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Olivia Tejedor Kosakoff

April. 2015

Diversity in America: The Creative Voice of La Raza. The Chicano Social Art Movement

Introduction

The United States is viewed by most as a country that prides

itself on being a melting pot society, but many believe that this

well accepted opinion is more of an idealistic, self-righteous wish

than a reality, and that the notion of an ethnic battleground

society would be a better fit. For example, Kevin Starr, in no

uncertain terms, asserts that the Anglo-Americans treated the

Mexican-Americans like the “enemy within” (Starr, 2005) (1) Having

recognized our post-modern society’s fundamental diversity*, the

present collective balance remains fragile, still learning from the

lessons of social oppression of the past.(2) One of those lessons is

taught by the Chicano social and art movements. Gary Keller (3)

defines Chicano as “a Mexican-American with attitude." (Hanson,

2003) The attitude the author alludes to is one of defiance, one

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that answers to racist discrimination with an in-your-face cry of

Viva La Raza! (long live our people!) A cry for Mexican-Americans

unity (Chavez, 2006)

Chicano art represents the creative engine of the Chicanos as

an ethnic minority. This paper will cover the origin and historical

past of Chicano Art, together with its interrelation and

interdependence with the Chicano social movement. It ends with a

brief description of the artistic movement today. Since the Chicano

art lifeline is a reflection of the Chicano population’s

aspirations, the paper will include a brief summary of the history

of the Chicano socio-political movement. The essay reviews the

beginning of the Chicano art movement, recognizing the important

influences of the *The election of Barak Obama as the 44th American

president is ample proof of this acceptance. Mexican Muralists of

the early 20th century and the Mesoamerican Pre-Columbian heritage.

It continues informing about the movement’s mural projects in the

1970s and 1980s, and it finishes reflecting on the evolving nature

of new artworks by Chicano artists that must consider whether to be

integrated into the American cultural mainstream.

A short history of the Chicano Movement

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‘You cannot humiliate a person who feels pride” (Cesar Chavez) (Guzman, 2014)

Mexican-Americans have suffered discrimination and

disfranchisement from the mid-19th century. A great majority were

robbed of their legally granted lands after the Mexican-American

War, forced to become farm laborers for the Anglo-Americans.

(Digital History, 2012) Even though they have lived in those lands

for centuries, Mexican-Americans were treated “as people without

rights” (Fernandez & Gonzalez, 1994) (4) Later, the instability

created by the Mexican Revolution forced many Mexican nationals to

migrate north. The 1910s’ migration was followed other migration

surges in the 1940s and 1960s. Immigrants regularly were forced to

live segregated in communities where Mexican culture predominated.

(Fernandez & Gonzalez, 1994)

In the 60s, Mexican-Americans started to create politically

active groups against social and economic discrimination. It is then

that the Chicano movement entered the national platform, although

their civil rights fight never got the same consideration given to

those of other ethnic minorities during the same period. (Digital

History, 2012) In 1962 Cesar Chávez started to organize seasonal

farm workers in California, which Kevin Starr considers was “founded

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on racial discrimination and repression.” (Starr, 2005) (5) His

achievements were the pioneering highlights of a comprehensive

socio-political movement that expanded mostly through the U.S.

Southwest. From the farm fields, the Chicano militancy expanded to

urban areas and university campuses, making advances in their social

and political demands, while sustaining a strong Mexican cultural

character. Their Hispanic ethnic identity was generated and

maintained in part due to their segregation to the ‘Barrios’, but

also to the constant influx of Mexican migrants and their proximity

to the border. (Digital History, 2012) The Mexica-rich (6) culture

of the Chicanos, together with their need to voice their pleas,

fueled the creation of the Chicano Art expression.

Chicano Art: Origins

The Chicano visual arts are “grounded in Mexican artistic and

social experiments.” (Carranza, 2010) The purpose of its artistic

message is to empower Mexican-Americans to relay their ethnic and

cultural identity. The style and nature of this artistic movement

was profoundly influenced by the Mexican Mural Movement. At the end

of the Mexican Revolution, Obregon, president of the newly

independent nation, thought of patronizing the arts to propagate the

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revolution’s modern ideas, and to return and praise the native Aztec

and Mayan cultural heritage. (Benton & DiYanni, 2012) The message of

‘Los Tres Grandes‘, painters Diego Rivera, David Alfaro Siqueiros

(Image 1) and Jose Clemente Orozco was clear: the new Mexico

celebrates its indigenous legacy and rejects its enslaved colonial

past, while looking ahead to a future of modern progress. (Benton &

DiYanni, 2012) (7) The Mexican muralists’ careers were enhanced

through FDR’s Work Projects Administration (WPA) which commissioned

murals for public institutions’ buildings. (Gómez-Málaga, 2006)

The great Mexican Muralists would have a deep impact on the

future of all Mexican art. This is also true of other non-muralists

painters, contemporaries to the group, like Frida Kahlo, (8) known

for her self-portrays, as well as her use of Pre-Columbian cosmogony

and myths in her compositions. (Image 2) The use of powerful

indigenous images is an attempt to represent what the Chicanos call

the Neplantla, (9) or Coatlicue State, (Image 3) a post-modern

consciousness or recognition of a new ‘mestizaje’ focused on

cultural survival. (Chicanoart.org, 2007)

The Chicano Art Movement would focus on the provocative and

politically liberal, event anti-capitalist, elements of the Mexican

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muralists, together with other innovative interpretations of Pre-

Columbian iconography and motives, like some etchings from Jose

Guadalupe Posada (Image 4).

The Creative Voice of La Raza

The politically minded Chicanos gave extreme importance to

education, focusing on developing an original Chicano Art as a

vehicle for their political activism. At the core of the Chicano art

is a symbolic language that illustrates their people’s social and

cultural roots. By the 1970s Chicano art started to enjoy a cultural

renaissance (Gómez, 2014). At this time, the Chicano artists

produced murals as a tool to manifest Mexican-American unity and

common heritage. (Gómez-Málaga, 2006) Many of the works reflected

the Chicanos demands for “the restoration of land grants, farm

worker's rights, the right to vote and equal employment

opportunities.” (Gómez-Málaga, 2006) Murals were also representing

and commemorating Mexican-American history, old and new. They also

served as a way for the ‘Barrio’ community to come together and

recognize a shared identity. (Benton & DiYanni, 2012) In the 70s,

mural projects were sponsored by artist and activist Judith F. Baca,

through the Social and Public Art Resource Center (SPARC) and the

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Comprehensive Employment Training Act (CETA), government programs

enacted in the early 70s. One especially ambitious project was the

The Great Wall of Los Angeles (Image 5), in 1976, with the participation of

about 400 inner-city youths, many of them gang members. They did the

actual painting. Baca’s idea was to help bring together marginalized

Chicanos and people from other ethnic groups to end the city’s

division and rivalries. (Benton & DiYanni, 2012) In the same period,

a meeting of muralists took place in New York, were Chicano art was

further exposed and Chicano artists got a new sense of belonging.

(Gómez-Málaga, 2006) Since the 1970s Chicano artists had also been

sponsored by community outreach programs and centers, like the

Centro Cultural de la Raza in San Diego. Though the mural projects

continued during the next decade and beyond (10), it was then that

the artists’ interests in political activism started to wane,

signaling a new evolution of Chicano art.

From the Street to the Gallery

Chicano art today has a complex and evolving identity. It

continues to have a social and political sharpness, still focusing

greatly on the subject of life on the streets, like paintings from

Leo Limon, (Image 6) but recent artworks are attaining a higher

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level of sophistication, discovering innovative forms of expression,

exploring a fresher variety of motives and searching for new

directions to move forward. Nevertheless, the Chicano art discourse

is still grounded in the Mexican cultural memory, its ethnic history

north of the border, and its Mesoamerican narrative,

(Chicanoart.org, 2007) mixed with Catholic practices. At the same

time, the movement has opened to the feelings of their fellow modern

Mexican-Americans, as they progressively assimilate to a more

diverse society. This was in essence what was shown in the traveling

exhibit “Chicano Visions: American artists on the Verge.” (2003-

2006) While some Chicano artists continue to maintain a political

cutting edge in their artworks, others are apolitical and search for

innovative and ground breaking styles of expression. Today, the art

practices of Chicano artists have become more diverse and open to

other sources of inspiration, like American pop culture, folk art

(Carmen Lomas), graffiti (Leo Limon), cartoon forms (Frank Romero)

and even B-movies (Adam Hernandez), while the social element (Image

7) continues to be strong (Hanson, 2003) (11)

Chicano Art has currently achieved a wider public recognition,

but many artists, curators and experts consider that when the

general public thinks of American art, they do not include Chicano

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art in its ranks. (Hanson, 2003) This demonstrates that

marginalization is still very real today. The Chicano art community

continues its efforts of integration to the American artistic

‘normality,’ trying to assimilate within the American cultural

mainstream. To achieve this, Chicano artists today struggle to

resolve the question of whether they wish their identity

progressively evolve away from their roots. (12)

NOTES

(1) Starr refers to the treatment Mexican Americans received in California, after the Japanese American were interned in relocation camps. California. A History. (p.233)

(2) Recent demonstrations and confrontations of minority communities with law and order enforcement institutions (in Ferguson, Mo., New York and Baltimore) demonstrates that feelings of marginalization and oppression are not a ‘thing’ of the past

(3) Gary Keller is quoted verbatim by Doug Hanson in his article “Chicano art on the move…” [See ref. page]

(4) In their article Chicano History: Transcending Cultural Models, Fernandez and Gonzalez state that the understanding of the Mexican-American cultural and racial issues isparamount to comprehend Chicano History. (p.470) Quoting author Carlos Cortés, the authors also estimate that “Mexican-Americans began as an annexed regional minority” (p.487).

(5) Starr adds, in California. A History, that the Mexicans were well acquainted with Jim Crow (p. 306)

(6) For a definition of Mexica visit: http://www.mexica.net/mexica.php

(7) Benton & DiYannis’ “Modern Latin-American” section of their Arts and Culture. An introduction to the Humanities, (2012) shows the image of Cuautemoc against the Myth, by Siqueiros, (p.521) as a good example of the groups’ new ideas using Pre-Columbian iconography. (Image 1)

(8) Kahlo was married to Diego Rivera, whom she described as her “second accident”[the first being her near-death experience in a car accident.] Benton & DiYanni, (2012). p.522

(9) Nahuatl term for ‘the middle’

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(10) Professor María Cardalliaget Gómez-Málaga, from Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute, says that Baca’s project Great Walls Unlimited: Neighborhood Pride, since 1988 has produced 105 murals, on every ethic neighborhood of Los Angeles, and has givenemployment to more than 90emerging muralists

(11) Doug Hanson makes a very comprehensive critique of the exhibit “Chicano Visions: American artists on the Verge” which toured 15 cities, with 50 pictures by 26 Mexican-American artists. In his review he analyzes the state of contemporary Chicano Art. This analysis and a brief look at the Chicano Art history are the contents of his article Chicano art on the move: with its roots in political activism, Chicano art documents the evolution of the Mexican-American experience (2003) [At the time of his critique, the exhibition was on its second year of the five year tour duration]

(12) The last sentence was inspired on Patricia Correia’s words, quoted by Hanson in his article. Correia, a Chicano art dealer and owner of the Patricia Correia Gallery in Santa Monica, Ca., declared that “some Chicanos use art to go back to their roots, and some of them use it to move on from their roots”

IMAGES

(Image 1)

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David Alfaro Siqueiros. Cuauhtemoc against the Myth, (1944) Cuauhtemoc, the last Aztec emperor, was used as a

national symbol against the colonial past museumsindicate.com©

(Image 2)

Frida Kahlo. The Love-Embrace of the Universe The Earth, Diego, Me, And Senor Xolotl (1949) Cultural Morelos Foundation (Muros) and

Costco/ Commercial Mexicana. Representing the union of opposites, the painting is divided in day (Sun) and night (Moon) Museunsindicate.com©

(Image 3)

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Coatlicue, National Anthopology Museum. Mexico City. The Coatlicue State is an Aztec symbol of Earth, and

female fertility. The Copatlicue is found in Chicano art as an icon for fusion andresistance. Chicanoart.org.www.1134.org©

(Image 4)

Jose Guadalupe Posada La Calavera Catrina . (1910-1913) The painting reflects the subject of Mictlan, the place of the

dead, of Mesoamerican tradition. Posada, a master printmaker, translates the Mexican Day of the Dead to an innovative form chicanoart.com ©

(Image 5)

Judith Baca. (Community Project) The Great Wall of Los Angeles.(1976) Over one mile long, the mural is the visual history of minorities

immigrants, from many different ethnic origins (Chinese, Korean, Chicano, etc.) Baca’s intention was the transformation pain, and rage into positive energy

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through collaboration. (Benton & DiYanni, 2012, p. 594)

http://www.1134.org ©

(Image 6)

Leo Limón. Morena and Quetzalcoatl (2001) Serigraph. Images of Los Angeles: A pastiche of the street culture.

Latinoartcommunity.org ©

(Image. 7)

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Delilah Montoya El guadalupano (1999) UC Santa Barbara, Special Collections. Silkscreen.

Calisphere.org ©

REFERENCE

- Benton Janetta R., DiYanni Robert. (2012). Arts and Culture. An Introduction to the Humanities. Combined volume (4th ed., p. 583-597). Upper Saddle River. NJ: Prentice Hall

- Cardalliaguet Gómez-Málaga, María. (2015) The Mexican and Chicano Mural

Movements. Yale-New Heaven Teachers Institute. Retrieved April 2015 from

http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/2006/2/06.02.01.x.html

- Carranza, L. E. (2010). Chicana and chicano art: ProtestArte. Choice, 47(6), 1055-1056. Retrieved from: http://ezproxy.nu.edu/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview

225678053?accounti d=25320

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- Chavez, James (October, 26 2006) Raza. Urban Dicionary.com RetrivedApril 2015 from http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Raza

-Fernandez, Raúl &Gonzalez, Gilbert G. (Nov. 1994) Chicano History: Transcending Cultural Models. Pacific Historical Review, Vol. 63, No. 4. pp. 469-497 Retrieved April 2015

from:http://www.jstor.org/stable/3639945?seq=1&cid=pdf-reference#references_tab _contents

-Guzman, Lupita (2014) Defining Chicano Social Issues and Establishing Self-Identity Through Art. EWU Student Research and Creative Works Symposium. Paper 38. Eastern Washington University. Retrieved from http://dc.ewu.srcw_2014/38

- Hanson, Doug. (Nov. 2003) Chicano art on the move: with its roots in political activism, Chicano art documents the evolution of the Mexican-American experience. Art Business News. Academic OneFile. Retrieved 27 Apr. 2015 from: http://go.galegroup.com/ps

/i.do?id=GALE%7CA111164177&v=2.1&u=nu_main&it=r&p=AONE&sw=w&asid=ff

599f34437375713eec96324bbdd1de

-N. A. (2012) Viva la Raza! Digital History ID 3347 www.uh.edu RetrievedApril 2015 fromhttp://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/disp_textbook.cfm?smtID=2&psid=3347

-Starr, Kevin. (2007) California. A History. New York: Random House.

-Venegas, Sybil (2007) Chicanoart.org Nepantla Aesthetics Retrieved from http://www .chicanoart. org /nepantla.html, Frida ,Diego and the MuralistsRetrieved from : http://www.chicanoart.org /frida.html , Mictlan Retrieved from: http://www.chicanoart.org/posada1.html, Chicana art

Retrieved from: http://www.chicanoart.org/posada1.html

IMAGES SOURCES

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-Baca, Judith et. al. (ca.1976) The Great Wall of Los Angeles.Retrieved April 2015 from:

http://www.1134.org/blog/images2010/IMG_5202a.jpg

- Coatlicue (n. d.) Aztec Deities. Coatlicue Birth Goddess. Latinamericanstidies.org. Retrieved April 2015 from: http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/coatlicue.htm

-David Alfaro Siqueiros. (1944) Cuauhtemoc against the Myth, Retrieved April 2015 from: http://www.museumsyndicate.com/artist.php?artist=647

- Kahlo, Frida. (1949) The Love Embrace Of The Universe, The Earth, Diego, Me, And Senor Xolotl Retrieved April 2015 from http://www.museumsyndicate.com/item.php? Item =2962

- Limon. Leo (2001) Morena and Quetzalcoatl. Retrieved April 2015 from: http://www.latino

artcommunity.org/community/Gallery/Millennium/06CulturalIcons/Cultural3Lrg7.html

-Montoya, Delilah (1999) El guadalupano University of California, SantaBarbara. Retrieved April 2015 from: http://content.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/hb0s2005tj/

- Posada Jose Guadalupe (1910) La Calavera Catrina. Retrieved April 2015 from