| |
Factsheet
| Artist: |
David
Alfaro Siqueiros (Mexican ca. 1898 1974) with assistants
Fletcher Martin, Luis Arenal, and Reuben Kadish
|
| Title: |
Portrait
of Mexico Today
|
| Date: |
1932 |
| Medium: |
Casein
oil pigments on cement applied to plaster |
| Dimensions: |
Created
in a three-sided, semi-enclosed garden portico structure,
the mural is 32 long, 8 tall, and 8 deep. |
| Collection: |
Made
for the film director Dudley Murphy, the mural has remained
in its original private location until it was donated to
the Museum in 2001.
|
| Opening: |
October
20, 2002 1-4 pm. Free |
| Significance: |
The
only intact mural by world-renowned muralist Siqueiros in
the United States. Siqueiros, Jos้ Clemente Orozco and
Diego Rivera (Los Tres Grandes) were the three
great Mexican social realist muralists of the 20th
century.
Siqueiros
created three murals in Los Angeles in 1932. His Olvera
Street mural, Tropical
America, which is presently the object of conservation
efforts by the Getty Conservation Institute has been covered
in layers of whitewash and subjected to the elements; while
his Street Meeting mural, created at the Chouinard
Art School was completely destroyed. This is the third.
|
|
Conservation
and:
Transportation
|
The
mural was covered with a protective coating of cyclododecane,
(a waxy substance that disintegrates naturally), and plywood.
The roof and the floor were removed; the floor bricks retained
in sequence for re-installation in Santa Barbara. The semi-enclosed
structure which houses the mural was detached from its foundation
and a steel armature was welded underneath the structure.
The building and the attached steel armature were then transported
to Santa Barbara by truck. In Santa Barbara a crane lifted
the entire structure onto its new foundation at the Museum
and final conservation processes were undertaken.
|
| Project
Personnel: |
Robert
H. Frankel, Former Director, Santa Barbara Museum of Art
Diana
C. du Pont, Curator of Modern and contemporary art, Santa
Barbara Museum of Art
Perry
Huston, Chief Conservator, Perry Huston & Associates,
Dallas, TX.
Scott
Haskins, Conservator, Fine Arts Conservation Laboratory,
Santa Barbara, CA.
Andrea
Rothe, Conservator-in-Charge of Paintings, The
J. Paul Getty Museum Los Angeles, CA.
John
Sullivan, Armstrong Associates, General Contractors, Santa
Barbara, CA.
Greg
Van Sande, Howard and Van Sande Structural Consultants,
Inc., Structural Engineer Santa Barbara, CA.
Ted
Hollinger, Master House Movers, Los Angeles, CA.
|
| Project
Duration: |
1997-2002.
Timeline |
|
|
