life that continue to view her

Society seems to change and advance so rapidly throughout the years but there has always seemed to be a history, present, and future when it comes to the struggles of the African Americans. The hatred of a skin tone has caused people to act in violent and horrifying ways including police brutality, riots, mass incarcerations, and many more. There are three movements the renaissance, civil rights, and the black lives matter movements that we have focused on. Our artist come from different eras but have at least one similarity which is the attention on black art.

The idea of the Chicano community muralism as a requirement for the “art of place” shows that the practice is specific to an area. Even though they are understood in the context of the history of a location, they rarely remain to be a still symbol of a certain moment or a place in the record of events from the past.

Since its founding, the Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) has been exhibiting and collecting works by contemporary artists. They have an ever-expanding collection of 20th- and 21st-century art that I had the pleasure of viewing, following its remodel in 2012. In addition to the permanent collection, a new innovative experience called the Black Box gallery introduces a new way of viewing the works of contemporary artists. The Black Box allows the viewer not only to see the work in a new way, playing with light but also hear and experience images in motion. The exhibit I went to see was curated by Kristen Hileman, the senior curator of contemporary art, and it features two screen-based works as opposed to displaying one as it usually does. The two artists featured were Kara Walker and Hank Willis Thomas.Within their works, both artists discuss the feeling and experiences associated with being black in America, specifically the historical significance of the legacy of slavery.

Not long after arriving in New York, Douglas became acquainted with German artist Winold Reiss. He influenced Douglas heavily and encouraged him to look at African-American art for motivation and “develop his own racially representative work.” 1 Reiss believed that an artist should get inspiration from their own experiences and wanted Douglas to identify with his own race.

Florida’s rich history often spotlights two distinctive groups; the plentiful Hispanic population, or the conventional Caucasian syndicate. What most people tend to overlook are the copious amounts of esteem found in Black History; a chronicle furnished on centuries of symbiotic suffering and triumph. Thousands of individuals have contributed to this amorphous embodiment, but there is one woman in particular that has succeeded in evolving our world’s views on art at

"...Our problem is to conceive, develop, establish an art era. Not white art painting black...let 's bare our arms and plunge them deep through laughter, through pain, through sorrow, through hope, through disappointment, into the very depths of the souls of our people and drag forth material crude, rough, neglected. Then let 's sing it, dance it, write it, paint it. Let 's do the impossible. Let 's create something transcendentally material, mystically objective. Earthy. Spiritually earthy. Dynamic." - Aaron Douglas.During the time of the harlem renaissance Aaron Douglas used his artwork to take pride in his african american culture. All of his artwork conveyed one common message and that was the role that African Americans played in society. All of this was seen in one of his major artworks which was the “Aspects of Negro Life,” mural on the 135th Street branch of the New York Public Library.

The murals depicted what we have been talking in class since the beginning of the first week. They were just a graphic representation of the struggle of the Chicano Movement and the Chicana Feminism. The painting on the wall showed that the Chicano History was more that a simple fact it was alive and it is still alive. I think that all the painting there was an expression of what Moraga call re-membering. Even though, I am not part of the chicano community, throughout those painting, I feel like I was re-membering the struggle that they faced at this time. I understood where the story started from and where it is going.

Within the painting there is a landscape of tall sculptures that seem to simultaneously resemble buildings as well as stones so a depiction of modern civilization and previous life is being portrayed. Within the picture there is also african americans who stand elevated alongside the towering buildings with instruments in their hands and bright colors to give their vibe. White ghostly hands reach for the hard working Black figure who is trying to reach for the high altitude where the man who is playing the music has reached. Just this one painting reflected the life of an African American within this time period. It reached a large portion of the nation's hearts and created in influence with other

for racial equality and cultural education. Many of these artists include but are not limited to:

Art is a conveyor of whatever message or story a person wishes to share. As a society, we’ve become accustomed to the abundance of diverse messages and stories stemming from a multitude of cultures and people of varying backgrounds. However, the art scene has not always been this representative of all people. Contemporary artists such as Titus Kaphar, Kerry James Marshall, and Norman Rockwell have taken it upon themselves to proclaim the importance and presence of African Americans in history. Using purposeful art composition and meaningful symbolism, these artists address the imbalance power between African Americans and whites in regards to the lack of representation of African Americans in the history of art. By addressing this imbalance

The stripes in the painting represents bars in a jail cell. The face in the picture is an African American woman that looks tired and worn out. She feels imprisoned because her right to vote is not given to her. As stated in class, the work of art questions patriotism, equality justice and happiness. The stripes on the American flag are a vertical shape and signify valor, purity, and justice. In the artwork the stripes are horizontal as a jail cell. Ringggold was trying to imply that African American do not have justice and are not treated equally to Whites. This artwork is abstract. It resembles real things in the real world but is

Throughout history, art has helped in different mediums to bring awareness to different issues and constructive messages to society. The Chicano movement started in the 1960s; the public wanted to repair social injustice. The Chicano movement encompassed a broad section of issues; from restoration of lands, to farm workers’ rights, to enhance education, to voting and political rights. At this moment many individuals were trying different ways to express their views and one of those ways was art. In the early years of the Chicano movement, Frank Romero established a reputation as one of the Chicano art heroes. Through murals Frank Romero expressed his thoughts and embodied a Chicano identity. His murals would not only connect with Mexicans, but with everyone. In his painting or art Romero would usually show everyday events in different views, opening the eyes of the viewer. Romero 's art would come out strong. Although Romero gained his fame with his murals, he is amazing in drawing, painting, ceramics, and sculptures. He is not just a remarkable Chicano artist, but an astonishing artist around the world.

Actually, On October 9 1932 the mural “Tropical America” was completed. In my personal visit of the mural I found its large scale body enhances its powerful features. In fact, the mural displays an indigenous man being crucified with an eagle standing right above him, in the background a destroyed mayan pyramid stands covered in vegetation, while a peruvian man and mexican man are armed pointing their guns at the eagle. Ironically, the first time I laid eyes on the mural I thought it represented the destruction of the conquistadors. In fact, the mural represents US imperialism represented as the eagle standing above the indigenous man thus, leading the armed men to defend themselves from the eagle in fear of being crucified. In fact due to the message of American Imperialism many anglos were not happy with the mural which lead it to be white washed and later discovered in the late