Time March 2–9, 2020J
ackson Pollock’s besT-known
influences are greats of European modern-
ism like Pablo Picasso and Joan Miró. But
often overlooked is the artist’s time at New
York City’s Experimental Workshop, founded in
1936 by David Alfaro Siqueiros, who along with
Diego Rivera and José Clemente Orozco led the
post revolution Mexican muralism movement. As an
impressionable young painter there, Pollock was ex-
posed to the techniques that would shape his signa-
ture “drip paintings” more than a decade later.
A new exhibit at the Whitney Museum of Amer-
ican Art, “Vida Americana,” aims to rectify such
oversights. The show shines a light on the Mexican
artists whose politically charged, populist work
shaped some of the most significant American art-
ists of the 20th century, from Pollock to Philip
Guston. The exhibit places Mexican works next
to those of Americans who borrowed, often heav-
ily, from their themes and methods. Then, as now,
concerns around citizenship and migration fueled
and complicated cultural exchange, leading to in-
novation as well as questions about appropriation
and ownership. Here are several pairings that illus-
trate the breadth of influence that came across the
border from 1925 to 1945.
TimeOff Opener
ART
An influx of
influence across
the border
By Anna Purna Kambhampaty
1. RITUAL AND MYTH
Orozco made what is considered to be the first modern
fresco mural by a Mexican artist on U.S. soil in 1930,
when he was commissioned to paint Prometheus
(top) at a new dining hall at Pomona College in
California. The mural, a reproduction of which is
displayed at the Whitney, was heralded by critics and
artists. Pollock made a trip to California to see it for
himself and would later hang a reproduction in his
studio, as he considered it “the greatest painting
done in modern times.” Pollock’s circa 1934–38
painting The Flame (bottom) depicts a semi-abstract
fire and a skeleton, showing the influence not only of
Prometheus but also of Orozco’s early-1930s mural at
Dartmouth College, The Epic of American Civilization.
In Greek mythology, Prometheus is said to have gifted
humans with fire, defying the gods. Orozco relied
on myth to convey the eternal struggle of mankind,
constantly progressing and regressing throughout
time. Pollock’s early work heavily explored ritual and
myth as well, before he developed the even more
abstract style that would bring him great fame.
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American artists, in search
of alternatives to European
abstraction and a cure for the
widespread materialism of
industrial life, looked to their
Mexican contemporariesPROMETHEUS: ARTISTS RIGHTS SOCIETY (ARS)/SOMAAP; THE FLAME, LANDSCAPE WITH STEER: THE MUSEUM OF MODERN
ART/SCALA/ART RESOURCE; THE ELECTRIC FOREST: INDIANAPOLIS MUSEUM OF ART; LOWER PANEL OF DETROIT INDUSTRY:
BANCO DE MÉXICO DIEGO RIVERA FRIDA KAHLO MUSEUMS TRUST/ARTISTS RIGHTS SOCIETY (ARS); AUTOMOBILE INDUSTRY:
SMITHSONIAN AMERICAN ART MUSEUM; PROLETARIAN VICTIM: THE MUSEUM OF MODERN ART; GIDDAP: WHITNEY MUSEUM
OF AMERICAN ART86