ARTH 599 Mexican Muralism

MEXICAN MURALISM (ARTH 472 002/599 003)

Class time: Wednesday 4:30-7:10 Location: Research 1 201 Professor: Michele Greet Email: [email protected] Phone: (703) 993-3479 Office: Robinson Hall B 371A Office Hours: Wednesday 3:00-4:00 or by appointment (please email me to let me know you will be coming, or to schedule a meeting for a different time)

Course Description: Mexican muralism emerged as a means for artists to promote the social ideals of the Revolution (1911-1920). Backed by political and cultural leaders, Mexican artists sought to build a new national consciousness by celebrating the culture and heritage of the Mexican people. This public monumental art also created a forum for the education of the populace about the living conditions of the peasantry. Despite the utopian objectives of the project, however, conflict emerged among the muralists and their sponsors as to how this vision should be achieved. This course will address the various aims and ideologies of the Mexican muralists and muralism’s impact in the United States. *This course includes a required embedded study abroad component in Mexico City over the spring break

Course Format: This class will consist of seminar-style discussions of assigned readings. In the first half of each class I will lecture on the topic assigned for that week. The second half of class will consist of critical assessment of the readings led by different students in the class. Written assignments will complement in-class discussions.

Writing Intensive requirement: This course fulfills all/in part the Writing Intensive requirement in the Art History major. It does so through 7 200-300-word reading response papers and the 2000 to 2500-word research paper. The research paper will be completed through a draft/feedback/revision process.

Research and Scholarship Intensive Course: This class is designated as a Research and Scholarship Intensive Course, which means that students are given the opportunity to actively participate in the process of scholarship and will make a significant contribution to the creation of a disciplinary-appropriate product. In this RS course, students will:  Engage in scholarly inquiry by reading and assessing primary and secondary art historical sources as well as assessing visual sources  Perform specialized research resulting in an original scholarly paper.  Communicate knowledge from an original scholarly project in a class presentation.

1 Objectives:  To acquire a comprehensive understanding of the Mexican Mural movement through a discussion of the historical, cultural, and artistic contexts in which the movement developed  To perform specialized research using the ideas discussed in class and resulting in a class presentation and research paper

Course Requirements:

Undergraduates:  Readings: Complete all reading before the class. If a reading is listed under February 1, for example, it should be completed before class on the 1st.

 Participation: (10% of your grade) Participation refers to both the content of your verbal contributions as well as your attention and response to others’ comments. The GMU catalogue reads: “Students are expected to attend the class periods of the courses for which they register…instructors may use absence, tardiness, or early departure as de facto evidence of non- participation.” To get an A for participation you need to actually contribute to class discussions. Your participation grade will be reduced according to attendance after 2 absences. You will not pass the class if you miss more than 50% of the class sessions no matter how well you do on other assignments.

 Reading response papers: (20% of your grade) Specific instructions to be posted on blackboard. 1 of the responses will be a travel journal. (you must turn in at least 7 out of 10 possible response papers).

 Tour guide presentation: (10% of your grade) You will be responsible for researching and presenting on one mural panel (5-10 min.) of your choosing during the Mexico City trip. This presentation should relate to your paper topic.

 Paper topic proposal: (10% of your grade) One page abstract, which summarizes the topic and research question to be investigated in your paper and an annotated bibliography of at least 8-10 sources.

 Presentation: (20% of your grade) 20-minute presentation of your research topic to be followed by class discussion (powerpoint or poster). The issues raised in the discussion following your presentation should inform the final revisions to your research paper. As a means to disseminate your research art history faculty and interested art history students from lower division classes will be invited to attend.

 Final Research Paper: (30% of your grade) 8-10 page research paper, specific assignment to be handed out in class. You will be required to turn in a draft of your paper for review.

2  Students are encouraged to submit their final paper to the OSCAR Celebration of Scholarship conference https://oscar.gmu.edu/students/celebrations-of-student- scholarship/, GMReview, or another undergraduate research publication such as Pittsburgh Undergraduate Review http://www.pur.honorscollege.pitt.edu/ (Other options may be found at https://oscar.gmu.edu/students/student-scholarship- publications/ ) Students interested in pursuing this option should meet with the professor individually to refine the paper for submission.

Graduate Students:  Readings: Complete all reading before the class. If a reading is listed under September 1, for example, it should be completed before class on the 1st.

 Lead discussion: (5% of your grade) Each student will be required to lead a discussion of the assigned readings in one class.

 Reading response papers: (20% of your grade) Specific instructions to be posted on blackboard. 1 of the responses will be a travel journal. (you must turn in at least 8 out of 10 possible response papers).

 Tour guide presentation: (5% of your grade) You will be responsible for researching and presenting on one mural panel (5-10 min.) of your choosing during the Mexico City trip. This presentation should relate to your paper topic.

 Paper topic proposal: (10% of your grade) One page abstract, which summarizes the topic and research quesiton to be investigated in your paper and an annotated bibliography of at least 15-20 sources.

 Final Research Paper: (30% of your grade) 15-18 page research paper, specific assignment to be handed out in class.

3 Grading Standards: C is the average expected performance of a college Student. To receive a C you must complete all readings and assignments on time, demonstrate a basic knowledge of the material, and write competently (all assignments must be well organized and have correct spelling and grammar). To receive a B your work must be substantially better than average and to receive an A truly exceptional. A work is meticulously researched, well written, and imaginative and goes above and beyond the assignment.

A+ 98-100 C+ 77-79 A 93-97 C 73-76 A- 90-92 C- 70-72 B+ 87-89 D 60-69 B 83-86 F 59 and lower B- 80-82

Technology Requirements:  GMU requires you to activate your GMU e-mail account to receive official campus communications. If you prefer to use another address, you must activate the e-mail forwarder. I will use GMU addresses exclusively.  Blackboard; Web access and searching ability  All written work must be word-processed, spell-checked, and printed on a quality printer

Important dates:

Jan. 29 Last day to add classes Feb. 21 No class. I’m at a conference Feb. 23 Last day to drop classes Mar. 6 Gallery Talk at SAAM (attend if you can) Mar. 7 Abstract and annotated bibliography due Mar. 10-17 Spring Break: Mexico City! Apr. 11 Drafts due May 2 Last day of class May 7 Research papers due. No class

Policies:  Students are responsible for all material covered in class (announcements, lectures, discussions) whether you are present or not.  Late assignments are not acceptable. Any work turned in late without a valid written excuse (i.e. doctor’s note) will be graded down one grade per class late. If an assignment is not turned in by the last day of class you will be given a 0 for that assignment. If you are having difficulty completing an assignment please see me well before the assignment is due. If I am aware of your circumstances I am more than willing to work with you.  Make-up presentations or extensions will be granted only in the case of documented emergencies.  GMU operates with an Honor Code. It is clearly defined in the catalogue (https://oai.gmu.edu/mason-honor-code/full-honor-code-document/ ) Plagiarism (presenting someone else’s ideas or words as your own without proper acknowledgement) violates the Honor Code. I will notify the Honor Committee concerning possible infractions.  Cell phones must be silenced during class.  Accommodations will be made for students with documented disabilities, in accordance with law and university policies. Students requiring accommodations must register with the University’s Disability Resource Center and produce documentation. Please do this well before the first test or presentation in case alternate arrangements need to be made.  If English is your second language, I encourage you to turn in a rough draft of your paper at least one week before it is due. If needed I will recommend that you work with the Writing Center. All final papers must be in good standard English.

5 Other important resources:  Diversity o Mason values diversity; through the Office of Diversity, Inclusion, and Multicultural Education (ODIME), Mason seeks to create and sustain inclusive learning environments where all are welcomed, valued, and supported  Religious holidays o University Life religious holiday calendar http://ulife.gmu.edu/calendar/religious- holiday-calendar/ it is the obligation of students, within the first two weeks of the semester, to provide faculty members with the dates of major religious holidays on which they will be absent due to religious observances  Student privacy o student privacy and student rights under FERPA http://registrar.gmu.edu/ferpa/  Student services o Online Education Services, University Libraries http://library.gmu.edu/for/online o Writing Center http://writingcenter.gmu.edu/ o Counseling and Psychological Services http://caps.gmu.edu/

Textbooks: Desmond Rochfort, Mexican Muralists: Orozco, Rivera, Siqueiros (San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 1998).

Alejandro Anreus, Robin Adèle Greeley, and Leonard Folgarait, Mexican Muralism: A Critical History (Berkeley, Los Angeles, London: University of California Press, 2012).

All other readings will be posted on blackboard.

Schedule of weekly topics and reading assignments:

January 24: Introduction: Mexican Culture and the Revolution Reading: Rochfort Introduction and chapter 1; Anreus Introduction

January 31: The Origins of the Mural Movement Reading: Rochfort chapters 2 and 3 (pp. 33-40) Primary sources: David Alfaro Siqueiros, “Three Appeals for the Current Guidance of the New Generation of American Painters and Sculptors,” trans. in Mari Carmen Ramírez and Héctor Olea, Inverted Utopias: Avant-Garde Art in Latin America (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2004), 458-59. Originally published in Vida Americana, Barcelona, (May 1921) (on blackboard). José Vasconcelos, The Cosmic Race (Baltimore and London: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1997), 3-22. Originally published in 1925 (on blackboard). Secondary source (for response paper): Robin Greeley, “Muralism and the State in Post-Revolution Mexico, 1920-1970,” chapter 1 in Anreus, pp. 13-36.

February 7: José Clemente Orozco

6 Reading: Rochfort chapter 3 (pp. 40-50) Primary source: José Clemente Orozco, “Three Unpublished Writings” in The Artist in New York: Letters to Jean Charlot and Unpublished Writings (1925-1929). Foreword and notes Jean Charlot, trans. Ruth L. C. Simms (Austin and London: University of Texas Press, 1974), 87-93 (on blackboard). José Clemente Orozco, “New World, New Races and New Art,” in Anreus pp. 321-322. Originally published in Creative Art v. 2, no. 1 (Jan. 1929) (on blackboard). Secondary sources (for response paper): Alejandro Anreus, “Los Tres Grandes: Ideologies and Styles” chapter 2 in Anreus 37-55 (focus on Orozco in comparison to Rivera and Siqueiros). Leonard Folgarait, “The First Murals: José Clemente Orozco,” excerpt from Mural Painting and Social Revolution in Mexico, 1920-1940: Art of the New Order (Cambridge, New York, and Melbourne: Cambridge University Press, 1998), 55-75 (on blackboard).

February 14: Diego Rivera Reading: Rochfort chapters 3 (pp. 50-81) and 4 (pp. 83-98) Primary source: David Alfaro Siqueiros, Diego Rivera, et. al. “Manifesto of the Syndicate of Technical Workers, Painters, and Sculptors,” trans. in Anreus pp. 319-321. Originally published in El Machete Mexico City (June 1924). Secondary sources (for response paper): Mary K. Coffey, “The ‘Mexican Problem:’ Nation and ‘Native’ in Mexican Muralism and Cultural Discourse” in The Social and the Real: Political Art in the 1930s in the Western Hemisphere, eds. Alejandro Anreus, Diana Linden, and Jonathan Weinberg (State College: Penn State University Press, 2006): 43-70 (on blackboard). Mary Coffey, “’All Mexico on a Wall: Diego Rivera’s Murals at the Ministry of Public Education” chapter 3 in Anreus 56-73.

February 21: No class, I’m at a conference *Go see Tamayo: The New York Years exhibition at the Smithsonian Museum of American Art (you may write a response paper on the exhibition if you wish)

February 28 David Alfaro Siqueiros Reading: Rochfort chapters 5 (pp. 145-159) and 7 Primary source: David Alfaro Siqueiros, “Corrections about Visual Arts,” in Mari Carmen Ramírez and Héctor Olea, Inverted Utopias: Avant-Garde Art in Latin America (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2004), 471-72. Excerpt of a lecture delivered in Mexico City in 1932 (on blackboard). David Alfaro Siqueiros, “Toward a Transformation of the Plastic Arts,” in Anreus pp. 332-335 (1934). Secondary sources (for response paper): Jennifer Jolly, “Siqueiros’ Communist Proposition for Mexican Muralism: A Mural for the Mexican Electricians’ Syndicate,” in Anreus chapter 4, pp. 75-92.

7 Optional for undergraduates: Mari Carmen Ramírez, “The Masses are the Matrix: Theory and Practice of the Cinematographic Mural in Siqueiros,” in David Alfaro Siqueiros: Portrait of a Decade (1930-1940). Exh. Cat. Mexico City: INBA, 1997, 68-95 (on blackboard).

March 6: Professor Greet and colleagues are giving a gallery talk for Tamayo: The New York Years, Smithsonian Museum of American Art, 5:30pm (attend if you can)

March 7: Beyond the Tres Grandes ABSTRACT AND ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY DUE Reading: Secondary sources (for response paper): Tatiana Flores, “Murales Estridentes: Tensions and Affinities between Estridentismo and Early Muralism,” in Anreus, chapter 6 pp. 108-124. Esther Acevedo, “Young Muralists at the Abelardo L. Rodríguez Market” in Anreus, chapter 7 pp. 125-147.

March 10-17: Mexico City!!!

March 21: Ideological Paradoxes: Diego Rivera in the United States Short Video: Diego Rivera the Age of Steel (30 min.) Reading: Rochfort chapter 5 (pp. 121-137) Primary source: Diego Rivera, “The Revolutionary Spirit in Modern Art” in Anreus pp. 322-330. Originally published in The Modern Quarterly, v. 6, no. 3 (Baltimore: Autumn 1932). “Rockefellers Ban Lenin in RCA Mural and Dismiss Rivera” in Patrick Frank ed. Readings in Latin American Modern Art (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2004): 36-42. Originally published in the New York Times, May 10, 1933 (on blackboard). Secondary source (for response paper): Anna Indych-López, “Mexican Muralism in the United States,” in Anreus, chapter 11, pp. 208-226. Robert Linsley, “Utopia Will Not Be Televised: Rivera at Rockefeller Center,” Oxford Art Journal 17, 2 (1994), 48-62. (available through Jstor)

March 28: Universal Ideologies: José Clemente Orozco in the United States Reading: Rochfort chapter 4 (pp 99-119) Primary source: José Clemente Orozco, “Orozco ‘Explains,’” in Anreus 335-337. Originally published in The Bulletin of the Museum of Modern Art v. 7, no 4 (Aug. 1940). Secondary source (for response paper): Leonard Folgariat, “José Clemente Orozco’s Use of Architecture in the Dartmouth Mural” in Anreus, chapter 5, pp 93-107.

April 4: Late Murals: Rivera, Orozco, Siqueiros Reading: Chapters 5 (137-145) and 6

8 Primary sources: Marta Traba “Two Theories of Contemporary Mexican Painting” Patrick Frank ed. Readings in Latin American Modern Art (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2004): 86-90. Originally published in Prisma (Bogotá, Colombia) January 1957. José Luis Cuevas “The Cactus Curtain” in Patrick Frank ed. Readings in Latin American Modern Art (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2004), 187-193. Originally published in Evergreen Review, 1959. Secondary Source (for response paper): Excerpt from Mary Coffey, How a Revolutionary Art Became Official Culture: Murals, Museums, and the Mexican State (Durham: Duke University Press, 2012). TBD.

April 11: PAPER DRAFTS DUE In class editing workshop Video: Siqueiros Artist and Warrior (59 min.)

April 18: Presentations

April 25: Presentations

May 2: Presentations

May 7: Final Papers Due; no class

9 Discussion Leaders:

Each week one graduate student is responsible for leading the weekly discussion of the assigned readings, according to the guidelines below. You must come to class prepared to discuss the readings every week (part of your grade depends upon your sustained participation in the weekly discussions). Your presentation and should be organized as follows:

Primary Source(s):

1) Briefly summarize the content of the manifesto/writing.

2) What is the author’s tone?

3) What are the outstanding characteristics of this manifesto/writing?

4) How does the text help us to understand the artist’s perspective?

Secondary Source(s):

1) Briefly summarize the article(s).

2) What is the author’s main argument?

3) How does the author support his/her argument? What types of evidence are employed?

4) What is the author’s perspective/angle?

5) Do you agree or disagree with the author? Why or Why not?

Questions: Prepare three questions based on the readings to help guide the class discussion. The questions should not require a yes/no answer, but rather provoke thoughtful response.