Jose Orozco - Paperless PTO Year After Year

1883-1994
JOSE OROZCO
Self-Portrait - Jose
Clemente Orozco
Jose Orozco was born on November 23, 1883 in Jalisco, Mexico.
Jalisco is one of the 31 Mexican States
Coat of
arms
Jalisco,
Mexico
Flag
When Jose Orozco was a young boy he met Jose Guadalupe Posada. A local
cartoon illustrator and artist. Orozco considered Posada’s art a great influence on
his own artwork.
"Gran calavera eléctrica" (Grand electric skull) by José
Guadalupe Posada, 1900-1913
When Jose Orozco was 17 he lost his
left hand and some vision in one of his
eyes as a result of a gun-powder and
a school laboratory accident.
When his father died, Orozco had to get
a job to help support his family.
He found work as a political cartoonist.
He worked from 1911 to 1924 for local
newspapers.
He married Margarita Valladares,
and had three children
.
Jose Orozco studied at
the San Carlos
Academy of Fine arts in
Mexico City
Orozco had a critical view of the Mexican Revolution. He was
uncomfortable with the bloody toll the war was taking on people. His
paintings were his voice and often showed the struggle of the people
against their oppressors.
Jose Orozco was very politically active and witnessed many horrors
first hand.
He is considered one of the most complex of the 3 Great Mexican
muralists - Jose Orozco, Diego Rivera, and David Alfaro Siqueiros.
Orozco used dark colors to represent
human cruelty and the reality of war.
Orozco craved uniqueness and didn’t
want his artwork to be placed in any one
category.
His murals depict suffering and human conflict in a pessimistic and skeptical
way.
His art shows the never ending cycle of humanity's self destruction and moral
decay in a frightening manner.
He was fascinated by machines. Orozco often painted machinery as
dehumanizing and destructive.
He felt machines were replacing humans. Human beings were being
replaced by robots without a brain, heart, or free will.
Orozco’s paintings did not always show
government leaders in a favorable way.
He was very critical of their actions and
in 1927 the government withdrew their
support and protection from Orozco and
his fellow muralists.
He feared for his safety and fled
Mexico. He moved to the United States.
Humiliated in his own country, he tried
to create an international reputation that
would force his country to recognize his
value as an artist.
Orozco spent a total of 10 years in the
United States and created four major
murals.
Orozco started to become known in American art circles.
He was commissioned in 1930 to paint a major mural in the dining room of
Pomona College in Claremont, California.
“Prometheus” was Orozco's first work in this country and the first
Mexican mural in North America. Orozco started the Mexican Mural
Movement.
Jose Orozco’s second series of murals
The New School Frescoes
The Allegory of Science, Labor, and Art
The Homecoming of the Worker of the New Day
They were
painted
between
November
1931 and
January 1932,
in Manhattan,
New York
The Fraternity of All Men at the Table of
Brotherhood and Ultimate Universality
The New School
Frescoes cont.
Struggle in the Occident: Carrillo Puerto and Lenin
and the Bolshevik Revolution
Struggle in the Orient: Slavery, Imperialism
and Gandhi
Orozco painted the injustices he saw. He did
not care who he offended. He continued to
promote the political causes of peasants and
workers.
His Third Mural series in the United States
was at
Dartmouth College
For 2 years, Orozco painted at the College in Hanover, New
Hampshire.
He had been commissioned after receiving a recommendation by
Nelson Rockefeller, the 41st Vice President of the United States. He
painted a mural in the Reading Room. The impressive 150-foot mural
is known as The Epic of American Civilization.
Dartmouth College
He needed assistance to prepare
the walls. This was a difficult task
with only one hand. However, he
did all the painting alone.
Fourth Major Mural in United States
The Museum of Modern Art.
Orozco again shows his feelings
towards machines and technology.
Orozco returned to Mexico known as a great artist. He created more frescoes.
In 1939 he covered the interior walls of the Hospicio Cabanas in Guadalajara
The beautiful murals cover many of the walls and ceiling.
Hospicio
Cabanas in
Guadalajara.
Hospicio Cabanas in Guadalajara
Hombre
De Fuego
(Man of
Fire)
Hospicio Cabanas in
Guadalajara
Orozco's work caught the spirit of Mexico.
His Paintings were often dark and showed destruction and suffering
In 1947 when he was 64, Orozco illustrated the
book The Pearl, by John Steinbeck.
The book portrayed a strong moral belief that
people should be content with one's life and that
greed invites misfortune
Orozco's giant murals made him the most powerful of Mexico's Big Three
Muralists.
He died on September 7, 1949 in Mexico City. He was 66 years old