David Alfaro Siqueiros Biography
David Alfaro Siqueiros (born December 29, 1896 in Chihuahua, Mexico – died January 6, 1974 in Cuernavaca) was a Mexican painter and muralist.
Siqueiros was one of the three founders of the modern school of Mexican mural painting. He studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in San Carlos, Mexico City, before leaving in 1913 to fight in the Mexican Revolution. He subsequently continued his art studies in Europe. In 1922, after returning to Mexico, Siqueiros contributed to the decoration of the frescoes on the walls of the National Preparatory School and began to organize and lead unions of artists and workers.
He visited the United States, the Soviet Union, and many Latin American countries as a lecturer and guest artist. Most of Siqueiros' large murals are found in government buildings in Mexico. These are characterized by great compositional dynamism and movement, an imposing grandeur and vigor, a sculptural treatment of forms, and a limited color range that is subordinate to the dramatic effects of light and shadow. Siqueiros commonly used synthetic lacquer-based colors sprayed from spray guns to speed up the process of decorating large public buildings. He also made many oil on canvas paintings, perhaps the most famous of which is “Echo of a Scream” (MoMA, 1937).
