Since the early twentieth century, mural art in urban landscapes and institutional spaces in Mexico and the United States have been the sites of extraordinary creativity and intense controversy. These are the concrete canvases where stories are told, identities are asserted, and communities are imagined. This course begins with a focus on the work of José Clemente Orozco, Diego Rivera and David Alfaro Siqueiros, who began their careers in Mexico, but who also produced significant and highly politicized art in the US. We will analyze many reproductions of Rivera’s and Orozco’s art and view
documentaries and feature films that illustrate aspects of their lives. We will study how their work has influenced later generations of Latino/a mural and graffiti artists in the United States.