Art as Activism Section Panels Women in Mexico s Revolutionary History Women had significant roles throughout Mexico s revolutionary history. Not only did they care for the soldiers in their family, they also assumed leadership in moments of intense conflict. Their presence in the battlefield was critical; many of them fought alongside the soldiers, while others provided care for the wounded and transported provisions to those in combat. Women also served as strategists who hosted clandestine meetings of the insurgent movements in the various wars since the Spanish conquest, aided in the communications among factions, served as nurses and in some cases offered their lives to protect the soldiers. Accounts of women s involvement in Mexico s revolutionary history also reveal instances in which they were exploited and abused as smugglers or prostitutes. Mexican War of Independence (1810-1821) Two years before the Mexican War of Independence began, in 1808, Napoleon Bonaparte occupied Spain, removed King Charles IV from the throne and installed his brother Joseph Bonaparte as head of state. These events, which gave way to the Peninsular War, weakened Mexico s colonial government, then known as the Viceroyalty of New Spain. Political and social instability undermined its local structure while opposing factions strengthened. In this volatile political climate, several figures became icons for the emerging Mexican independence movement, such as Father Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla (1753-1811) and José María Morelos (1765-1815). Aztec rulers and Mayan revolutionary leaders were often evoked in political discourse as exemplary figures who died defending their land from greedy conquistadors. With increasing political upheaval in Spain in the 1820s, conservative groups in Mexico strived to achieve independence from the metropolis. The Treaty of Cordoba (1821) marked the beginning of Mexican independence and the first Mexican Empire. Shortly after, the country was declared a republic. Today independence is celebrated on September 16th, the day in which Father Hidalgo issued the Grito de Dolores in 1810.
Mexican-American War (1846-1848) In 1845 the US incorporated Texas as its 28 th state, an event that marked the beginning of increasing tension with Mexico. The latter s loss of Texas was a geopolitical defeat that signaled a divided and weakened state. As frictions continued over where to establish the Texas border, following the annexation of the territory, the Mexican- American War (1846-1848) erupted. The victory over Mexico was a triumph for Democratic President James Polk, whose belief in the Doctrine of Manifest Destiny (the idea that the United States was meant to expand the entire territory of North America) guided his ambitious political agenda to annex more land. As a result of the war, Mexico ceded Arizona, parts of present day California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming in exchange for $15 million. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1848), which marked the official end of the Mexican-American War, established the conditions for the annexation of the newly incorporated land, the boundaries between the US and Mexico and stipulated the protection as well as the civil rights of Mexican nationals living in the incorporated territories. The devastating defeat in this conflict gave way to a new period of reforms in Mexico and further internal conflict, leading up to a civil war at the end of the 1850s. Franco-Mexican War (1861-1867) In the late 1850s Mexico s political arena was divided between liberal reformists, led by President Benito Juárez (1806-1872), and conservatives. Juárez s government, which was recognized by the US in 1859, eventually gained control of Mexico City and weakened the conservative factions. Because of Mexico s overwhelming foreign debt at the time, Juárez decided to stop payment to the country s debtors Great Britain, France and Spain. These governments issued the Treaty of London in 1861, in which they agreed to invade Mexico to gain control of the country s resources. The Second French Empire had the most prominent role in the Franco-Mexican War (1862-1867). After the conflict Napoleón III appointed Maximilian of Habsburg, Archduke of Austria, as Emperor of Mexico. Pockets of resistance impeded the conservative emperor from controlling the entire country. The American Civil War prevented the US from getting involved in the Franco-Mexican conflict despite President James Monroe s pronouncements against European intervention in the Americas. Interested in
maintaining good relations with the US, Napoleon III began withdrawing his troops from Mexico in 1866. Relations between the allies, the liberals and the conservatives deteriorated quickly, leading to the Batalla de Puebla (Battle of Puebla), on May 5, 1862. The conflict, which resulted in the withdrawal of the French army, was a triumph for President Juárez. Mexican Revolution (1910-1920) The Mexican Revolution (1910-1920) set in motion a period of tremendous social, political and cultural change. President Porfirio Díaz (1830-1915), a dictator who served as a commander in Benito Juárez s army against the French, had ruled the country seven different times between 1876 and 1911. His contested agenda favored a small class of wealthy landowners, put Mexico s resources in the hands of foreign investors and downplayed the country s indigenous heritage in favor of its Europeanization. In 1910, Francisco Madero (1873-1913), a Mexican statesman, writer and revolutionary, led an uprising against President Díaz that quickly became Mexico s famous Revolution. Madero s followers, known as maderistas, took arms against Díaz removing him from power in 1910. Madero was elected president a year after the Revolution began, and served until his assassination in 1913. From 1917 the country s political agenda, would be regulated by a new constitution that prioritized the nationalization of land, water and oil, the implementation of a national literacy program, and the improvement of labor conditions for the nation s workers. Porfirio Díaz (1830-1915) Porfirio Díaz s political and military trajectory was decisive in the events leading up to the Mexican Revolution. He had been a commander in Benito Juárez s army and became a war hero in the fight against the French occupation in the 1860s. After leading several revolts in an attempt to seize power, Díaz defeated federal troops in 1876 and declared himself president. He would serve seven terms for a total of 30 years. His presidency was characterized by corruption, violence against the poor, appropriation of land from peasants and for downplaying the significance of Mexico s indigenous cultural heritage. Francisco Madero s supporters, known as Maderistas, took arms against Díaz
in 1910 and removed him from power in Ciudad Juárez. Madero spared his life and forced him into exile. Díaz left Mexico for Paris, where he died in 1915 at age 84. Francisco Madero and Victoriano Huerta Francisco Madero (1873-1913) was a key leader of the revolutionary movement that in 1910 overthrew dictator Porfirio Díaz from power. A political moderate, Madero advocated for social justice and democracy; he was president of Mexico from 1911 until his assassination in 1913. His successor, Victoriano Huerta (1850-1916), who served in Madero s army and fought against the Zapatistas, supporters of revolutionary Emiliano Zapata, to protect his government. When the relationship between Madero and Huerta deteriorated, Huerta organized a coup to overthrow Madero with the help of US ambassador to Mexico, Henry Lane Wilson, and Porfirio Díaz s nephew Félix Díaz. This period of intense instability that began on February 9, 1913, and in which Huerta assumed power is known as La decena trágica (Ten Tragic Days). Huerta held Madero and his ex Vice-President Pino Suárez under arrest until February 22, when they both were assassinated. After seizing control, Huerta dissolved the Congress and became President. He was ousted in July 1914, by the Constitutionalists Venustiano Carranza, Emiliano Zapata and Francisco Pancho Villa who, with the help of a revolutionary army, forced him subsequently to exile. Emiliano Zapata (1879-1919) Born in the current state of Morelos, a leading figure in the Mexican Revolution, Emiliano Zapata (1879-1919) head the Liberation Army of the South, a group of revolutionary peasants known as Zapatistas who fought for agrarian reform and opposed land appropriation under the dictatorship of Porfirio Díaz. Following Francisco Madero s ascent to power, Zapata supported the new president s anti-reelectionist movement. However, he was loyal to the peasants, who were disenfranchised during the Porfiriato. Along with Francisco Pancho Villa, Zapata strived for advancing the causes of indigenous peoples. Such pursuit drove both to denounce Madero s inaction regarding the agrarian reform and, later, to oppose President Huerta. Zapata s army consisted of thousands of peasant-soldiers for whom he was a heroic figure. On orders of President Venustiano Carranza, Zapata was ambushed and killed on April 10, 1919.
Cristeros and the Catholic Church An achievement of the Mexican Revolution, the Constitution of 1917 established the separation between the Catholic Church and the state, and limited the rights of the clergy. The Cristero Rebellion (1926-1929) was an attempt by Catholic priests to overthrow the ideas of the Revolution. A Catholic armed insurrection ensued in 1926 in which its protagonists fought against the secularization of education, and in favor of freedom of worship. The revolt was carried out in the name of Cristo Rey or Christ King, thus the name Cristeros. Thousands were killed during the three years of the conflict. Following the intervention of the Holy See, the Mexican government and the rebels reached an amnesty in 1929. Protests and Strikes The TGP produced posters, leaflets, illustrations and other materials to support the government s efforts to eradicate illiteracy and improve existing infrastructure, objectives that they shared. Realistic and direct, these works were often accompanied by propaganda slogans; they were pasted on the city s walls, given to workers at demonstrations and circulated among the masses. The purpose of such production was to educate, promote awareness of social issues and, ultimately, motivate collective action. Contemporary artistic trends such as abstraction and surrealism, they argued, would not be easily understood by the masses and, as a result, would not have the didactic effect they expected from their work. International Politics During the Spanish Civil War (1936-39) and World War II (1939-1945), an influx of European artists and intellectual exiles in Mexico invigorated the Taller s progressive causes. This international presence was critical to decrying fascism and Nazism. For instance, German exiles formed the Liga Pro Cultura Alemana (Pro German Culture League), which censured Nazism in Europe. Under the auspices of Mexican President Ávila Camacho, they published El libro negro del terror nazi en Europa (The Little Black Book of Nazi Terror in Europe), which included one of the first images of the Holocaust produced in the Americas. The Taller also published a portfolio in support of
the Republican faction that confronted General Francisco Franco in the Spanish Civil War. Education One of the consequences of the Mexican Revolution was the improvement of the education system in Mexico. In 1921, under the presidency of Álvaro Obregón, the Ministry of Public Education was established. This ministry launched a literacy campaign aimed at providing education in rural areas. Subsequent administrations built on Obregón efforts to eradicate analphabetism well into the 1940s. Presidents Manuel Ávila Camacho and Miguel Alemán devoted their agendas to implement literacy programs in rural areas. Alemán was criticized for investing considerably more efforts and resources to build the National Autonomous University of Mexico than to strengthen elementary education in poor towns and villages. The Press During the Porfirio Díaz regime, which lasted almost three decades in the late 19 th century, the government controlled the press. Newspapers and informational flyers were banned in many indigenous areas to keep their population from accessing information about current events. The Constitution of 1917, enacted under the leadership of President Venustiano Carranza, reinstated freedom of press in Mexico for the first time since the Porfirato. Nationalization of Resources During his six-year term in office from 1934 to 1940, President Lázaro Cárdenas enforced the basic principles of the Mexican Revolution, especially those concerned with economic progress and industrialization. Agrarian Reform became a priority for Cárdenas, who redistributed more than one million acres of land that were expropriated from American companies. He helped peasants obtain property rights through credit, offered them technical training, education, and better water and sanitary systems. These changes contributed to improve the quality of life in rural areas, broaden the national market and pave the way for significant economic growth.
Library of Jiquilpán In 1940 President Lázaro Cárdenas commissioned renowned artist José Clemente Orozco a series of ten murals in the Gabino Ortíz Public Library in the town of Jiquilpán, in Michoacán. Cárdenas, who was born in Jiquilpán, wanted to decorate the library with images alluding to the Mexican Revolution. There are a total of eight murals on either side of the nave and two color frescoes on its apse and entrance. Once completed, Clemente Orozco created a series of eight lithographs, exhibited here, which reproduce the murals he painted at the library. The images depict key aspects of the Revolution, such as the power of the masses, the unjustified assassination of opposition rebels, and the violent seizing of land from indigenous groups. With this project, Clemente Orozco resorted to muralism and printmaking, the two most successful art media in the first half of the 20 th century in Mexico. José Guadalupe Posada The aesthetic of the Taller s artistic production evoked that of Mexican printmaker José Guadalupe Posada (1852-1913). His work articulated a satirical social critique which was easy to convey to a mostly illiterate audience. Since the Revolution, Mexico developed a solid practice of printmaking; the use of art as a tool for social change would be at the core of this historical moment and the decades that followed. Painters such as Diego Rivera, José Clemente Orozco and David Alfaro Siqueiros championed this understanding of social art on a large scale by creating murals for public buildings. Through their art, they denounced injustice and encouraged a new social order. Meanwhile, Taller printmakers spread the discourse of a renewed society throughout urban and rural areas.