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Muralism without Walls: Rivera, Orozco, and Siqueiros in the United States, 1927-1940. By Anna Indych-López. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2009. Pp. xi, 250. Notes. Index. $45.00 cloth.
The seemingly paradoxical tide of Anna Indych- Lopez's book accurately describes its contents. The author's overall purpose is to explore how the work of Mexico's "big three" muralists - Diego Rivera, José Clemente Orozco, and David Alfaro Siqueiros-was transmitted to members of die U.S. art world during the 1930s, given that most of them were unable to travel to Mexico to view die much-heralded murals at first hand. Accordingly, she looks at such topics as exhibitions in which easel paintings and portable frescoes by the artists were shown. She is also interested in die ways in which die content of such works was adapted for U.S. viewers and the expectation of the latter regarding the "Mexicanness" of that country's modern art. In sum, die autiior says, die "politics of cultural production, dissemination, and reception lie at die heart of this project" (p. 8).
After an introductory chapter, Indych-López turns to die series of Orozco drawings initially called Horrores de la Revolución (1926-28). Commissioned by Anita Brenner, who was Orozco's first promoter in the United States, and based on his murals in the National Preparatory School in Mexico City, die drawings depicted "the [Mexican] Revolution as a leaderless, disorganized, and destructive process"...