Description: This is an evocative and visually stirring Vintage MEXICAN Modern Mural WPA Revolution Soldier Painting, likely dating to the 1960's, which is rendered in the distinct visual style of the three Mexican Masters of Muralismo, or Los Tres Grandes, Diego Rivera (1886 - 1957), David Alfaro Siqueiros (1896 - 1974), and Jose Clemente Orozco (1883 - 1949). This piece depicts a Revolutionary Era Mexican soldier in the center, who holds a large machine gun in both hands, with his sombrero slouched forward over his eyes. Behind him are the portraits and bodies of his victims, and below him is a torn-up document covered in splotches of blood, with Spanish writing on it. I am not fluent in Spanish, and unfortunately, I cannot coherently translate this writing or make sense of what it means in regard to this painting. In the soldier's direct gaze, a mountainous plain, and a mother holding her small infant are visible. Perhaps they signify his next victims, or maybe his salvation? Signed: "Robert Woods" in the lower right corner. After some extensive research, I could not find any information on this fascinating and talented midcentury painter, but perhaps you know more about him or his work? Approximately 28 x 39 1/2 inches. Good overall condition for decades of age and storage, with mild - moderate scuffing, scratches, edge wear speckles of paint loss, and pressure marks throughout the surface of the painted canvas (please see photos carefully.) Acquired from an old collection in Los Angeles County, California. If you like what you see, I encourage you to make an Offer. Please check out my other listings for more wonderful and unique artworks! About this Artwork: The RevolutionFrom 1910 to 1920 civil war ravaged the nation as citizens revolted against dictator Porfirio DÃaz. At the heart of the Revolution was the belief—itself revolutionary—that the land should be in the hands of laborers, the very people who worked it. This demand for agrarian reform signaled a new age in Mexican society: issues concerning the popular masses—universal public education and health care, expanded civil liberties—were at the forefront of government policy.Mexican MuralismAt the end of the Revolution the government commissioned artists to create art that could educate the mostly illiterate masses about Mexican history. Celebrating the Mexican people’s potential to craft the nation’s history was a key theme in Mexican muralism, a movement led by David Alfaro Siqueiros, Diego Rivera, and Jose Clemente Orozco—known as Los Tres Grandes. Between the 1920s and 1950s, they cultivated a style that defined Mexican identity following the Revolution.The muralists developed an iconography featuring atypical, non-European heroes from the nation’s illustrious past, present, and future—Aztec (Mexica) warriors battling the Spanish, humble peasants fighting in the Revolution, common laborers of Mexico City, and the mixed-race people who will forge the next great epoch, like in Siqueiros’s UNAM mural. Los tres grandes crafted epic murals on the walls of highly visible, public buildings using techniques like fresco, encaustic, mosaic, and sculpture-painting.One of the earliest government commissions for a post-Revolution mural was for the National Preparatory School, a high school in Mexico City affiliated with UNAM. During the 1920s Los Tres Grandes and other artists completed works throughout the school’s expansive exteriors and interiors.
Price: 1350 USD
Location: Orange, California
End Time: 2024-12-01T01:10:33.000Z
Shipping Cost: 45 USD
Product Images
Item Specifics
All returns accepted: ReturnsNotAccepted
Type: Painting
Artist: Robert Woods
Unit of Sale: Single Piece
Signed By: Robert Woods
Size: Large
Signed: Yes
Period: Post-War (1940-1970)
Material: Canvas, Oil
Region of Origin: California, USA
Framing: Unframed
Subject: Boys, Children & Infants, Community Life, Family, Farming, Figures, Hunting, Ladies, Landscape, Men, Military, Monument, Silhouettes, States & Counties, Still Life, Tree, Women, Working Life, Mexico
Year of Production: 1960
Original/Licensed Reproduction: Original
Item Height: 28 in
Theme: Art, Cities & Towns, Conflicts & Wars, Continents & Countries, Cultures & Ethnicities, Domestic & Family Life, Exhibitions, Fashion, History, People, Politics, Portrait, Social History, Western
Style: Expressionism, Figurative Art, Mexican, Modernism, Portraiture, Surrealism, Muralism, Muralismo
Features: One of a Kind (OOAK)
Production Technique: Oil Painting
Country/Region of Manufacture: United States
Item Width: 39 1/2 in
Handmade: Yes
Time Period Produced: 1960-1969
