David Alfaro Siqueiros | MoMA
Wikipedia entry
Introduction
David Alfaro Siqueiros (born José de Jesús Alfaro Siqueiros; December 29, 1896 – January 6, 1974) was a Mexican social realist painter, best known for his large public murals using the latest in equipment, materials and technique. Along with Diego Rivera and José Clemente Orozco, he was one of the most famous of the "Mexican muralists". Siqueiros was a member of the Mexican Communist Party. Although he went to Spain to support the Spanish Republic against the forces of Francisco Franco with his art, he volunteered and served in frontline combat as a Lieutenant Colonel in the Army of the Republic through 1938 before returning to Mexico City. In 1940, he led a failed assassination attempt on Leon Trotsky in which Trotsky's 14-year-old grandson was shot and American communist Robert Sheldon Harte was executed. After spending several months on the run from Mexican authorities disguised as a peasant, Siqueiros was eventually apprehended in Jalisco, although he would never be brought to trial and was freed shortly. By accordance with Spanish naming customs, his surname would normally have been Alfaro; however, like Picasso (Pablo Ruiz y Picasso) and Lorca (Federico García Lorca), Siqueiros used his mother's surname. It was long believed that he was born in Camargo in Chihuahua state, but in 2003 it was proven that he had actually been born in the city of Chihuahua, but grew up in Irapuato, Guanajuato, at least from the age of six. The discovery of his birth certificate in 2003 by a Mexican art curator was announced the following year by art critic Raquel Tibol, who was renowned as the leading authority on Mexican Muralism and who had been a close acquaintance of Siqueiros. Siqueiros changed his given name to "David" after his first wife called him by it in allusion to Michelangelo's David.
Wikidata
Q315647
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Getty record
Introduction
Mexican painter. Comment on works: genre
Nationality
Mexican
Gender
Male
Roles
Artist, Muralist, Painter
Names
David Alfaro Siqueiros, David Alʹfaro Sikeĭros, José David Alfaro Siqueiros, David Alvaro Siqueiros, David Alfaro Siquieros, Siqueiros
Ulan
500008908
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Information from Getty’s Union List of Artist Names ® (ULAN), made available under the ODC Attribution License

Works

30 works online

Exhibitions

View all 52 exhibitions

Publication

  • Diego Rivera, David Alfaro Siqueiros, Jose Clemente Orozco James Oles, 2011 Paperback, 48 pages
Licensing

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