First two chapters of The Mexican Muralists - Book Report/Review Example

Communist Ideals in Rivera and Orosco’s Murals In their paintings of Rivera and Orosco uphold Marxist ideals in two ways:first, their works embody the struggle of the proletariat for justice and equality against the exploitation of the Mexican bourgeoisies through a unified self-aware class. Like Odets’ “waiting for Lefty”, or Steinbeck’s “The Grapes of Wrath”, paintings of these artists reinforce the idea that the proletariat must resort to struggle and revolt against the class exploitation and sacrifice their individual life for the greater interest of the unified proletariat class, since the exploiting bourgeois class has not left any other options.

Whereas Rivera’s painting shows a clear inclination toward highlighting sacrifice, of the proletariat class, merged with Christian belief of sacrifice, Orosco’s paintings tend to uphold the exploitation itself. A number of Rivera’s murals have used the abstraction of crucified Jesus. But necessarily Rivera’s mural does not mean to be infused with Christian zeal, rather the crucified posture of the sacrificial proletariat is meant to earn reverence from other. On the other hand, in Orosco’s paintings, the grim and horrible reality of the class-exploitation has been revealed before the viewers.

These two artists have chosen mural as a medium of expressing their communist zeal since mural as a popular form of public art is popular among the common people. Unlike other forms of art, murals are easily perceivable and entertaining in plain eye. Since a mural is viewable in public places by common people and it presents the common belief, myths and morals through a set of popular imagery, it was the perfect mass medium for these two artists to reach more people than any other form of art allows.

Works Cited