Cortez and the Cross

José Clemente Orozco’s The Epic of American Civilization is a culmination of Orozco’s perceptions on civilization, spanning the pre-Columbian era, up through the post-Cortez era. His views also touch upon topics such as education and nationalism, as well as Anglo-Saxon and working-class America. One issue that is apparent in numerous murals that Orozco has painted, is his contempt for Spanish colonialism and their invasion of not only Mexico, but all of Latin America. Orozco, in his mural Cortez and the Cross, portrays how the arrival of the Spanish, who justify Christianity as their reasoning for their own Manifest Destiny, also brought death and destruction to the indigenous people of Latin America.

In many of the preceding panels that come before Cortez and the Cross, Orozco depicts the myth of Quetzalcoatl, a mythical god, who becomes rejected by the Indians, banished by evil sorcerers and vows to return as a new age of pain and suffering against the very people who rejected to obey him. Orozco continues to allude to this myth by painting the Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortez, who stands proudly with armor on his body and sword in hand, in the center of the mural. With this prominent figure, Orozco is personifying the return of Quetzalcoatl, showing how his return has caused the Indians pain and suffering, as well as the downfall of their civilization. Orozco feels that Cortez embodies the prophesy promised by Quetzalcoatl, killing whole civilizations and standing high above the bodies that surround him. Personifying Quetzalcoatl through Cortez allows Orozco to draw the parallel between “the living myth of Quetzalcoatl”, a central theme, and the cruel reality of the Spanish landing in Latin America.

At first glance, the most apparent attribute of the mural is Orozco’s lack of color that he uses in the panel. While there are certain parts of the panel that are colored the most used color is gray and black. Orozco does this to give the panel a sort of dark and eerie feel that suggests to the viewer of how he felt about the arrival of Cortez and the Spanish. The body armor and sword of Cortez, which are both gray, are not only supposed to resemble tradition military attire, but also symbolize the destruction that is caused by Cortez on his quest to invade and conquer indigenous civilizations. The gray remnants of the buildings and infrastructure piled up behind Cortez, give way to the idea that Spanish colonialism brings nothing more than darkness and the demise of civilizations. Orozco’s use of the color gray provokes a somber feeling throughout the panel, establishing the idea that Spanish colonialism was chaotic and destructive. Where Orozco does use color, for example the painting of the flames burning the ships, seem to take on more of a historical meaning as the Cortez ordered his ships to be burned so that they could not leave. Orozco, though, still could have meant to accentuate the flames with a color other than gray to continue to give the mural a more tumultuous and ruinous feel.

In order to further emphasize the chaotic nature of the panel, Orozco also included a monk-like figure holding on to the cross. The man, like Cortez’s attire and the rubble in the mural, is also painted gray to show how he is also part of the destruction that is happening during that time. While the man is not physically taking part in destroying the civilization, he stands idly by and does not do anything to stop or prevent the chaos around him. The man is a representation of European civilization during that time, holding on to their religious beliefs, and believing that their beliefs justify the expansion of their culture and religion onto other civilizations. Painting the man’s eyes closed, Orozco wanted to illustrate the ignorance of society who turns a blind eye to the tactics carried out by men like Cortez in order to colonize these native people. European societies, like the man, refused to open their eyes and see the horrifying events, but rather lived in their own world, clinging to their own beliefs. By revealing the man’s refusal to acknowledge the steps that were taken to conquer these people and their land, Orozco was able to spot light society’s disregard for the human life not only in Latin America, during other periods of history.

Lying next to Cortez on the ground is a pile of dead bodies that have fallen victim to the invasion of foreigners. Taking a closer look at the bodies, there are what seems to two different types of dead bodies on the ground: lighter skinned bodies and dark skinned bodies. One of the light-skinned bodies in the pile has his arm twisted in what seems to be a piece of machinery, suggesting that the indigenous people of the land were overcome by the Spanish’s technologically advanced weaponry and machinery. These advancements were too much for the native people, rendering them helpless and causing them to fall victim to new technologies which they were unfamiliar with. Orozco captures the essence of the human body and spirit being twisted and crushed by these modern technologies. While Orozco certainly wanted his viewers to understand just how brutal Cortez and the Spanish were to the natives, its seems as if Orozco was also hinting at the enslavement of African Americans during the pre-Civil War era.

In the panel, one of the central themes that Orozco is addressing, is the treatment of other human beings and the blatant disregard for human life. Although Orozco highlights the maltreatment of the indigenous people of Latin America by Cortez, Orozco also seems to touch on the abuse of other races in history. Directly behind and between the legs of Cortez are the images of two people who are darker-skinned than the other dead bodies in the panel. The darker-skinned bodies are suggestive of the treatment of slaves brought to the United States from Africa. Seeing Cortez standing over the arm of one of the darker-skinned bodies is implicative of how Whites believed they were superior to slaves before the Civil War and even after the war. Orozco’s inclusion of the dead bodies in the mural, both dark and light-skinned, give perspective to how brutal certain demographics of people have been treated throughout history.

Throughout all the panels of The Epic of American Civilization, Orozco continually reiterates the terrifying images of the Spanish causing nothing more than death and destruction in attempts to conquer and convert native civilizations. In the panel, Cortez and the Cross, his use of dark colors, especially gray and black, emphasize the amount of carnage and damage that Cortez and the Spaniards brought with them as they made their way through Latin America. Orozco also eludes to the Spaniard’s use of Christianity to justify the killings and maltreat of the indigenous people, as well as the rest of the world’s reluctance to care for what is happening in Latin America during that time. While there are many ways to interpret the stylistic choice and the meaning of the images within the mural, there is no disputing the fact José Clemente Orozco was certainly pessimistic of the Spanish invasion of Latin America and the treatment of other human beings throughout history.