Peasants David Alfaro Siqueiros 1913

Peasants
David Alfaro Siqueiros 1913
From the collection of
Museo Nacional de Arte
Peasants is one of the early works of David Alfaro Siqueiros and shows the influence of the Open Air Painting Schools that were founded in 1913 by Alfredo Ramos Martínez in protest against the rigid régime and antiquated teaching methods of the National Fine Arts School. The foreground is occupied by a peasant couple who appear to be descending a mountain. The woman, who stares provocatively at the viewer, is carrying a sheaf of hay under her arm, while the man is carrying a bowl full of fruit. This work constituted a watershed in the artistic output of the National Fine Arts School, due to its freer brushwork, its distinctive use of color, and its reflection of the painter's interest in the minutiae of Impressionism. The artist has signed himself "Alfaro" in the upper-right-hand corner, as was his wont in his early works. His palette, with its use of yellows and blues, imbues the painting with an extraordinary luminosity. Having, for a long period, formed part of the collection of the Mexican art collector, Inés Amor, this piece entered the museum in 1993, thanks to the support of the MUNAL Trust.
Details
Title: Peasants
Date Created: ca. 1913
painter: David Alfaro Siqueiros
Provenance: Private collection, 1993
Physical Dimensions: w1870 x h1000 mm (complete)
Original Spanish object note: Campesinos es una de las primeras piezas realizadas por David Alfaro Siqueiros y muestra la influencia de las Escuelas de Pintura al Aire Libre fundadas por el maestro Alfredo Ramos Martínez en 1913, como protesta contra el sistema rígido y los anticuados métodos de enseñanza de la Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes. En el primer plano se observa una pareja de campesinos que parecen bajar de una montaña. La mujer mira de forma provocativa al espectador y lleva bajo su brazo un manojo de paja; mientras que el hombre carga con sus manos una bandeja llena de frutas. Esta obra representó un parteaguas en la producción artística de la institución académica, ya que las características de la pintura se transforman gracias a la pincelada más libre, la utilización del color y el interés del autor por conocer los elementos del impresionismo. En el extremo superior derecho se observa la firma del artista: "Alfaro", tal como acostumbraba hacerlo en sus primeras obras. Su paleta cromática aporta una luminosidad extraordinaria gracias al uso de los tonos amarillos y azules. Este lienzo perteneció por mucho tiempo a la colección de la galerista del arte mexicano Inés Amor, hasta que en el año de 1993, gracias al apoyo del Patronato del Museo Nacional de Arte, A.C., forma parte del acervo del MUNAL.
Original title: Campesinos
Type: drawing
Rights: Museo Nacional de Arte, INBA, http://www.munal.com.mx/rights.html
Medium: Pastel on paper

David Alfaro Siqueiros
Dec 29, 1896 - Jan 6, 1974

David Alfaro Siqueiros was a Mexican social realist painter, better known for his large murals in fresco. Along with Diego Rivera and José Clemente Orozco, he established "Mexican Muralism." He was a Stalinist and member of the Mexican Communist Party who participated in an unsuccessful attempt to assassinate Leon Trotsky in May 1940.
His surname would normally be Alfaro by Spanish naming customs; like Picasso and Lorca, Siqueiros used his mother's surname. It was long believed that he was born in Camargo in Chihuahua state, but in 2003 it was proven that he had actually been born in the city of Chihuahua, but grew up in Irapuato, Guanajuato, at least from the age of six. The discovery of his birth certificate in 2003 by a Mexican art curator was announced the following year by art critic Raquel Tibol, who was renowned as the leading authority on Mexican Muralism and who had been a close acquaintance of Siqueiros. Siqueiros changed his given name to "David" after his first wife called him by it in allusion to Michelangelo's David. Another factual confusion is the year of his birth: he was born in 1896, but many sources state 1898 or 1899.
http://hisour.com/art-medium/paintings/peasants-david-alfaro-siqueiros-1913/