Part of the “Big Three,” which also included Diego Rivera and David Alfaro Siqueiros, José Clemente Orozco (Zapotlán el Grande, México, 1883 - Ciudad de México, 1949) was one of the leading muralists of the second half of the 20th century in Mexico. First moving to Mexico City in 1890, Orozco encountered the printmaker José Guadalupe Posada, who became a pivotal influence on his work. He studied art at the Academia de San Carlos (1906–10) with the teacher Gerardo Murillo, known as Doctor Alt, who urged Orozco and all his students to reject European cultural domination and cultivate Mexican traits in their work.
Working in a highly expressionistic form of social realism, Orozco focused his painting on representing post-revolutionary Mexico—peasants and class struggle, the hardships of everyday life, social revolution, wars, and women in those wars. Zapata (1930) in the Art Institute’s collection is a classic example of Orozco’s stylistically powerful work. In 1917 negative reactions to his art from critics and moralists convinced him to move to the United States. When he returned to Mexico in 1920, he found the muralist movement had officially started and the new government of President Álvaro Obregón eager to sponsor his work. During the next years, his work achieved monumentality unprecedented in Mexican art. In 1927, when the Mexican government withdrew patronage and protection from Orozco and his fellow muralists and attacks came from conservatives, the artist moved to New York City, where he met American journalist Alma Reed. She became his agent and helped him exhibit widely and forge an international reputation.
In 1930 for a commission from Pomona College in Claremont, California, Orozco painted Prometheus, the first modern fresco created in the US. He completed Zapata while in San Francisco that same summer. Among subsequent commissions he received was the 1940 request from the Museum of Modern Art to create the centerpiece for their exhibition Twenty Centuries of Mexican Art. The following year, Orozco’s paintings and prints were exhibited in museums throughout the United States, including in Brooklyn and Philadelphia. In his later years, Orozco was recognized as a Mexican national hero, honored as the leader among those who raised his country’s art to a position of international eminence.
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
Orozco's work first gained international recognition in the late 1920s and early 1930s, when he began to exhibit in the United States. One of his earliest and most significant exhibitions took place in 1929 at The New School for Social Research in New York. During this period, he was able to introduce his powerful, socially and politically charged imagery to American audiences. His ability to communicate profound human suffering and the struggles of the Mexican people resonated strongly in the context of the social unrest and economic challenges of the time.
In 1930, Orozco's impact in the U.S. continued with an important exhibition organized by The American Federation of Arts in Washington, D.C. This solo exhibition provided a broader perspective on his work, showing his mastery of easel painting alongside his murals. This further established him as a significant figure in the American art scene, where his style—bold, emotive, and politically engaged—was both timely and innovative.
His standing in the U.S. was solidified in 1931 when the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York hosted a major exhibition of his work. The exhibition showcased both his murals and easel works, reflecting the depth of his artistry and his ability to transcend mediums. This exhibition was a significant milestone in his career, cementing his reputation as one of the most important artists of his generation on both sides of the border.
Returning to Mexico in the 1930s, Orozco continued to exhibit his work, and in 1940, his work was featured in the Exposición Nacional de Bellas Artes in Mexico City. This retrospective highlighted his key contributions to Mexican art and muralism, celebrating his revolutionary approach to depicting the struggles of humanity. This exhibition underscored the enduring impact of his work in his homeland, where he was increasingly seen as a visionary artist.
In addition to solo exhibitions, Orozco's work was featured in several important group exhibitions, often alongside fellow Mexican muralists such as Diego Rivera and David Alfaro Siqueiros. In 1932, his work was included in a group exhibition at the Art Institute of Chicago, which brought Mexican muralism to a wider international audience. This exhibition underscored the importance of muralism as a vital, socially engaged art form during the interwar period.
Perhaps one of the most important group exhibitions that included Orozco's work took place in 1936 at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York. This exhibition, titled Mexican Muralists in the United States, showcased the influence of Mexican muralists on American art and culture, emphasizing the significant impact figures like Orozco, Rivera, and Siqueiros had on the U.S. art scene.
