David Alfaro Siqueiros, Pedregal con figuras / Rocks with Figures, 1947

David Alfaro Siqueiros, Pedregal con figuras / Rocks with Figures, 1947. Pyroxilin on masonite, 39 3/8 x 48 1/16 in. Acervo Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes y Literatura / Museo de Arte Alvar y Carmen T. de Carrillo Gil, Mexico.

Dec 1, 2010 – Jan 30, 2011, Siqueiros Paisajista/ Siqueiros: Landscape Painter, Museum of Latin American Art, 628 Alamitos Avenue, Long Beach, CA.

The Museum of Latin American Art (MOLAA) is proud to join the Museo de Arte Carrillo Gil (MACG), Mexico City, in presenting Siqueiros Paisajista / Siqueiros: Landscape Painter. This exhibition reveals the renowned Mexican muralist David Alfaro Siqueiros as a major landscape painter, a lesser known side of one the great Mexican masters of 20th-century art. The significance of the collaboration between MOLAA and the Museo de Arte Carrillo Gil has been recognized by the Mexican Consulate in Los Angeles who has made this exhibition an official part of its Mexico 2010 celebration which commemorates Mexico’s Bicentennial of Independence and the Centennial of its Revolution. This exhibition, the first of its kind to be presented anywhere, includes approximately half of the 150 landscape paintings that Siqueiros produced during his lifetime. Featuring a selection of the most important landscape paintings and drawings, the exhibition reveals Siqueiros’ dynamic vision of futuristic cities, allegorical places and the environment. Utilizing an explosive color palette and experimental techniques, the landscape imagery is charged with the emotions of creation and destruction always present in the art of Siqueiros.

Also at MOLAA:

Dec 1, 2010–Jan 9, 2011, Four Views from the MOLAA Permanent Collection.

This new selection of works represents different aspects of MOLAA’s Permanent Collection and focuses on sculpture, drawing, photography and prints, from the 1940s to the present day. The exhibition is divided into four sections: Siqueiros: Sketches for the mural Muerte al invasor (Death to the Invader) and other Studies; Selections from the Mexican School 1945-1950; Highlights of Contemporary Cuban Art and Fluid Sculpture.

The first two sections in the exhibition shed light on important chapters in the history of modern art in Latin America. They examine David Alfaro Siqueiros’ (Mexico, 1896 -1974) studies for murals and other works made during his exile in Chile between 1941 and 1945, to prints produced between the mid 1940s and 1950s by artists from the Escuela Mexicana (Mexican school) such as Leopoldo Méndez (Mexico, 1902 – 1969), Pablo O’Higgins (Mexico, 1904 – 1983) and José Clemente Orozco (Mexico, 1883 – 1949). The last two sections are dedicated to contemporary works; one focuses on Cuban artists emerging in the 1980s and 1990s to the present day; and the final section showcases sculptures created from the 1970s to 2009 by masters such as Mathias Goeritz (Germany 1915 – Mexico, 1990) to emerging artists like Darío Escobar (Guatemala, 1971) from diverse regions of Latin America such as Brazil, Venezuela, and Guatemala.

As part of the exhibition, a video, Siqueiros: a muralist in exile, with research by art historian Isabel Rojas-Williams, will be presented to contextualize the sketches. The video includes murals from USA, Argentina and Chile and focuses on Muerte al invasor, by Siqueiros, the mural Rojas-Williams documented following the 8.8 magnitude that affected Chile on February 27th, 2010.