THE ART OF THE FUTURE
The New Architecture in Mexico. By Esther Born. (Kern Paul. 2ts.)
THESE two books supplerfient each other admirably. One shows the new forms of architecture in Mexico, the other the new mural painting, which has in a sense been evolved to suit the needs of functionalist design, though it has actually had often to content itself with the decaying walls of older buildings as a background. For painting was ahead of archi- tecture in Mexico, not only in the sense that it reached its full flowering earlier, but also in that it represents something that has hardly been seen elsewhere, whereas the new Mexic2a architecture, though it has probably reached a further point of commercialisation than in most other countries, is in itself
only an adaptation of European Functionalism. Livened with the murals of Rivera and Orozco, however, it takes on a new significance.
Looking through the Portrait of Mexico involves a con-i., tinuous struggle between delight that at last Rivera's best
paintings should be available to the English public and exasperation at the badness of the reproductions, which at moments make one wonder whether it was after all a kindness to the artist to let him make his entry in this condition. The
first trouble about the plates is their scale. This is all right for the small panels, but for the bigger decorative paintings,
with a hundred or more figuros, what is the use of a plate less than six inches square ? Moreover, the reproductions of the frescoes are for the most part blurred and dark, apparently more owing to bad printing than to bad photography.
But there is no question about the importance of the paintings. In discussing Rivera's later works executed in the United States one is usually forced to qualify praise, to say that the success has only been partial because the artist was dealing with problems with which he was not entirely familiar, or which needed a more mature artistic idiom. In the Mexican paintings Rivera is entirely at his ease. He is painting scenes from the life and history of a country which he knows intimately and with which he is fully in sympathy.
The text of the book is a history of Mexico from the earliest times up to the present day, which supplies much of what is needed for the comprehension of the subjects of Rivera's frescoes. But to the full understanding of them another section is necessary, which is, however, supplied by Miss Born, in which the reader can learn in what circumstances the paintings were executed.
In about 1922 a group of artists, who formed a sort of syndicate, obtained from Vasconcelos, who was at that time Minister of Education, the right to carry out large-scale decorations in certain public buildings. They were paid ordinary workers' wages and freedom to paint what they liked. They were given the walls of several public buildings to paint, of which the most important was the Ministry of Education, where the covered galleries round the courts were
decorated by different painters. The latter were allowed absolute freedom in what they did. The result was a series or paintings illustrating the whole history of Mexico; in a style of heroic realism unknown in the twentieth century. Rivera's first cycle deals with the life of the Mexican worker and peaiant under capitalism ; another cycle shows native customs and festivities ; another illustrates a series of revolu- tionary ballads. Later the scheme was extended to other buildings, and the palace of the Cortes at Cuernavaca and the agricultural school at Chapingo were decorated with other cycles by Rivera.
The success of these paintings with the peasants and the workers was enormous. They crowded to see them, showed enthusiasm and offered criticisms. This was evidently the kind of art which they enjoyed.
Rivera aims at the simplest and most cogent statement of certain facts and attitudes in such a way as to be comprehensible to those who have no specialised training in the arts. He deals in stories and facts which will appeal to a wide audience of peasants and workers, and he treats these themes in a manner dictated by the themes. He is not afraid of what he has to say, and what he has to say is very important ; therefore he can afford to say it without circumlocution. Moreover, his passion for what he paints seems to be so great that he has no time to think of an abstruse way of saying it. The most obvious way is the best. This is not to say that Rivera is naive. On the contrary, he has actually been through the full course of modern painting, and has experimented in all the Parisian idioms. But when he came back to Mexico and found that he really felt keenly about the state of his country, he no longer exploited the tricks which he had learnt for their own sake, but applied the skill acquired in his early training to different problems and in a new spirit. Rivera uses the skill in construction and design which he learnt in his Cubist training to present his message more effectively.
Miss Born's book proves how deeply the ideas of functional architecture have taken root in Mexico. In many ways the style is suited to the country, which can always provide enough of the sun which it demands to produce its full effect. But it is not easy to see in what way—except perhaps in actual quantity of production—Mexican architects have gone beyond their European colleagues. However, the book is admirably illustrated with first-rate photographs after the best Mexican buildings. Not the least useful part of it is the last section, which contains a few really good plates after the murals of
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