The Mexican painter José Clemente Orozco is best known for his political murals initiating Mexican Muralism – a movement that began in the 1920s intending to unite the country after the Mexican Revolution. Through commissions, the government promoted murals that had potent social and political messages about the country’s history and future. The movement was led by Los Tres Grandes, the three great muralists: Orozco, Diego Rivera, and David Alfaro Siqueiros. Orozco’s works often depicted subjects related to political and historical events and allegories of the ongoing human struggle for freedom and justice.

Orozco was born in Jalisco, Mexico, and began to show interest in art in 1890 after his family moved to Mexico City. He initially enrolled to study agronomy, before switching to architecture at the National Preparatory School in Mexico City. He took night classes in drawing at the Academy of San Carlos and officially enrolled to study painting in 1907. The Mexican Revolution was a formative experience for Orozco, who worked at the time as a cartoonist, making political illustrations for local publications like The Vanguard – a revolutionary newspaper edited by painter and writer Gerardo Murillo, who assumed the name Dr. Atl.

Orozco joined the Muralist movement in 1923 when he was commissioned to paint the walls of the National Preparatory School in Mexico City, alongside Rivera, Siqueiros, Fernando Leal, and Jean Charlot. The project, which was part of an initiative led by the Minister of Public Education José Vasconcelos, ignited the Mexican Muralism movement. For artists like Orozco, Muralism served as a tool for social change and civic engagement, exploring themes of human suffering.

In 1927, the government withdrew its support and patronage from artists like Orozco, and public commissions became a rarity. The changing political climate also prompted attacks by critics and conservatives. Frustrated by the situation, Orozco along with many of his peers decided to leave Mexico in search of new opportunities. In 1927 he arrived in the United States, where he spent the next seven years. His first major commission was the mural Prometheus (1930) at Pomona College in California. Prometheus proved a great success, which led to other major mural projects like Call to Revolution and Table of Universal Brotherhood (1930-1931) at the New School in New York and The Epic of American Civilization (1932-1934) at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire.

Through these monumental projects, Orozco achieved international recognition, and in 1934 he returned triumphantly to Mexico. Upon his return, he was commissioned to paint Catharsis (1934) at the Palace of Fine Art in Mexico City. Catharsis presented a dystopian vision of humanity ravaged by industrialization and war. Orozco’s late works were characterized by a deep sense of anguish and pessimism as the artist grew skeptical about the future of humanity in the wake of sweeping technological advancements. In his final years, Orozco was considered a national hero that helped raise Mexican art to international prominence.

Source:

https://www.wikiart.org/en/jose-clemente-orozco