{"id":3349,"date":"2026-06-17T19:25:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-17T19:25:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pressbooks.palomar.edu\/arthc1200\/chapter\/modern-art-in-the-united-states-and-mexico\/"},"modified":"2026-07-07T19:00:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-07T19:00:08","slug":"modern-art-in-the-united-states-and-mexico","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/pressbooks.palomar.edu\/arthc1200\/chapter\/modern-art-in-the-united-states-and-mexico\/","title":{"raw":"Modern Art in the United States and Mexico","rendered":"Modern Art in the United States and Mexico"},"content":{"raw":"<h2 id=\"chapter-overview-and-introduction-13\">Chapter Overview and Introduction<\/h2>\r\nIn the period between 1900-1945, art and architecture in the United States and Mexico underwent profound transformation. Artists in both regions were inspired by the modernist styles coming out of Europe: Fauvism, Expressionism, Cubism, Abstract art, Dada, Surrealism, etc. The physical distance of North America from the destruction of World War I allowed artists to continue experimenting from the early 20<sup>th<\/sup> century into the period between the two World Wars. Artists working in cosmopolitan centers, such as New York City, were producing avant-garde artworks. While some avant-garde artists focused on the formal properties of modern art (line, shape color, etc.), other American and Mexican avant-garde artists were combining modernist aesthetics with social issues.\r\n<h3 id=\"focus-artworks-13\">Focus Artworks<\/h3>\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>Alfred Stieglitz,\u00a0<em>The Steerage<\/em>, 1907, photograph<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Georgia O\u2019Keeffe,\u00a0<em>Radiator Building\u2014Night, New York<\/em>, 1927, oil on canvas<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Aaron Douglas,\u00a0<em>Aspiration<\/em>, 1936, oil on canvas<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Jacob Lawrence,\u00a0<em>The Migration Series<\/em>, 1940-41, 60 panels, tempera on hardboard<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Hale Woodruff,\u00a0<em>The Banjo Player<\/em>, 1929, oil on canvas<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Diego Rivera,\u00a0<em>History of Mexico<\/em>\u00a0murals, 1929\u201330, fresco<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Frida Kahlo,\u00a0<em>The Two Fridas (Las dos Fridas)<\/em>, 1939, oil on canvas<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<h3 id=\"term-list-13\">Term List<\/h3>\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>Avant-garde<\/li>\r\n \t<li>291 Gallery<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Pictorialism<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Straight photography<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Modernity<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Modernism<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Armory show<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Harlem Renaissance<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Great migration<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Social realism<\/li>\r\n \t<li>American regionalism<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Genre<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Mexican muralism<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Mexican Revolution<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Fresco<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Indigenismo<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Pre-Columbian<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<h2 id=\"in-the-united-states-an-introduction\">1898\u20131945 in the United States, an introduction<\/h2>\r\n[caption id=\"\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"2560\"]<a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Worlds_Fair_St._Louis_1904._Birdseye_view_of_the_1904_Worlds_Fair-copy.jpg\"><img src=\"https:\/\/pressbooks.palomar.edu\/arthc1200\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/72\/2026\/06\/Worlds_Fair_St._Louis_1904._Birdseye_view_of_the_1904_Worlds_Fair-copy-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"A colored lithograph map depicting World's Fair in St. Louis, 1904, showcasing various exhibition buildings, waterways, and landscaped grounds arranged symmetrically. Key architectural structures are labeled, with a central lagoon and pathways highlighted, celebrating the centennial of Louisiana Territory acquisition.\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1878\" \/><\/a> World\u2019s Fair, St. Louis 1904 (Source: Library of Congress, Geography and Map Division, <a href=\"http:\/\/hdl.loc.gov\/loc.gmd\/g4164s.pm004473\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Library of Congress<\/a>)[\/caption]\r\n<h3 id=\"wondrous-new-innovations-for-modern-life\">Wondrous new innovations for modern life<\/h3>\r\nFrom 265 feet above the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/seeing-america-2\/libbey-sa\/\">St. Louis Fair of 1904<\/a>, ferris wheel riders looked down on \u201cpalaces\u201d dedicated to electricity, transportation, and \u201cvaried industries\u201d whose halls held wondrous new innovations for modern life including an electric streetcar, private automobiles, wireless telephones, X-ray machines, and infant incubators.\r\n\r\nFrom the turn of the century and through two world wars, Americans witnessed technologies that advanced transportation, business, and health. Mass culture spread throughout the nation via\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/seeing-america-2\/sloan-movies-sa\/\">movie theaters<\/a>, radios, and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/seeing-america-2\/elizabeth-sparhawk-jones-shoe-shop-2\/\">department stores<\/a>. From the view on the ferris wheel, the narrative of American progress glowed bright in the electric lights below. But on the ground, Americans experienced the inequalities of industrial development spawned by an era of mass consumption.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"2163\"]<a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/shoeshop-sm.jpg\"><img src=\"https:\/\/pressbooks.palomar.edu\/arthc1200\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/72\/2026\/06\/shoeshop-sm-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"Painting depicting a group of women in early 20th-century attire trying on shoes in a store, highlighting social interaction and fashion of the era. Soft brushstrokes and muted colors emphasize detailed clothing, hats, and shoe boxes scattered around, capturing a lively shopping scene.\" width=\"2163\" height=\"2560\" \/><\/a> Elizabeth Sparhawk-Jones, <em>The Shoe Shop<\/em>, c. 1911, oil on canvas, 99.1 x 79.4 cm (Art Institute of Chicago, Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:Elizabeth_Sparhawk-Jones,_Shoe_Shop,_1911.jpg\">Wikimedia<\/a>, License: <a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/publicdomain\/mark\/1.0\/\">Public Domain<\/a> in the United States)[\/caption]\r\n\r\nThe fair was a centennial celebration of the Louisiana Purchase. When planning began in 1898, the U.S. was engaged in war with Spain in both the Caribbean and the Philippines. Often sensationalized in newspapers through \u201cyellow journalism,\u201d the Spanish-American War was a topic of debate that revealed differing ideologies of America\u2019s place in the world.\r\n\r\nThe war ended the same year it began with American acquisition of Puerto Rico, Guam, the Philippines, and temporary control of Cuba. Although many disagreed with the politics of imperial expansion, when the fair opened in 1904 the\u00a0Philippines pavilion was among the largest on site and included a small lake where model ships reenacted battles from the war.\r\n<h3 id=\"rights-and-reforms\">Rights and reforms<\/h3>\r\nThe processes that enabled mass consumption also created great economic divisions. As industrial production increased, monopolies came to dominate American business. Workers, photographers, and \u201cmuckraking\u201d journalists sought to expose the excesses of big business and the horrific conditions of factory labor. In 1911, the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire killed 146 workers, many of them female or children, and most immigrants of Italian or Jewish descent. In response, 20,000 New York garment workers went on strike uniting across ethnic boundaries for the common goal of safety and economic opportunity. Other strikes followed around the country, spawning more organized unionization and activism for working conditions and fair pay.\r\n\r\nThe early twentieth-century saw more women entering the workforce in factories and offices, and as telephone operators or domestic servants. Charlotte Perkins Gilman, who inspired the term \u201cfeminism,\u201d saw changes as the \u201cspirit of personal independence\u201d and encouraged women to leave the home environment which was preventing them from full freedom and social engagement.\r\n\r\nSeveral female leaders emerged expounding similar ideas including Emma Goldman and Margaret Sanger. Some, such as Jane Addams, actively sought to help women improve their situations though housing, career training, education, and social services. After advocating for decades, women earned the right to vote in 1920.\r\n\r\nThroughout the era, laws and intimidation tactics prevented African Americans from full participation in democratic society. Southern states enforced segregation of facilities arguing for a doctrine of \u201cseparate but equal\u201d that the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed in its 1896 decision Plessy v. Ferguson. Even when similar schools and healthcare facilities were provided for the black population, they were not of the same standard as those offered to the white population. In 1900, no southern state offered a high school education to African Americans.\r\n\r\nThousands of black Americans made their way to the industrial cities of the North in the \u201cGreat Migration.\u201d At the same time there was an explosion of literature, music, and art that has come to be known as the Harlem Renaissance or The New Negro movement. Artists and writers looked to black history\u2014and specifically to the art of Africa\u2014for inspiration, joining that to a modern African American identity (<a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/seeing-america-2\/beardens-factory-workers\/\">Romare Bearden<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/seeing-america-2\/aaron-douglass-aspiration-2\/\">Aaron Douglas<\/a>, and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/seeing-america-2\/great-migration-sa\/\">Jacob Lawrence<\/a>, for example) .\r\n<h3 id=\"consumer-society-1\">Consumer society<\/h3>\r\nMass culture offered new forms of entertainment in vaudeville, radio, film, phonographs, dance halls, and amusement parks. Increased leisure time and transportation in the form of affordable automobiles like Ford\u2019s Model T, which hit markets in 1908, made entertainment and tourism accessible for a wider variety of Americans. Mainstream culture flourished, but so did artistic expression beyond the center such as African Americans in the Harlem Renaissance and American Indians in a burgeoning Southwestern art and tourist market (see for example,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/seeing-america-2\/nampeyo-jar-2\/\">Nampeyo<\/a>).\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"1247\"]<a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/NampayoSideView.jpg\"><img src=\"https:\/\/pressbooks.palomar.edu\/arthc1200\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/72\/2026\/06\/NampayoSideView.jpg\" alt=\"Photograph of a round ceramic pot with a wide body and narrow neck, featuring intricate geometric and abstract patterns in black and brown on a beige background. Design includes cross-hatching, curved lines, and sharp angular shapes, highlighting traditional craftsmanship and artistic style.\" width=\"1247\" height=\"747\" \/><\/a> Nampeyo (Hopi-Tewa), polychrome jar, c. 1930s, clay and pigment, 13 x 21 cm (National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution, \u00a0Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/82032880@N00\/39640842072\/in\/photolist-Nampeyo\">Steven Zucker<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc-sa\/2.0\/deed.en\">CC BY-NC-SA 2.0<\/a>)[\/caption]\r\n\r\nMass culture and the growing entertainment industry spawned the Roaring Twenties\u2014a time of carefree, youthful indulgence. When the Great Depression hit, that indulgence and optimism disappeared. Banks failed and people lost their savings, homes, farms, and businesses. Unemployment skyrocketed. Through its early years, federal aid came only for farmers and businesses; it did not reach those who needed it most.\r\n\r\nIn 1932, Franklin Delano Roosevelt promised a \u201cnew deal\u201d for workers, winning the presidency where he remained for four terms. The New Deal actively placed restrictions on big business; sent direct aid to small businesses, farmers, and cultural workers; and created new jobs building infrastructure like roads, libraries, schools, and dams. It even employed cultural workers like photographers and artists who depicted Depression life and created public works of art. Anthropologists collected oral histories and folk songs.\r\n<h3 id=\"the-wars-and-the-world\">The wars and the world<\/h3>\r\nThe U.S. initially sought not to be involved in World War I, though sympathy lay with the Allied Forces (The United Kingdom, France and Russia). In April 1917, however, Germany attacked American ships leading to the declaration of war. U.S. troops helped lead the Allies to victory in November 1918. President Woodrow Wilson imagined this was the \u201cwar that will end wars\u201d (as H.G. Wells had written in 1914) and pushed the establishment of a League of Nations to keep peace, but in the end his own country favored isolation over involvement.\r\n\r\nIsolationism remained strong during the start of World War II. Congress passed the neutrality act which banned the sale of war goods to fighting countries. In 1940, France surrendered to Germany and President Roosevelt sent supplies to England. The next year Japan bombed the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor and the U.S. declared war on Japan. After securing the European front at Normandy in 1944, the U.S. dropped two atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Japan surrendered nine days later.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"1508\"]<a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/negros-war-bearden.jpg\"><img src=\"https:\/\/pressbooks.palomar.edu\/arthc1200\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/72\/2026\/06\/negros-war-bearden.jpg\" alt=\"A two-page magazine spread featuring a colorful illustration of African American workers in an industrial setting on the left and an article titled &quot;The Negro's War&quot; on the right. The article discusses the impact of World War II on African Americans, highlighting economic and social challenges, with a black-and-white photo of men gathered outside a building included.\" width=\"1508\" height=\"999\" \/><\/a> Illustration by Romare Bearden for \u201cThe Negro\u2019s War,\u201d <em>Fortune<\/em> (May 1942) (Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/1898-1945-in-the-united-states-an-introduction\/\">Smarthistory<\/a>)[\/caption]\r\n\r\nWorld War II increased opportunity for African Americans in the workplace with the signing of Executive Order 8802 preventing racial discrimination in federal hiring practices. Romare Bearden\u2019s\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/seeing-america-2\/beardens-factory-workers\/\"><em>Factory Workers<\/em><\/a>\u00a0(1942) addressed such discrimination portraying workers being turned away from employment in the steel industry. Because the U.S. was at war with Japan, many people of Japanese descent living in the United States (like\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/seeing-america-2\/ruth-asawa-untitled\/\">Ruth Asawa<\/a>) were forced into internment camps, losing their homes, businesses, and freedoms.\r\n\r\nDuring the war, women took the place of men in many fields of employment, including factory work to produce supplies needed both at home and overseas. In order to recruit women, the U.S. government printed posters of a strong female dressed in a blue jumpsuit and red bandanna saying, \u201cWe Can Do It.\u201d Rosie the Riveter is still an icon of working women in America. Beneath the icon, however, women experienced much lower wages than men for the same positions and, when the soldiers came home, were expected to give up their jobs and resume more traditional roles.\r\n\r\nThe horrors of the Holocaust stunned people around the globe. America had refused to admit many of the Jews who sought to escape Nazi persecution though some who had secured employment were allowed entry including the scientist Albert Einstein. The United States was immeasurably strengthened by the many brilliant immigrants who fled Europe including composer Igor Stravinsky, author Thomas Mann, architect\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/the-bauhaus-and-bau\/\">Walter Gropius<\/a>, and artist George Grosz whose painting <a href=\"https:\/\/collections.artsmia.org\/art\/127319\/remembering-george-grosz\"><em>Remembering<\/em><\/a> speaks the agony of have left friends and family behind in Nazi Germany.\r\n<h2 id=\"alfred-stieglitz-and-the-291little-galleries-of-the-photo-secession\">Alfred Stieglitz and the 291\u2014Little Galleries of the Photo Secession<\/h2>\r\n[caption id=\"\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"485\"]<a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/restricted.jpeg\"><img src=\"https:\/\/pressbooks.palomar.edu\/arthc1200\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/72\/2026\/06\/restricted.jpeg\" alt=\"Two black-and-white photographs depict interior views of an art gallery with framed artworks displayed on walls above draped fabric panels. Both scenes include potted plants in the foreground, ceiling-mounted spotlights illuminating the artworks, and a cozy, intimate exhibition setting.\" width=\"485\" height=\"600\" \/><\/a> Alfred Stieglitz, \u201cLittle Galleries of the Photo-Secession,\u201d image from <em>Camera Work<\/em>, No. 14 (April 1906) ((<a href=\"http:\/\/www.metmuseum.org\/Collections\/search-the-collections\/285361\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Alfred Stieglitz Collection<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/291-stieglitz\/\">Smarthistory<\/a>)[\/caption]\r\n<h3 id=\"fifth-avenue\">291 Fifth Avenue<\/h3>\r\nIf you walked into the \u201cLittle Galleries of the Photo Secession\u201d at 291 Fifth Avenue run by New York photographer Alfred Stieglitz and his devotees between 1905\u20131917, you would likely have been surprised. You might have seen an exhibition of\u00a0avant-garde\u00a0photography or perhaps an exhibition of bizarre Cubist paintings. The latter, especially, would have been an unusual sight.\r\n\r\nAt the time, New York City was not yet well known as an artistic center. As a result, many artists and institutions in New York still looked to European cities\u2014particularly Paris\u2014as artistic and cultural beacons. Although Modernism was gaining ground in Europe, it held little appeal to American audiences outside of small artistic circles. Stieglitz\u2019s 291 gallery, which exhibited modern European painting as well as the latest art photography, helped to change all of that.\r\n<h3 id=\"stieglitz-and-the-art-of-photography\">Stieglitz and the art of photography<\/h3>\r\nStieglitz had become a well-known photographer\u2014perhaps the most renowned photographer in the United States\u2014a result of his advocacy for the relatively new medium, forming camera clubs (such as the Photo Secession, in 1902), and publishing photography journals. Photography had been used to create art since its invention in the mid-nineteenth century, but it was a relative late comer in comparison to easel painting and printmaking, which had been the preferred artistic media for two-dimensional work since the end of the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/northern-renaissance-art-an-introduction\/\">Renaissance<\/a>.\r\n\r\nBecause photographs were created using a mechanical device (an analog camera) rather than by the artist\u2019s hand, many artists and critics debated whether it belonged within the realm of art exhibited in galleries and museums.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"550\"]<img src=\"https:\/\/pressbooks.palomar.edu\/arthc1200\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/72\/2026\/06\/image428.jpeg\" alt=\"Vintage advertisement for Kodak Camera promoting ease of use with slogan &quot;You press the button, we do the rest.&quot; Features illustration of hand holding camera, pricing details, and company information from Eastman Dry Plate and Film Co. in Rochester, NY.\" width=\"550\" height=\"358\" \/> Advertisement for the Kodak camera, 1889 (<a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/291-stieglitz\/\">Smarthistory<\/a>)[\/caption]\r\n\r\nFurther complicating photography\u2019s claims to art status was the invention in 1888 by the Eastman Kodak Company of the first portable hand-held camera and the advertising slogan \u201cyou press the button, we do the rest,\u201d making the ability to take pictures affordable and widely available to ordinary people for the first time. With photography in the hands of the masses as well as commercial studios concerned primarily with portraits, advertisements, and other practical matters, Stieglitz and fellow art photographers felt compelled to differentiate their photography from the production of commercial studios and the common snapshots of everyday life.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"1972\"]<a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/06929701-1-scaled.jpg\"><img src=\"https:\/\/pressbooks.palomar.edu\/arthc1200\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/72\/2026\/06\/06929701-1-scaled-1.jpg\" alt=\"Photograph of a foggy urban street scene from the early 20th century, featuring horse-drawn carriages, a pedestrian, and leafless trees along a sidewalk. The sepia-toned view highlights historic architecture, street activity, and atmospheric conditions, emphasizing transportation and daily life of the era.\" width=\"1972\" height=\"2560\" \/><\/a> Alfred Stieglitz, [The Street \u2013 Design for a Poster], 1896, photogravure, 30.6 \u00d7 23.3 cm (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.getty.edu\/art\/collection\/objects\/62772\/alfred-stieglitz-the-street-design-for-a-poster-american-1896\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The J. Paul Getty Museum<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/publicdomain\/zero\/1.0\/\">CC0 1.0<\/a>)[\/caption]\r\n<h3 id=\"pictorialism-and-later-modern-life\">Pictorialism, and later, modern life<\/h3>\r\n[caption id=\"\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"1835\"]<img src=\"https:\/\/pressbooks.palomar.edu\/arthc1200\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/72\/2026\/06\/image430.jpeg\" alt=\"Black and white photograph showing diagonal shadows cast by a railing onto a curved surface, creating a pattern of alternating light and dark stripes. The composition emphasizes geometric shapes and contrast between light and shadow.\" width=\"1835\" height=\"2560\" \/> Paul Strand, Photograph \u2013 New York [Abstraction, Porch Shadows], negative 1916; printed spring 1917, photogravure, 24.2 \u00d7 16.7 cm (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.getty.edu\/art\/collection\/objects\/131415\/paul-strand-photograph-new-york-abstraction-porch-shadows-american-negative-1916-print-1917\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The J. Paul Getty Museum<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/publicdomain\/zero\/1.0\/\">CC0 1.0<\/a>)[\/caption]Early in his career, Stieglitz championed a photographic style known as Pictorialism, which sought to achieve artistic, even painterly, effects that included soft focus and altering of the photograph using cropping or marking the prints with chemicals. Pictorialist photographers also preferred idealized imagery over images of modern life. Over time, however, Stieglitz shifted his approach and helped to cultivate a photographic aesthetic grounded in the idea of \u201cstraight photography.\u201d This meant renouncing the pictorialist alteration of photographs (a practice conceived of as being too rooted in nineteenth-century practices), in favor of more sharply focused images that featured modern forms and artistically emphasized the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/formalism-i-formal-harmony\/\">formal elements<\/a>\u00a0of the image.\u00a0\u201cStraight photographers\u201d heralded in the era of the modern photographic image. In fact, the younger photographer, Paul Strand, instigated a decidedly modernist aesthetic in photography after seeing a Cubist exhibition at 291.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"2042\"]<img src=\"https:\/\/pressbooks.palomar.edu\/arthc1200\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/72\/2026\/06\/image431.jpeg\" alt=\"Black and white photograph showing a crowded ship deck with men, women, and children dressed in early 20th-century clothing. The scene captures passengers standing and sitting near ropes and ship structures, highlighting a moment of travel or migration.\" width=\"2042\" height=\"2560\" \/> Alfred Stieglitz, <em>The Steerage<\/em>, 1907, photogravure, 33.5cm x 26.4cm (Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:Alfred_Stieglitz_-_The_Steerage_-_Google_Art_Project,_from_Getty.jpg\">Wikimedia<\/a>, License: <a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/publicdomain\/mark\/1.0\/\">Public Domain<\/a>)[\/caption]\r\n<h3 id=\"the-modern-age-the-artistic-avant-garde-and-little-gallery-known-as-291\">The modern age, the artistic avant-garde, and \u201cLittle Gallery\u201d known as 291<\/h3>\r\nThe painter and photographer Edward Steichen and other notable artists were instrumental in developing the program of exhibitions at 291, which first highlighted Photo Secessionist photographers and then went on to feature exhibitions by prominent European artists including Henri Matisse, Paul C\u00e9zanne, and the Cubist works of Pablo Picasso that would influence artists across media around the world. But 291 also exhibited the work of emerging American artists whose paintings and photographs explored modernity (modern life as impacted by new industrial, social, and political developments) or Modernism (the radically different artistic sensibilities avant-garde artists thought best represented modern experiences).\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"2000\"]<a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/SAAM-1978.34_1.jpg\"><img src=\"https:\/\/pressbooks.palomar.edu\/arthc1200\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/72\/2026\/06\/SAAM-1978.34_1.jpg\" alt=\"Painting depicting a close-up of a large yellow flower with green accents against a muted gray background. The composition emphasizes organic shapes and smooth color transitions, highlighting the flower's central structure and petal curves.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1480\" \/><\/a> Georgia O\u2019Keeffe,<em> Yellow Calla<\/em>, 1926, oil on fiberboard, 22.9 x 32.4 cm (<a href=\"https:\/\/americanart.si.edu\/artwork\/yellow-calla-18900\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Smithsonian American Art Museum<\/a>)[\/caption]\r\n\r\nOne of the American Modernists exhibiting at 291 was Georgia O\u2019Keefe, whose abstracted urban and organic forms captivated Stieglitz and with whom he became romantically involved. The exhibitions of innovative photographs, paintings, and sculptures at 291 made it the preeminent venue for modern art in the United States in the early twentieth century.\r\n<h3 id=\"the-modern-metropolis\">The Modern Metropolis<\/h3>\r\nThe modern skyscrapers being built in New York appealed to Stieglitz, and he was known to roam the streets of the city looking to capture its essence in his photographs. The thriving metropolis also intrigued Strand, whose photographs of the city conveyed the new modernist aesthetic. New York attracted artists from Europe as well, including Francis Picabia, a French modernist who spearheaded the New York iteration of the Dada movement (artists associated with Dada responded to the horrors of WWI by creating works that featured chance, humor, and absurdity).\r\n\r\nPicabia had developed a rapport with Stieglitz and the artists at 291 when he visited New York for the first large-scale exhibition of modern art at the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/duchamp-descending\/\">Armory Show<\/a>\u00a0in 1913. When he returned to New York to escape serving in WWI he spent time helping out at 291, where artists also gathered for lively discussions. Picabia experimented with a new machine aesthetic and with the idea of the photograph as a work of mechanical reproduction that would change art\u2014including painting\u2014forever.\r\n\r\nWhile at 291, Picabia made portraits called \u201cMechanomorphs\u201d that portrayed the artists, photographers, and critics there as hybrid machines\u2014depicting Stieglitz as an intriguing camera-like device. Such works also represented the wide array of practices supported by 291 and the idea that the gallery fostered the transmission of European Cubism and Collage (practices of cutting and rearranging images from visual culture) to artists in the United States.\r\n<h3 id=\"publishing-circulation-and-art-in-visual-culture\">Publishing, circulation, and art in visual culture<\/h3>\r\n[caption id=\"\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"1682\"]<a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/CameraWorks-copy.png\"><img src=\"https:\/\/pressbooks.palomar.edu\/arthc1200\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/72\/2026\/06\/CameraWorks-copy-scaled.png\" alt=\"Cover page of a vintage photographic quarterly titled &quot;Camera Work,&quot; edited and published by Alfred Stieglitz in New York. The design features stylized green text on a dark background, with issue number XXXVI and year MDCCCCXI (1911) indicated.\" width=\"1682\" height=\"2560\" \/><\/a> <em>Camera Work<\/em>: 36 (1911) (<a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/291-stieglitz\/\">Smarthistory<\/a>)[\/caption]\r\n\r\nOne of the activities at 291 that helped promote modern painting and photography was publishing. Stieglitz and his friend Steichen began publishing the journal\u00a0<em>Camera Work<\/em>\u00a0in 1903 and continued this project until 1917. During that time the journal featured illustrious art photographs and articles about photography as well as features on modern art from Europe.\r\n\r\nThe publishing efforts at 291 served as an important conduit for modern art in the United States (even for those viewers who did not pay a visit to the gallery). From 1915\u20131916 Stieglitz and companions at 291 published a journal of the same name. The short-lived journal\u00a0<em>291<\/em>\u00a0featured even more radically modern art\u2014so radical in fact that few readers were interested.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"1003\"]<a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/Francis_Picabia_Ici_cest_ici_Stieglitz_foi_et_amour_cover_of_291_No1_1915.jpg\"><img src=\"https:\/\/pressbooks.palomar.edu\/arthc1200\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/72\/2026\/06\/Francis_Picabia_Ici_cest_ici_Stieglitz_foi_et_amour_cover_of_291_No1_1915.jpg\" alt=\"A vintage technical drawing illustrates a mechanical device with an accordion-like central section and scissor-like arms, labeled with the number 291. The design includes black and red line elements, with French text &quot;ICI, C'EST ICI STIEGLITZ FOI ET AMOUR&quot; and a small signature at the bottom right, suggesting artistic and engineering significance.\" width=\"1003\" height=\"1418\" \/><\/a> Francis Picabia, <em>Ici, c\u2019est ici Stieglitz, foi et amour<\/em>, cover of<em> 291<\/em>, No. 1 (1915) (<a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/291-stieglitz\/\">Smarthistory<\/a>)[\/caption]\r\n\r\nPicabia\u2019s bizarre mechanical portrait of Stieglitz (see the Smarthistory essay \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/picabia-ideal\/\">Ideal<\/a>\u201d) was featured on the cover of a 1915 edition of the journal but represented another conundrum. The tendencies of some contributing artists, such as Picabia,\u00a0to embrace the newly emerging Dada movement made the publication too enigmatic for general audiences and, it is said, even to Stieglitz himself.\r\n\r\nDespite the fact that this journal seemed relevant to only a small group of artists in early twentieth-century New York, its transnational contributions and cutting-edge content remain historically significant. Like the gallery at 291, the journal\u2019s function as a conduit for modernism in the United States has earned it a prominent place in art history.\r\n<h2 id=\"alfred-stieglitz-the-steerage\">Alfred Stieglitz,\u00a0<em>The Steerage<\/em><\/h2>\r\nAlfred Stieglitz championed modern \u201cstraight photography\u201d featuring the medium\u2019s innate characteristics and also promoted modern art in the United States.\r\n\r\nhttps:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=uWcPi8Iwf08\r\n<h2 id=\"georgia-okeeffe-radiator-buildingnight-new-york\">Georgia O\u2019Keeffe,\u00a0<em>Radiator Building\u2014Night, New York<\/em><\/h2>\r\nInfluenced by modern photography and the close-up, Georgia O\u2019Keeffe\u2019s mature style used close-in detail and cropped views as a means to abstraction.\r\n\r\nhttps:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=b7EMVU2eRnM\r\n<div class=\"textbox textbox--key-takeaways\"><header class=\"textbox__header\">\r\n<h2 class=\"textbox__title\">Practicing Visual Analysis<\/h2>\r\n<\/header>\r\n<div class=\"textbox__content\">\r\n\r\nOften known for her paintings of flowers or the American southwest, Georgia O\u2019Keeffe also painted the New York skyline. In <em>Radiator Building\u2014Night, New York<\/em>, O\u2019Keeffe centered a black rectangular skyscraper in the <strong>composition.<\/strong> The primary building is situated in the middle of other rectangular structures made mostly from varying tones of black and gray. The <strong>rectilinear forms<\/strong> of the buildings are simplified. Within the primary rectilinear forms are smaller rectangular <strong>shapes.<\/strong> O\u2019Keeffe used these shapes to indicate lit windows through varying <strong>tones<\/strong> of white, gray, or yellow. The <strong>pictorial space<\/strong> is relatively flat. <strong>Foreground<\/strong> and <strong>background<\/strong> are condensed. At the same time, some <strong>overlap<\/strong> of structures and the variations in <strong>tone<\/strong> suggest minimal depth. <strong>Chiaroscuro lighting<\/strong> is not used. Rather <strong>color<\/strong> is used to designate minimal depth and light sources. <strong>Rectilinear<\/strong> beams of blue light project from rooftops to suggest search lights. On the right side of the <strong>composition<\/strong>, a <strong>white curvilinear form<\/strong> of smoke emits from a building rooftop. The smoke intersects with one of the <strong>rectilinear<\/strong> blue lights to suggest the dissipation of light through smoke. In this piece, O\u2019Keeffe drew upon the modernist traditions coming from Europe. Mostly notably here, she borrowed ides from the Cubism and abstraction.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<h2 id=\"harlem-renaissance\">Harlem Renaissance<\/h2>\r\nThe Harlem Renaissance was the period when Harlem was the cultural capital of Black America; writers, musicians, and artists lived and worked in Harlem between the wars.\r\n<h2 id=\"aaron-douglas-aspiration\">Aaron Douglas,\u00a0<em>Aspiration<\/em><\/h2>\r\nA member of the New Negro Movement and a leading voice of Afrocentric modernist art in the Harlem Renaissance, Aaron Douglas studied in New York and Paris.\r\n\r\nhttps:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=fEcmAEpVZSA\r\n<h2 id=\"jacob-lawrence-the-migration-series\">Jacob Lawrence,\u00a0<em>The Migration Series<\/em><\/h2>\r\nJacob Lawrence was an American painter known for his narrative series of Black history and contemporary life, Lawrence communicated through abstraction and color.\r\n\r\nhttps:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=ZLC8xRNcJvE\r\n<h2 id=\"social-realism-in-america\">Social Realism in America<\/h2>\r\nAround 1930 through 1945, Social Realism emerged in the United States as an art style that focused on the daily lives of the working classes and the poor. Social Realism critiqued the social structures that maintain these conditions. Social Realism demonstrates that not every American artist working in the early to mid-twentieth century were following the Modernist aesthetics prominent in avant-garde circles.\r\n<h2 id=\"grant-wood-american-gothic\">Grant Wood,\u00a0<em>American Gothic<\/em><\/h2>\r\nPromoted as making American art in opposition to European Modernism, Regionalist Grant Wood painted rural and small-town themes and enjoyed national renown.\r\n\r\nhttps:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=vk2GvyNmYD0\r\n<h2 id=\"hale-woodruff-the-banjo-player\">Hale Woodruff,\u00a0<em>The Banjo Player<\/em><\/h2>\r\nAn American artist who studied in Paris and Mexico, Hale Woodruff\u2019s paintings and prints address the problems faced by Black Americans. In the <em>Banjo Player<\/em>, Woodruff reimagines racist tropes of Black banjo players with a figure who is confident and joyful. Please note, this video includes historical images that are racist.\r\n\r\nhttps:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Nr7oOp0nZDc\r\n<h2 id=\"mexican-muralism-los-tres-grandesdavid-alfaro-siqueiros-diego-rivera-and-jos\u00e9-clemente-orozco\">Mexican muralism:\u00a0<em>Los Tres Grandes<\/em>\u2014David Alfaro Siqueiros, Diego Rivera, and Jos\u00e9 Clemente Orozco<\/h2>\r\n[caption id=\"\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"1429\"]<img src=\"https:\/\/pressbooks.palomar.edu\/arthc1200\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/72\/2026\/06\/image436.jpeg\" alt=\"Photograph of a large mural on a building facade depicting two hands reaching toward each other, with a heart in the center and a ship on the right side. The mural includes years 1520, 1810, 1857, 1910, and a partially obscured date, suggesting historical or cultural significance.\" width=\"1429\" height=\"762\" \/> David Alfaro Siqueiros, <em>Dates in Mexican History or the Right for Culture<\/em>, National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), 1952\u201356, Mexico City (photo: <a href=\"https:\/\/flic.kr\/p\/8GeNDH\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Fausto Puga<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc-sa\/2.0\/deed.en\">CC BY-NC-SA 2.0<\/a>)[\/caption]\r\n<h3 id=\"siqueiros-and-mexican-history\">Siqueiros and Mexican history<\/h3>\r\nAt the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) in Mexico City visitors enter the rectory (the main administration building), beneath an imposing three-dimensional arm emerging from a mural. Several hands, one with a pencil, charge towards a book, which lists critical dates in Mexico\u2019s history: 1520 (the Conquest by Spain); 1810 (Independence from Spain); 1857 (the Liberal Constitution which established individual rights); and 1910 (the start of the\u00a0Revolution\u00a0against the regime of Porfirio D\u00edaz). David Alfaro Siqueiros left the final date blank in<em>\u00a0Dates in Mexican Histor<\/em>y or the\u00a0<em>Right for Culture<\/em>\u00a0(1952\u201356), inspiring viewers to create Mexico\u2019s next great historic moment.\r\n<h3 id=\"the-revolution\">The revolution<\/h3>\r\nFrom 1910 to 1920\u00a0civil war ravaged the nation as citizens revolted against dictator\u00a0Porfirio D\u00edaz. At the heart of the Revolution was the belief\u2014itself revolutionary\u2014that the land should be in the hands of laborers, the very people who worked it. This demand for agrarian reform signaled a new age in Mexican society: issues concerning the popular masses\u2014universal public education and health care, expanded civil liberties\u2014were at the forefront of government policy.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_3484\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"300\"]<img class=\"wp-image-3484 size-medium\" src=\"http:\/\/pressbooks.palomar.edu\/arthc1200\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/72\/2026\/06\/24211950360_b3ee1bed5a_k-300x196.jpg\" alt=\"A mural depicting a central figure operating a large mechanical device with four colorful, intricately designed blades extending outward, each blade featuring distinct symbolic imagery representing science, technology, agriculture, and human progress. Surrounding the central scene are groups of people and machinery, highlighting themes of industrialization, innovation, and societal development through vibrant colors and detailed composition.\" width=\"300\" height=\"196\" \/> Diego Rivera, <em>Man, Controller of the Universe<\/em>, 1934, fresco, 4.85 x 11.45 m (Museum of the Palace of Fine Arts, Mexico City; photo:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/flic.kr\/p\/CTwzj1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Steven Zucker<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc-sa\/2.0\/deed.en\">CC BY-NC-SA 2.0<\/a>)[\/caption]\r\n<h3 id=\"mexican-muralism\">Mexican muralism<\/h3>\r\nAt the end of the Revolution\u00a0the government commissioned artists to create art that could educate the mostly illiterate masses about Mexican history. Celebrating the Mexican people\u2019s potential to craft the nation\u2019s history was a key theme in Mexican muralism, a movement led by Siqueiros,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/diego-rivera-third-floor-murals-secretaria-educacion-publica\/\">Diego Rivera<\/a>, and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/orozco-dive-bomber-and-tank\/\">Jos\u00e9 Clemente Orozco<\/a>\u2014known as\u00a0<em>Los tres grandes<\/em>. Between the 1920s and 1950s, they cultivated a style that defined Mexican identity following the Revolution.\r\n\r\nThe muralists developed an iconography featuring atypical, non-European heroes from the nation\u2019s illustrious past, present, and future\u2014<a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/introduction-mexica\/\">Aztec<\/a>\u00a0(Mexica) warriors battling the Spanish, humble peasants fighting in the Revolution, common laborers of Mexico City, and the mixed-race people who will forge the next great epoch, like in Siqueiros\u2019s UNAM mural.\u00a0<em>Los tres grandes<\/em>\u00a0crafted epic murals on the walls of highly visible, public buildings using techniques like fresco,\u00a0encaustic, mosaic, and sculpture-painting.\r\n\r\nOne of the earliest government commissions for a post-Revolution mural was for the National Preparatory School, a high school in Mexico City affiliated with UNAM. During the 1920s\u00a0<em>Los tres grandes\u00a0<\/em>and other artists completed works throughout the school\u2019s expansive exteriors and interiors.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"1429\"]<img src=\"https:\/\/pressbooks.palomar.edu\/arthc1200\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/72\/2026\/06\/image438.jpeg\" alt=\"A mural painting depicting two central figures in traditional clothing engaged in conversation, surrounded by abstract architectural shapes and flowing red fabric. The artwork uses muted earth tones and vibrant reds to contrast themes of culture, struggle, and movement.\" width=\"1429\" height=\"1055\" \/> Jos\u00e9 Clemente Orozco, <em>Destruction of the Old Order<\/em> (detail), 1926 (National Preparatory School, Mexico City; photo: <a href=\"https:\/\/flic.kr\/p\/Dik9uA\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Steven Zucker<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc-sa\/2.0\/deed.en\">CC BY-NC-SA 2.0<\/a>)[\/caption]\r\n<h3 id=\"destruction-of-the-old-order\">Destruction of the old order<\/h3>\r\nOrozco painted nearly two dozen murals at the school\u00a0including\u00a0<em>Destruction of the Old Order<\/em>, 1926. It depicts two figures in peasant attire who watch nineteenth-century\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/neoclassicism-an-introduction\/\">neoclassical<\/a>\u00a0structures fracture into a\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/cubism-and-multiple-perspectives\/\">Cubist<\/a>-like pile, signaling the demise of the past. Just as Siqueiros\u2019s UNAM murals anticipate an unrealized historic event, the \u201cnew order\u201d implied in Orozco\u2019s work is the world these men will encounter once they turn to face the viewer. These anonymous men are unlikely heroes given their modest attire, yet they represent a new age where the Revolution has liberated the masses from centuries of repression.\r\n<h3 id=\"murals-for-the-palace-of-fine-arts\">Murals for the Palace of Fine Arts<\/h3>\r\nIn 1934 the government inaugurated the Palace of Fine Arts Mexico City, which soon became the nation\u2019s most important cultural institution. The Palace\u2019s Museum, Mexico\u2019s first art museum, opened the same year with works by two of\u00a0<em>Los tres grandes<\/em>: Rivera\u2019s\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/diego-rivera-man-controller-of-the-universe\/\"><em>Man, Controller of the Universe<\/em><\/a>, 1934, a recreation of\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/diego-rivera-man-at-the-crossroads\/\"><em>Man at the Crossroads<\/em><\/a>\u00a0(painted at Rockefeller Center and destroyed the year before), and Orozco\u2019s\u00a0<em>Catharsis<\/em>, 1934\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_3485\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"300\"]<img class=\"wp-image-3485 size-medium\" src=\"http:\/\/pressbooks.palomar.edu\/arthc1200\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/72\/2026\/06\/Palacio_de_Bellas_Artes_-_Mural_Katharsis_Orozco_1-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"A mural painting depicting a chaotic battle scene with intertwined human and robotic figures, emphasizing struggle and conflict. The artwork features vivid colors, detailed expressions, and mechanical elements, highlighting themes of war, resistance, and technological oppression.\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" \/> Jos\u00e9 Clemente Orozco, <em>Catharsis<\/em> (partial view), 1934 ((<a href=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20230418191253\/https:\/museopalaciodebellasartes.gob.mx\/orozco-katharsis\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Museum of the Palace of Fine Arts, Mexico City<\/a>, Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:Palacio_de_Bellas_Artes_-_Mural_Katharsis_Orozco_1.jpg\">Wikimedia<\/a>, License: <a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/publicdomain\/mark\/1.0\/\">Public Domain<\/a>)[\/caption]\r\n\r\nThe title of Orozco\u2019s painting dates to 1942, when an art historian speculated that the fire at the top of the composition symbolized catharsis, and thus \u201cthe only possibility of saving and purifying civilization\u201d as it succumbed to the excesses of moral depravity. The laughing central figure jerks the viewer into an immoral world, where the malevolent aspects of modern life\u2014senseless warfare, destructive technology, and prostitution\u2014run rampant.\r\n\r\nIn <a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/mexican-muralism-los-tres-grandes-david-alfaro-siqueiros-diego-rivera-and-jose-clemente-orozco\/\"><em>Torment and Apotheosis of Cuauht\u00e9moc<\/em><\/a>, 1950\u201351, another mural at the Museum of the Palace of Fine Arts, Siqueiros explores the violent period of the Conquest. In this mural Spanish soldiers torture the Mexican tribal leader for information on the location of the treasure they seek. The Mexican motherland, symbolized by the blood-stained female figure, stretches her arms protectively over his still figure. Siqueiros\u2019 penchant for sinewy limbs, showcased in the UNAM murals and exemplified here in the bodies of Cuauht\u00e9moc and his praying companion, underscore the tension in this encounter.\r\n\r\nThe Mexican Revolution was a watershed moment in the twentieth century because it marked a true break from the past, ushering in a more egalitarian age. With its grand scale, innovative iconography, and socially relevant message, Mexican muralism remains a notable compliment to the Revolution. The way the muralists reoriented history, recovered lost stories, and drafted new narratives continues to stir audiences and inspire artists, like the\u00a0Chicano\u00a0muralists that emerged in the U.S. Southwest. The fact that their in-situ masterpieces can still be seen publicly in Mexico and beyond is a testament to their relevance, popularity, and the power of their didactic message.\r\n<h2 id=\"the-history-of-mexico-diego-riveras-murals-at-the-national-palace\"><em>The History of Mexico<\/em>: Diego Rivera\u2019s Murals at the National Palace<\/h2>\r\n[caption id=\"\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"2046\"]<a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/RiveraHistoryWestWall.jpg\"><img src=\"https:\/\/pressbooks.palomar.edu\/arthc1200\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/72\/2026\/06\/RiveraHistoryWestWall.jpg\" alt=\"A mural depicting a vibrant historical scene with numerous figures engaged in various activities, including battles, celebrations, and cultural rituals. The artwork features rich colors, intricate details, and symbolic elements such as warriors, animals, and traditional attire, illustrating a complex narrative of heritage and conflict.\" width=\"2046\" height=\"1045\" \/><\/a> Diego Rivera, \u201cFrom the Conquest to 1930,\u201d <em>History of Mexico<\/em> murals, 1929\u201330, fresco, Palacio Nacional, Mexico City (<a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/mexico-diego-rivera-murals-national-palace\/\">Smarthistory<\/a>)[\/caption]\r\n<h3 id=\"how-is-history-told\">How is history told?<\/h3>\r\nTypically, we think of history as a series of events narrated in chronological order. But what does history look like as a series of images? Mexican artist Diego Rivera responded to this question when he painted\u00a0<em>The History of Mexico<\/em>, as a series of murals that span three large walls within a grand stairwell of the National Palace in Mexico City. In Rivera\u2019s words, the mural represents \u201cthe entire history of Mexico from the Conquest through the Mexican Revolution . . . down to the ugly present.\u201d[footnote]Diego Rivera,\u00a0<em>My Art, My Life: An Autobiography<\/em>\u00a0(New York: Dover Publications, 1991), pp. 94\u201395.[\/footnote]\r\n\r\nIn an overwhelming and crowded composition, Rivera represents pivotal scenes from the history of the modern nation-state, including scenes from the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/introduction-to-the-spanish-viceroyalties-in-the-americas-2\/\">Spanish Conquest<\/a>, the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/mexican-independence\/\">fight for independence<\/a>\u00a0from Spain, the Mexican-American war, the Mexican Revolution, and an imagined future Mexico in which a workers\u2019 revolution has triumphed. Although this mural cycle spans hundreds of years of Mexican history, Rivera concentrated on themes that highlight a Marxist interpretation of history as driven by\u00a0class conflict\u00a0as well as the struggle of the Mexican people against foreign invaders and the resilience of\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/pre-columbian-mesoamerica\/\">Indigenous cultures<\/a>.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"2320\"]<a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/RiveraMarx.jpg\"><img src=\"https:\/\/pressbooks.palomar.edu\/arthc1200\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/72\/2026\/06\/RiveraMarx.jpg\" alt=\"Mural painting depicting Karl Marx pointing forward while addressing workers and soldiers, symbolizing class struggle and social change. Background features industrial smokestacks, flames, and a factory setting, with a prominent text block in Spanish discussing history, class struggle, and societal transformation.\" width=\"2320\" height=\"1532\" \/><\/a> Diego Rivera, \u201cMexico Today and Tomorrow,\u201d detail featuring Karl Marx, <em>History of Mexico<\/em> murals, 1935, fresco, Palacio Nacional, Mexico City (photo:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/Category:Murals_by_Diego_Rivera_in_the_Palacio_Nacional#\/media\/File:Murales_Rivera_-_Treppenhaus_7_Marx.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Wolfgang Sauber<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-sa\/3.0\/deed.en\">CC BY-SA 3.0<\/a>)[\/caption]\r\n<h3 id=\"a-new-national-identity\">A new national identity<\/h3>\r\nIn the immediate years following the\u00a0Mexican Revolution\u00a0(1910\u20131920), the newly formed government sought to establish a national identity that eschewed Eurocentrism (an emphasis on European culture) and instead heralded the Amerindian. The result was that Indigenous culture was elevated in the national discourse. After hundreds of years of colonial rule and the Eurocentric dictatorship of Porfirio D\u00edaz, the new Mexican state integrated its national identity with the concept of\u00a0<em>indigenismo<\/em>, an ideology that lauded Mexico\u2019s past Indigenous history and cultural heritage (rather than acknowledging the ongoing struggles of contemporary Indigenous people and incorporating them into the new state governance).\r\n\r\nJos\u00e9 Vasconcelos, the new government\u2019s Minister of Public Education, conceived of a collaboration between the government and artists. The result were state-sponsored murals such as those at the National Palace in Mexico City.\r\n<h3 id=\"why-murals\">Why murals?<\/h3>\r\nRivera and other artists believed easel painting to be \u201caristocratic,\u201d since for centuries this kind of art had been the purview of the elite.\u00a0Instead they favored\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/mexican-muralism-los-tres-grandes-david-alfaro-siqueiros-diego-rivera-and-jose-clemente-orozco\/\">mural painting<\/a>\u00a0since it could present subjects on a large scale to a wide public audience. This idea\u2014of directly addressing the people in public buildings\u2014suited the muralists\u2019 Communist politics. In 1922, Rivera (and others) signed the\u00a0<em>Manifesto of the Syndicate of Technical Workers, Painters, and Sculptors<\/em>, arguing that artists must invest \u201ctheir greatest efforts in the aim of materializing an art valuable to the people.\u201d[footnote]\u201cManifesto of the Syndicate of Technical Workers, Painters, and Sculptors,\u201d published in Alejandro Anreus, et.al,\u00a0<em>Mexican Muralism : A Critical History<\/em>\u00a0(Berkeley: University of California Press, 2012) pp. 319\u2013321. Signed by Diego Rivera, Dav\u00edd Alfaro Siqueiros, Xavier Guerrero, Ferm\u00edn Revueltas, Jos\u00e9 Clemente Orozco, Ram\u00f3n Alva Guadarrama, Germ\u00e1n Cueto, and Carlos M\u00e9rida and published in the journal\u00a0<em>El Machete<\/em>\u00a0in June 1924.[\/footnote]\r\n\r\nRivera had to design his composition around the pre-existing built environment of the National Palace. Rivera painted in the historical\u00a0<em>buon fresco<\/em>\u00a0technique, in which the artist paints directly upon wet plaster that has been applied to a wall resulting in the pigment being permanently fused to the lime plaster. Such murals were common in pre-conquest Mexico as well as in Europe.\r\n\r\nIn the case of\u00a0<em>The History of Mexico<\/em>, this meant creating a\u00a0three-part\u00a0allegorical\u00a0portrayal\u00a0of Mexico that was informed by the specific history of the site. Today the National Palace is the seat of executive power in Mexico, but it was built atop the ruins of the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/introduction-mexica\/\">Aztec<\/a>\u00a0emperor Moctezuma II\u2019s residence after the Spanish Conquest of the capital of Tenochtitlan in 1521. The site then served as the residence of the conquistador Hern\u00e1n Cort\u00e9s and later the Viceroy of\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/new-spain\/\">New Spain<\/a>\u00a0until the end of the Wars of Independence in 1821. This site is a potent symbol of the history of conflict between Indigenous Aztecs and Spanish invaders.\r\n<h3 id=\"the-north-wall\">The North Wall<\/h3>\r\n[caption id=\"\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"1151\"]<a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/9778762661_8688a32304_o.jpg\"><img src=\"https:\/\/pressbooks.palomar.edu\/arthc1200\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/72\/2026\/06\/9778762661_8688a32304_o.jpg\" alt=\"A large mural painting depicting an ancient Mesoamerican scene with numerous figures engaged in various activities such as rituals, music, and daily tasks, set against a backdrop of mountains, temples, and symbolic elements like a sun and serpent. The mural features vibrant colors, detailed human forms, and cultural motifs, illustrating historical and mythological aspects of indigenous life.\" width=\"1151\" height=\"900\" \/><\/a> North wall: Diego Rivera, \u201cThe Aztec World,\u201d <em>History of Mexico<\/em> murals, 1929, fresco, Palacio Nacional, Mexico City (photo:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/101561334@N08\/9778762661\/in\/photostream\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Gary Todd<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/publicdomain\/zero\/1.0\/deed.en\">CC0<\/a>)[\/caption]\r\n\r\n<em>The Aztec World<\/em>, the title of the mural on the North Wall, features Rivera\u2019s first large-scale rendering of Mesoamerica before the Spanish invasion\u2014here focused on the Aztecs (the Mexica). Rivera\u2019s representation of the deity Quetzalcoatl (\u201cfeathered serpent\u201d), seated in the center of the composition wearing a headdress of quetzal feathers\u2014draws on imagery from colonial-era sources, in particular, an image of Quetzalcoatl from the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/bernardino-de-sahagun-and-collaborators-florentine-codex\/\"><em>Florentine Codex<\/em><\/a>.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"324\"]<a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/32.jpg\"><img src=\"https:\/\/pressbooks.palomar.edu\/arthc1200\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/72\/2026\/06\/32.jpg\" alt=\"Illustration of Quetzalcoatl, an Aztec deity, depicted in traditional attire with a feathered headdress, shield, and ceremonial object. Colors include green, red, white, and yellow, with handwritten labels identifying the figure and chapter reference.\" width=\"324\" height=\"468\" \/><\/a> Quetzalcoatl, detail, Bernardino de Sahag\u00fan and collaborators, <em>Florentine Codex<\/em>, vol. 1, 1575\u20131577 (Medicea Laurenziana Library, Florence, Italy, <a href=\"https:\/\/florentinecodex.getty.edu\/\">Digital Florentine Codex<\/a>)[\/caption]\r\n\r\nAgainst the backdrop of the Valley of Mexico (where Tenochtitlan and now Mexico City are located), Rivera renders a Mesoamerican pyramid and various aspects of Aztec life. He represents figures grinding ma\u00edz (corn) to make tortillas, playing music, creating paintings, sculpture, and leatherwork, and transporting goods for trade and imperial tribute.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"2560\"]<img src=\"https:\/\/pressbooks.palomar.edu\/arthc1200\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/72\/2026\/06\/annotated-3rd-wall-rivera-national-palace-copy-scaled-1.jpg\" alt=\"Photograph of a large mural depicting Aztec culture and history with labeled elements such as pyramids, Quetzalcoatl, transport of tribute, grinding maize, resistance, warfare and class struggle, sculpting, painting, playing music, and Quetzalcoatl leaves. The mural uses vibrant colors and detailed human figures to illustrate various cultural practices, social dynamics, and mythological symbols within a historical context.\" width=\"2560\" height=\"2202\" \/> Annotated image of the north wall: Diego Rivera, \u201cThe Aztec World,\u201d <em>History of Mexico<\/em> murals, 1929, fresco, Palacio Nacional, Mexico City (photo:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/101561334@N08\/9778762661\/in\/photostream\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Gary Todd<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/publicdomain\/zero\/1.0\/deed.en\">CC0<\/a>)[\/caption]\r\n\r\nDespite Rivera\u2019s great admiration for pre-Conquest civilizations (he was a great collector of pre-Columbian art) he did not uncritically portray the Aztec world as utopian. In addition to rendering scenes of agriculture and cultural production,\u00a0<em>The Aztec World<\/em>\u00a0shows laborers building pyramids, a group resisting Aztec control, and scenes of the Aztecs waging the wars that created and maintained their empire. Rivera demonstrates the Marxist position that class conflict is the prime driver of history\u2014here, even before the arrival of the Spaniards.\r\n<h3 id=\"the-west-wall\">The West Wall<\/h3>\r\nOn the West Wall and in the center of the stairway, visitors are confronted with a chaotic composition titled\u00a0<em>From the Conquest to 1930<\/em>. The wall is divided at the top by\u00a0corbels\u00a0from which spring five arches.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"2560\"]<img src=\"https:\/\/pressbooks.palomar.edu\/arthc1200\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/72\/2026\/06\/annotated-3rd-wall-rivera-national-palace-copy-scaled-1.jpg\" alt=\"A mural depicting key historical periods of Mexico, including Spanish Conquest, Mexican eagle, Porfirian era, Independence and Mexican Revolution, Reform and Ju\u00e1rez era, French Rule and Emperor Maximilian, and U.S. invasion. The mural uses vibrant colors and detailed figures to illustrate significant events and cultural symbols across different eras.\" width=\"2560\" height=\"2202\" \/> Annotated image of the west wall: Diego Rivera, \u201cFrom the Conquest to 1930,\u201d <em>History of Mexico<\/em> murals, 1929\u201330, fresco, Palacio Nacional, Mexico City (photo:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:Epopeya_del_pueblo_mexicano.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">drkgk<\/a>, License: <a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/publicdomain\/zero\/1.0\/deed.en\">CC0 1.0<\/a>)[\/caption]\r\n\r\nAcross the top, In the outermost sections, Rivera represents the two nineteenth-century invasions of Mexico\u2014by France and the United States respectively. From left to right, the three central sections depict: the dictatorship of Porfirio D\u00edaz, figures associated with Independence and the Mexican Revolution, and the Constitution of 1857 (during the presidency of Benito Ju\u00e1rez) and the War of Reform. These historical events are somewhat distinguishable thanks to the arches that separate the scenes.\r\n\r\nIn the lower section of the mural however, there is no such distinction between, for example, scenes of the Spanish conquest of the Aztec empire, the subsequent destruction of Mesoamerican painted books (now called codices), the arrival of Christian missionaries, the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/unearthing-the-aztec-past-the-destruction-of-the-templo-mayor\/\">destruction of pre-Columbian temples, and construction of new colonial structures<\/a>\u2014emphasizing the interrelated nature of these events.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"870\"]<img src=\"https:\/\/pressbooks.palomar.edu\/arthc1200\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/72\/2026\/06\/mexican-flag-870x497-1.jpg\" alt=\"Flag with three vertical stripes in green, white, and red from left to right. Central emblem on white stripe features a golden eagle perched on a cactus holding a snake, surrounded by a wreath of oak and laurel branches.\" width=\"870\" height=\"497\" \/> Mexican flag[\/caption]\r\n\r\nAn\u00a0eagle standing on a nopal cactus\u00a0at the very center of the wall, mirrors the insignia at the center of the Mexican flag. These historical scenes have been compressed and flattened on the picture surface resulting in a dense visual mosaic of intertwining figures and forms. The lack of deep space in the composition makes it difficult to distinguish between different scenes, and results in an allover composition without a central focus or a clear visual pathway. This cacophony of historical figures and flurried action overwhelms viewers as they walk up the stairs.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_3486\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"378\"]<img class=\" wp-image-3486\" src=\"http:\/\/pressbooks.palomar.edu\/arthc1200\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/72\/2026\/06\/specific-figures-rivera-mural-300x147.jpg\" alt=\"Mural painting depicting key figures and events from Mexican history, including Emiliano Zapata, Benito Ju\u00e1rez, and Miguel Hidalgo, with a crowd of revolutionaries holding banners and rifles. The artwork features vibrant colors, detailed facial expressions, and historical costumes, emphasizing themes of liberty, resistance, and national identity.\" width=\"378\" height=\"185\" \/> Annotated upper section of the west wall: Diego Rivera, \u201cFrom the Conquest to 1930,\u201d <em>History of Mexico<\/em> murals, 1929\u201330, fresco, Palacio Nacional, Mexico City (photo:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:Epopeya_del_pueblo_mexicano_2.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">drkgk<\/a>, License: <a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/publicdomain\/zero\/1.0\/deed.en\">CC0 1.0<\/a>)[\/caption]\r\n\r\nGiven the breadth of the wall space, Rivera had to make critical decisions about which historical figures and narratives to include. Rivera\u2019s formal choices\u2014the flattening of the pictorial space, the nonlinear organization, and the monumental scale of the figures\u2014create a non-hierarchical composition. These formal choices support Rivera\u2019s decision to represent not just the historically well-known and recognizable figures, such as the independence fighter Miguel Hidalgo, revolutionary Emiliano Zapata (who holds a flag with the words\u00a0<em>tierra y libertad,\u00a0<\/em>or land and liberty), or the first Indigenous president Benito Ju\u00e1rez, but also anonymous workers, laborers, and soldiers. As Rivera later noted,\r\n\r\n\u201cEach personage in the mural was dialectically connected with his neighbors, in accordance with his role in history. Nothing was solitary; nothing was irrelevant.\u201d [footnote]Diego Rivera,\u00a0<em>My Art, My Life: An Autobiography<\/em>, pp. 100\u2013101.[\/footnote]\r\n\r\nThe artist\u2019s portrayal of the interconnection of social struggle throughout Mexico\u2019s history and the non-hierarchical representation of the historical figures reflects his Marxist perspective.\r\n<h3 id=\"the-south-wall\">The South Wall<\/h3>\r\nRivera\u2019s politics become more evident on the South Wall, titled\u00a0<em>Mexico Today and Tomorrow<\/em>, which was painted years later in 1935.\u00a0<em>Mexico Today and Tomorrow<\/em>\u00a0depicts contemporary class conflict between industrial capitalism (using machinery and with a clear division of labor) and workers around the world.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"2560\"]<img src=\"https:\/\/pressbooks.palomar.edu\/arthc1200\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/72\/2026\/06\/annotated-3rd-wall-rivera-national-palace-copy-scaled-1.jpg\" alt=\"A large mural painting depicting various social and political themes, including urban workers, campesinos, and workers oppressed by police, with labels identifying Karl Marx, Frida Kahlo, and negative social forces. The mural uses vibrant colors and dynamic compositions to highlight struggles of labor and social justice movements.\" width=\"2560\" height=\"2202\" \/> Annotated image of the south wall: Diego Rivera, \u201cMexico Today and Tomorrow,\u201d <em>History of Mexico<\/em> murals, 1935, fresco, Palacio Nacional, Mexico City (photo:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/Category:Murals_by_Diego_Rivera_in_the_Palacio_Nacional#\/media\/File:History_of_Mexico_mural_by_Diego_Rivera_(Mexico_City).jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Cbl62<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/publicdomain\/zero\/1.0\/deed.en\">CC0<\/a>)[\/caption]\r\n\r\nThe narrative begins in the lower right and progresses upward in a boustrophedonic pattern (here, a reverse S-curve), similar to the compositional layout of pre-Conquest Mesoamerican painted manuscripts (such as the Codex Nuttall). In the lower section Rivera depicts\u00a0<em>campesinos<\/em>\u00a0(peasant farmers) laboring, urban workers constructing buildings, and his wife\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/frida-kahlo-introduction\/\">Frida Kahlo<\/a>\u00a0with a number of school children who are being taught as part of an expansion of rural education after the Revolution.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"1180\"]<img src=\"https:\/\/pressbooks.palomar.edu\/arthc1200\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/72\/2026\/06\/image452.jpeg\" alt=\"A detailed mural painting depicting a diverse group of people, including workers, soldiers, and intellectuals, symbolizing unity and social struggle. Prominent figures include a woman with a red blouse and a man with a star necklace, surrounded by individuals holding newspapers and armed soldiers in the background.\" width=\"1180\" height=\"876\" \/> Frida Kahlo wearing a necklace with a red star and hammer and sickle pendant (detail), Diego Rivera, \u201cMexico Today and Tomorrow,\u201d <em>History of Mexico<\/em> murals, 1935, fresco, Palacio Nacional, Mexico City (photo:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/guerillagrrl\/8185874248\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Jen Wilton<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc\/2.0\/deed.en\">CC BY-NC 2.0<\/a>)[\/caption]\r\n\r\nFollowing the narrative up, Rivera represents\u2014using a pictorial structure unique to this wall\u2014negative social forces such as high-society figures, corrupt and reactionary clergy, and the invasion of foreign capital\u2014here represented by contemporaneous capitalists such as John D. Rockefeller, Jr. who was attempting to secure access to Mexican oil at the time.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"1428\"]<img src=\"https:\/\/pressbooks.palomar.edu\/arthc1200\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/72\/2026\/06\/image453.jpeg\" alt=\"Mural painting depicting interconnected scenes of industrial workers, intellectuals, and political figures engaged in various activities, symbolizing social and economic struggles. The composition features detailed human expressions, mechanical pipes linking different sections, and text references to Marxist ideology, highlighting themes of labor, power, and revolution.\" width=\"1428\" height=\"1092\" \/> Negative social forces\u2014showing capitalist corruption and greed (detail), Diego Rivera, \u201cMexico Today and Tomorrow,\u201d <em>History of Mexico<\/em> murals, 1935, fresco, Palacio Nacional, Mexico City (photo:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/shoplifters\/4665210515\/in\/photolist-m3wj3e-m3vbt8-m3xKBu-m3vCuB-m3wFuV-m3uTBH-m3uZMP-m3wV4C-m3tT66-m3wC3V-m3xbp6-m3wRvK-m3uETB-m3wsDe-m3uQza-m3veUM-m3yqeu-m3tHHi-m3yRRS-m3uf1F-m3w7Eq-wHn9Lj-m3wnhv-m3vxno-m3wjdW-m3uZYT-wHnLjw-m3vNMx-m3ug1P-m3yytA-m3ux48-m3uGeK-m3xcmZ-m3u9nM-m3yv6d-m3tVAM-m3xQiT-m3vzK9-4VuvjA-m3upr6-m3wbhK-m3xYtk-m3ys3Q-m3y6Ca-87fqy4-m3vQEE-87iCyb-6ZLW6H-5QvoAp-87iCnf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Carlos Villarreal<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc\/2.0\/deed.en\">CC BY-NC 2.0<\/a>)[\/caption]\r\n\r\nTo the right, workers are being oppressed by police wearing gas masks, yet just above this scene a figure in blue emerges from a mass of uprising workers, their fists raised in the air against the backdrop of downtown Mexico City. The narrative culminates in a portrait of Karl Marx who is shown pointing wearied workers and\u00a0<em>campesinos<\/em>\u00a0towards a \u201cvision of a future industrialized and socialized land of peace and plenty.\u201d[footnote]Diego Rivera,\u00a0<em>My Art, My Life: An Autobiography, p.\u00a0<\/em>131.[\/footnote] Unlike the non-linear composition of the West Wall, here Rivera expresses his vision for the future of Mexico, a winding path that leaves oppression and corruption behind.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"2320\"]<a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/RiveraMarx.jpg\"><img src=\"https:\/\/pressbooks.palomar.edu\/arthc1200\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/72\/2026\/06\/RiveraMarx.jpg\" alt=\"Mural painting depicting Karl Marx pointing forward with industrial workers and machinery in the background, symbolizing class struggle and industrialization. The artwork features bold colors, detailed human figures, and a prominent text block explaining Marxist theory on societal change and class conflict.\" width=\"2320\" height=\"1532\" \/><\/a> Diego Rivera, \u201cMexico Today and Tomorrow,\u201d detail featuring Karl Marx, <em>History of Mexico<\/em> murals, 1935, fresco, Palacio Nacional, Mexico City (photo:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/Category:Murals_by_Diego_Rivera_in_the_Palacio_Nacional#\/media\/File:Murales_Rivera_-_Treppenhaus_7_Marx.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Wolfgang Sauber<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-sa\/3.0\/deed.en\">CC BY-SA 3.0<\/a>)[\/caption]\r\n<h3 id=\"an-alternative-history\">An alternative history<\/h3>\r\nSo what type of history has Rivera told us and how did he tell it? Is he the sole narrator?\u00a0<em>The History of Mexico<\/em>\u00a0was painted in a governmental building as part of a campaign to promote Mexican national identity, and yet, the mural cycle is not necessarily didactic. Rivera could have created a much simpler representation of Mexican history, one that directed the viewer\u2019s experience more explicitly. Instead, the viewer\u2019s response to this visual avalanche of history is to play an active role in the interpretation of the narrative. The lack of illusionistic space and the flattening of forms creates a composition that allows the viewer to decide where to look and how to read it. Moreover, the experiential and sensorial act of moving up the stairs allows the viewer to perceive the murals from multiple angles and vantage points. There is no \u201cright way\u201d to read this mural because there is no clear beginning or end to the story. The viewer is invited to synthesize the narrative to construct their own history of Mexico.\r\n<h2 id=\"frida-kahlo-the-two-fridas-las-dos-fridas\">Frida Kahlo,\u00a0<em>The Two Fridas (Las dos Fridas)<\/em><\/h2>\r\nFrida Kahlo\u2019s paintings reflect an extended examination of her personal and cultural identity, depicted in a meticulous and realistic style.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_3487\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"300\"]<img class=\"wp-image-3487 size-medium\" src=\"http:\/\/pressbooks.palomar.edu\/arthc1200\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/72\/2026\/06\/Screen-Shot-2022-01-07-at-4-300x300.webp\" alt=\"Painting depicting two women sitting side by side, connected by a red artery linking their exposed hearts, symbolizing emotional and physical connection. One woman wears a white dress with lace and holds surgical scissors cutting the artery, while the other wears a blue and brown dress, both set against a stormy sky background.\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" \/> Frida Kahlo, <em>The Two Fridas (Las dos Fridas)<\/em>, 1939, oil on canvas, 67-11\/16 x 67-11\/16\u2033 (Museo de Arte Moderno, Mexico City, Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wikiart.org\/en\/frida-kahlo\/the-two-fridas-1939\">Wikiart<\/a>, This work is in the <a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/publicdomain\/mark\/1.0\/\">Public Domain<\/a>)[\/caption]\r\n<h3 id=\"indelible-marks\">Indelible marks<\/h3>\r\nFacial hair indelibly marks the self-portraits of Mexican artist\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/frida-kahlo-introduction\/\">Frida Kahlo<\/a>. In an era when women still wore elaborate hairstyles, hosiery, and attire, Kahlo was a rebellious loner, often dressed in Indigenous clothing. Moreover, she lived as an artist during a period when many middle-class women sacrificed their ambitions to live entirely in the domestic sphere. Kahlo flouted both conventions of beauty and social expectations in her self-portraits. These powerful and unflinching self-images explore complex and difficult topics including her culturally mixed heritage, the harsh reality of her medical conditions, and the repression of women.\r\n\r\nThe double self-portrait\u00a0<em>The Two Fridas<\/em>, 1939 features two seated figures holding hands and sharing a bench in front of a stormy sky. The Fridas are identical twins except in their attire, a poignant issue for Kahlo at this moment. The year she painted this canvas she was divorced from\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/mexico-diego-rivera-murals-national-palace\/\">Diego Rivera<\/a>, the acclaimed Mexican muralist. Before she married Rivera in 1929, she wore the modern European dress of the era, evident in her first self-portrait (left) where she dons a red velvet dress with gold embroidery. With Rivera\u2019s encouragement, Kahlo embraced attire rooted in Mexican customs.\r\n<h3 id=\"dress\">Dress<\/h3>\r\nIn her second self-portrait (left) her accessories reference distinct periods in Mexican history (her necklace is a reference to the pre-Columbian Jadite of the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/introduction-mexica\/\">Aztecs<\/a>\u00a0and the earrings are\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/new-spain\/\">Spanish colonial<\/a>\u00a0in style) while her simple white blouse is a nod to peasant women.\r\n\r\nThe portraits from the 1930s reflect Kahlo\u2019s growing penchant for Indigenous attire and hair-styling, as is evident in\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/frida-kahlo-frieda-and-diego-rivera\/\"><em>Frieda and Diego Rivera<\/em><\/a>, 1931 and\u00a0<em>The Two Fridas<\/em>. Yet Kahlo never abandoned dressing her subjects and herself in mainstream, European dress; her female relatives wear non-Indigenous clothing in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.moma.org\/collection\/works\/78784\"><em>My Grandparents, My Parents, and I (Family Tree)<\/em><\/a>, 1936 (below).\r\n\r\nIn this painting, the bridal dress Kahlo\u2019s mother wears is reminiscent of the white, stiff-collared dress the artist wears in\u00a0<em>The Two Fridas<\/em>. Indeed, the grotesque view into each woman\u2019s insides is heightened by the virginal whiteness of both dresses.\r\n\r\nIn her brief lifetime, Kahlo painted about two hundred works of art, many of which are\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/frida-kahlo-self-portrait-with-monkey\/\">self-portraits<\/a>. With the exception of a few family trees, the double-portrait with Rivera and\u00a0<em>The Two Fridas<\/em>\u00a0represents a departure in her oeuvre. If a self-portrait by definition is a painting of one\u2019s self, why would Kahlo paint herself twice? One way to answer this question is to examine\u00a0<em>The Two Fridas<\/em>\u00a0as a bookend to the 1931 portrait,\u00a0<em>Frieda and Diego Rivera<\/em>. Though this painting was meant to celebrate the birth of their union, their tentative grasp seems to reflect Kahlo\u2019s misgivings about her husband\u2019s fidelity. By contrast, the double self-portrait, though laden with suffering, exhibits resilience.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"1381\"]<img src=\"https:\/\/pressbooks.palomar.edu\/arthc1200\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/72\/2026\/06\/two-fridas-hands.webp\" alt=\"Side by side detail images from a painting showing two close-up views of hands performing medical-related actions. The left panel depicts a hand holding surgical forceps pinching a bleeding wound on white fabric, while the right panel shows a hand holding a circular miniature portrait reflecting a small figure.\" width=\"1381\" height=\"450\" \/> Frida Kahlo, Details of<em> The Two Fridas (Las dos Fridas)<\/em>, 1939, oil on canvas, 67-11\/16 x 67-11\/16\u2033 (Museo de Arte Moderno, Mexico City)[\/caption]\r\n<h3 id=\"anatomy-of-two-fridas\">Anatomy of Two Fridas<\/h3>\r\nThe two Fridas clasp hands tightly. This bond is echoed by the vein that unites them. Where one is weakened by an exposed heart, the other is strong; where one still pines for her lost love (as underscored by the vein feeding Rivera\u2019s miniature portrait), the other clamps down on that figurative and literal tie with a hemostat.\r\n\r\nHuman anatomy is often graphically exposed in Kahlo\u2019s work, a topic she knew well after a childhood bout with polio deformed her right leg and a bus accident when she was eighteen years old left her disabled and unable to bear children. She would endure 32 operations as a result. Kahlo utilized blood as a visceral metaphor of union, as in the 1936 family portrait (above) where she honors her lineage through these bloody ties. She returns to this metaphor in\u00a0<em>The Two Fridas<\/em>\u00a0though with the added impact of two hearts, both vulnerable and laid bare to the viewer as a testament to her emotional suffering.\r\n<h3 id=\"i-am-the-person-i-know-best\">\u201cI am the person I know best\u201d<\/h3>\r\nPhotographs by artists within her milieu, like Manuel Alvarez Bravo and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gallery.ca\/collection\/artwork\/frida-kahlo\">Imogen Cunningham<\/a>, confirm that Kahlo\u2019s self-portraits were largely accurate and that she avoided embellishing her features. The solitude produced by frequent bed rest\u2014stemming from polio, her near-fatal bus accident, and a lifetime of operations\u2014was one of the cruel constants in Kahlo\u2019s life. Indeed, numerous photographs feature Kahlo in bed, often painting despite restraints. Beginning in her youth, in order to cope with these long periods of recovery, Kahlo became a painter. Nevertheless, the isolation caused by her health problems was always present. She reflected, \u201cI paint self-portraits because I am so often alone, because I am the person I know best.\u201d\r\n<h2 id=\"conclusion-13\">Conclusion<\/h2>\r\nIn Mexico and the United States, avant-garde artists reworked European modernist styles to fit their own cultural contexts. In Mexico, artists like Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera blended the cultural heritage of Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica with elements of Surrealism and Cubism. In the United States, artists like Georgia O\u2019Keeffe and Jacob Lawrence brought together components of abstraction and Cubism in their works. Within the turbulent cultural context of 1900-1945, artists in the United States and Mexico used the aesthetics of modern art to communicate about larger social issues and advocate for change. The early 20<sup>th<\/sup> century began to establish North America as an international artistic center. This would be further emphasized during and after World War II.\r\n<h3 id=\"citation-and-licensing-13\">Citation and Licensing<\/h3>\r\nThe following sections were written by Chelsea Wright and licensed <a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc-sa\/4.0\/\">CC BY-NC-SA 4.0<\/a>:\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>Chapter Overview and Introduction<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Focus artwork and term list compiled by Chelsea Wright<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Practicing Visual Analysis<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Conclusion<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\nThe following articles from <em>Smarthistory<\/em> licensed <a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc-sa\/4.0\/\">CC BY-NC-SA 4.0<\/a> were remixed and adapted for the chapter:\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>Dr. Kelly Enright, \"<a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/1898-1945-in-the-united-states-an-introduction\/\">1898\u20131945 in the United States, an introduction<\/a>,\" in\u00a0<em>Smarthistory<\/em>, June 25, 2024.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Dr. Stephanie Chadwick, \"<a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/291-stieglitz\/\">291\u2014Little Galleries of the Photo Secession<\/a>,\" in\u00a0<em>Smarthistory<\/em>, August 20, 2020.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Smarthistory, \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/artist\/alfred-stieglitz\/\">Alfred Stieglitz<\/a>,\u201d in\u00a0<em>Smarthistory.<\/em><\/li>\r\n \t<li>Dr. Kris Belden-Adams, \"<a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/stieglitz-the-steerage\/\">Alfred Stieglitz,\u00a0<em>The Steerage<\/em><\/a>,\" in\u00a0<em>Smarthistory<\/em>, August 9, 2015.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Smarthistory, \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/artist\/georgia-okeeffe\/\">Georgia O\u2019Keeffe<\/a>,\u201d in\u00a0<em>Smarthistory.<\/em><\/li>\r\n \t<li>Dr. Jennifer Padgett, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art and Dr. Steven Zucker, \"<a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/georgia-okeeffe-radiator-building-night-new-york\/\">Georgia O\u2019Keeffe,\u00a0<em>Radiator Building\u2014Night, New York<\/em><\/a>,\" in\u00a0<em>Smarthistory<\/em>, October 4, 2022.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Smarthistory, \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/period-culture-style\/modernisms\/harlem-renaissance\/\">Harlem Renaissance<\/a>,\u201d in\u00a0<em>Smarthistory.<\/em><\/li>\r\n \t<li>Smarthistory, \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/artist\/aaron-douglas\/\">Aaron Douglas<\/a>,\u201d in\u00a0<em>Smarthistory.<\/em><\/li>\r\n \t<li>Timothy Anglin Burgard, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco and Dr. Beth Harris, \"<a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/aaron-douglas-aspiration\/\">Aaron Douglas,\u00a0<em>Aspiration<\/em><\/a>,\" in\u00a0<em>Smarthistory<\/em>.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Smarthistory, \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/artist\/jacob-lawrence\/\">Jacob Lawrence<\/a>,\u201d in\u00a0<em>Smarthistory.<\/em><\/li>\r\n \t<li>Dr. Steven Zucker and Dr. Beth Harris, \"<a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/jacob-lawrence-the-migration-series\/\">Jacob Lawrence,\u00a0<em>The Migration Series<\/em><\/a>,\" in\u00a0<em>Smarthistory<\/em>, August 9, 2015.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Smarthistory, \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/period-culture-style\/modernisms\/social-realism\/\">Social Realism<\/a>,\u201d in\u00a0<em>Smarthistory.<\/em><\/li>\r\n \t<li>Smarthistory, \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/artist\/grant-wood\/\">Grant Wood<\/a>,\u201d in\u00a0<em>Smarthistory.<\/em><\/li>\r\n \t<li>Dr. Beth Harris and Dr. Steven Zucker, \"<a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/grant-wood-american-gothic\/\">Grant Wood,\u00a0<em>American Gothic<\/em><\/a>,\" in\u00a0<em>Smarthistory<\/em>, December 4, 2015.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Smarthistory, \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/artist\/hale-woodruff\/\">Hale Woodruff<\/a>,\u201d in\u00a0<em>Smarthistory.<\/em><\/li>\r\n \t<li>Dr. Leo G. Mazow and Dr. Beth Harris, \"<a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/hale-woodruff-the-banjo-player\/\">Hale Woodruff,\u00a0<em>The Banjo Player<\/em><\/a>,\" in\u00a0<em>Smarthistory<\/em>, December 1, 2021.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Dr. Doris Maria-Reina Bravo, \"<a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/mexican-muralism-los-tres-grandes-david-alfaro-siqueiros-diego-rivera-and-jose-clemente-orozco\/\">Mexican muralism:\u00a0<em>Los Tres Grandes<\/em>\u2014David Alfaro Siqueiros, Diego Rivera, and Jos\u00e9 Clemente Orozco<\/a>,\" in\u00a0<em>Smarthistory<\/em>, August 9, 2015.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Megan Flattley, \"<a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/mexico-diego-rivera-murals-national-palace\/\"><em>The History of Mexico<\/em>: Diego Rivera\u2019s Murals at the National Palace<\/a>,\" in\u00a0<em>Smarthistory<\/em>, September 22, 2020.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Smarthistory, \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/artist\/frida-kahlo\/\">Frida Kahlo<\/a>,\u201d in\u00a0<em>Smarthistory.<\/em><\/li>\r\n \t<li>Dr. Doris Maria-Reina Bravo, \"<a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/kahlo-the-two-fridas-las-dos-fridas\/\">Frida Kahlo,\u00a0<em>The Two Fridas (Las dos Fridas)<\/em><\/a>,\" in\u00a0<em>Smarthistory<\/em>, August 9, 2015.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>","rendered":"<h2 id=\"chapter-overview-and-introduction-13\">Chapter Overview and Introduction<\/h2>\n<p>In the period between 1900-1945, art and architecture in the United States and Mexico underwent profound transformation. Artists in both regions were inspired by the modernist styles coming out of Europe: Fauvism, Expressionism, Cubism, Abstract art, Dada, Surrealism, etc. The physical distance of North America from the destruction of World War I allowed artists to continue experimenting from the early 20<sup>th<\/sup> century into the period between the two World Wars. Artists working in cosmopolitan centers, such as New York City, were producing avant-garde artworks. While some avant-garde artists focused on the formal properties of modern art (line, shape color, etc.), other American and Mexican avant-garde artists were combining modernist aesthetics with social issues.<\/p>\n<h3 id=\"focus-artworks-13\">Focus Artworks<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Alfred Stieglitz,\u00a0<em>The Steerage<\/em>, 1907, photograph<\/li>\n<li>Georgia O\u2019Keeffe,\u00a0<em>Radiator Building\u2014Night, New York<\/em>, 1927, oil on canvas<\/li>\n<li>Aaron Douglas,\u00a0<em>Aspiration<\/em>, 1936, oil on canvas<\/li>\n<li>Jacob Lawrence,\u00a0<em>The Migration Series<\/em>, 1940-41, 60 panels, tempera on hardboard<\/li>\n<li>Hale Woodruff,\u00a0<em>The Banjo Player<\/em>, 1929, oil on canvas<\/li>\n<li>Diego Rivera,\u00a0<em>History of Mexico<\/em>\u00a0murals, 1929\u201330, fresco<\/li>\n<li>Frida Kahlo,\u00a0<em>The Two Fridas (Las dos Fridas)<\/em>, 1939, oil on canvas<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3 id=\"term-list-13\">Term List<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Avant-garde<\/li>\n<li>291 Gallery<\/li>\n<li>Pictorialism<\/li>\n<li>Straight photography<\/li>\n<li>Modernity<\/li>\n<li>Modernism<\/li>\n<li>Armory show<\/li>\n<li>Harlem Renaissance<\/li>\n<li>Great migration<\/li>\n<li>Social realism<\/li>\n<li>American regionalism<\/li>\n<li>Genre<\/li>\n<li>Mexican muralism<\/li>\n<li>Mexican Revolution<\/li>\n<li>Fresco<\/li>\n<li>Indigenismo<\/li>\n<li>Pre-Columbian<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2 id=\"in-the-united-states-an-introduction\">1898\u20131945 in the United States, an introduction<\/h2>\n<figure style=\"width: 2560px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Worlds_Fair_St._Louis_1904._Birdseye_view_of_the_1904_Worlds_Fair-copy.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/pressbooks.palomar.edu\/arthc1200\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/72\/2026\/06\/Worlds_Fair_St._Louis_1904._Birdseye_view_of_the_1904_Worlds_Fair-copy-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"A colored lithograph map depicting World's Fair in St. Louis, 1904, showcasing various exhibition buildings, waterways, and landscaped grounds arranged symmetrically. Key architectural structures are labeled, with a central lagoon and pathways highlighted, celebrating the centennial of Louisiana Territory acquisition.\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1878\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">World\u2019s Fair, St. Louis 1904 (Source: Library of Congress, Geography and Map Division, <a href=\"http:\/\/hdl.loc.gov\/loc.gmd\/g4164s.pm004473\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Library of Congress<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h3 id=\"wondrous-new-innovations-for-modern-life\">Wondrous new innovations for modern life<\/h3>\n<p>From 265 feet above the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/seeing-america-2\/libbey-sa\/\">St. Louis Fair of 1904<\/a>, ferris wheel riders looked down on \u201cpalaces\u201d dedicated to electricity, transportation, and \u201cvaried industries\u201d whose halls held wondrous new innovations for modern life including an electric streetcar, private automobiles, wireless telephones, X-ray machines, and infant incubators.<\/p>\n<p>From the turn of the century and through two world wars, Americans witnessed technologies that advanced transportation, business, and health. Mass culture spread throughout the nation via\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/seeing-america-2\/sloan-movies-sa\/\">movie theaters<\/a>, radios, and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/seeing-america-2\/elizabeth-sparhawk-jones-shoe-shop-2\/\">department stores<\/a>. From the view on the ferris wheel, the narrative of American progress glowed bright in the electric lights below. But on the ground, Americans experienced the inequalities of industrial development spawned by an era of mass consumption.<\/p>\n<figure style=\"width: 2163px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/shoeshop-sm.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/pressbooks.palomar.edu\/arthc1200\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/72\/2026\/06\/shoeshop-sm-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"Painting depicting a group of women in early 20th-century attire trying on shoes in a store, highlighting social interaction and fashion of the era. Soft brushstrokes and muted colors emphasize detailed clothing, hats, and shoe boxes scattered around, capturing a lively shopping scene.\" width=\"2163\" height=\"2560\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Elizabeth Sparhawk-Jones, <em>The Shoe Shop<\/em>, c. 1911, oil on canvas, 99.1 x 79.4 cm (Art Institute of Chicago, Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:Elizabeth_Sparhawk-Jones,_Shoe_Shop,_1911.jpg\">Wikimedia<\/a>, License: <a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/publicdomain\/mark\/1.0\/\">Public Domain<\/a> in the United States)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The fair was a centennial celebration of the Louisiana Purchase. When planning began in 1898, the U.S. was engaged in war with Spain in both the Caribbean and the Philippines. Often sensationalized in newspapers through \u201cyellow journalism,\u201d the Spanish-American War was a topic of debate that revealed differing ideologies of America\u2019s place in the world.<\/p>\n<p>The war ended the same year it began with American acquisition of Puerto Rico, Guam, the Philippines, and temporary control of Cuba. Although many disagreed with the politics of imperial expansion, when the fair opened in 1904 the\u00a0Philippines pavilion was among the largest on site and included a small lake where model ships reenacted battles from the war.<\/p>\n<h3 id=\"rights-and-reforms\">Rights and reforms<\/h3>\n<p>The processes that enabled mass consumption also created great economic divisions. As industrial production increased, monopolies came to dominate American business. Workers, photographers, and \u201cmuckraking\u201d journalists sought to expose the excesses of big business and the horrific conditions of factory labor. In 1911, the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire killed 146 workers, many of them female or children, and most immigrants of Italian or Jewish descent. In response, 20,000 New York garment workers went on strike uniting across ethnic boundaries for the common goal of safety and economic opportunity. Other strikes followed around the country, spawning more organized unionization and activism for working conditions and fair pay.<\/p>\n<p>The early twentieth-century saw more women entering the workforce in factories and offices, and as telephone operators or domestic servants. Charlotte Perkins Gilman, who inspired the term \u201cfeminism,\u201d saw changes as the \u201cspirit of personal independence\u201d and encouraged women to leave the home environment which was preventing them from full freedom and social engagement.<\/p>\n<p>Several female leaders emerged expounding similar ideas including Emma Goldman and Margaret Sanger. Some, such as Jane Addams, actively sought to help women improve their situations though housing, career training, education, and social services. After advocating for decades, women earned the right to vote in 1920.<\/p>\n<p>Throughout the era, laws and intimidation tactics prevented African Americans from full participation in democratic society. Southern states enforced segregation of facilities arguing for a doctrine of \u201cseparate but equal\u201d that the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed in its 1896 decision Plessy v. Ferguson. Even when similar schools and healthcare facilities were provided for the black population, they were not of the same standard as those offered to the white population. In 1900, no southern state offered a high school education to African Americans.<\/p>\n<p>Thousands of black Americans made their way to the industrial cities of the North in the \u201cGreat Migration.\u201d At the same time there was an explosion of literature, music, and art that has come to be known as the Harlem Renaissance or The New Negro movement. Artists and writers looked to black history\u2014and specifically to the art of Africa\u2014for inspiration, joining that to a modern African American identity (<a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/seeing-america-2\/beardens-factory-workers\/\">Romare Bearden<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/seeing-america-2\/aaron-douglass-aspiration-2\/\">Aaron Douglas<\/a>, and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/seeing-america-2\/great-migration-sa\/\">Jacob Lawrence<\/a>, for example) .<\/p>\n<h3 id=\"consumer-society-1\">Consumer society<\/h3>\n<p>Mass culture offered new forms of entertainment in vaudeville, radio, film, phonographs, dance halls, and amusement parks. Increased leisure time and transportation in the form of affordable automobiles like Ford\u2019s Model T, which hit markets in 1908, made entertainment and tourism accessible for a wider variety of Americans. Mainstream culture flourished, but so did artistic expression beyond the center such as African Americans in the Harlem Renaissance and American Indians in a burgeoning Southwestern art and tourist market (see for example,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/seeing-america-2\/nampeyo-jar-2\/\">Nampeyo<\/a>).<\/p>\n<figure style=\"width: 1247px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/NampayoSideView.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/pressbooks.palomar.edu\/arthc1200\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/72\/2026\/06\/NampayoSideView.jpg\" alt=\"Photograph of a round ceramic pot with a wide body and narrow neck, featuring intricate geometric and abstract patterns in black and brown on a beige background. Design includes cross-hatching, curved lines, and sharp angular shapes, highlighting traditional craftsmanship and artistic style.\" width=\"1247\" height=\"747\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Nampeyo (Hopi-Tewa), polychrome jar, c. 1930s, clay and pigment, 13 x 21 cm (National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution, \u00a0Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/82032880@N00\/39640842072\/in\/photolist-Nampeyo\">Steven Zucker<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc-sa\/2.0\/deed.en\">CC BY-NC-SA 2.0<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Mass culture and the growing entertainment industry spawned the Roaring Twenties\u2014a time of carefree, youthful indulgence. When the Great Depression hit, that indulgence and optimism disappeared. Banks failed and people lost their savings, homes, farms, and businesses. Unemployment skyrocketed. Through its early years, federal aid came only for farmers and businesses; it did not reach those who needed it most.<\/p>\n<p>In 1932, Franklin Delano Roosevelt promised a \u201cnew deal\u201d for workers, winning the presidency where he remained for four terms. The New Deal actively placed restrictions on big business; sent direct aid to small businesses, farmers, and cultural workers; and created new jobs building infrastructure like roads, libraries, schools, and dams. It even employed cultural workers like photographers and artists who depicted Depression life and created public works of art. Anthropologists collected oral histories and folk songs.<\/p>\n<h3 id=\"the-wars-and-the-world\">The wars and the world<\/h3>\n<p>The U.S. initially sought not to be involved in World War I, though sympathy lay with the Allied Forces (The United Kingdom, France and Russia). In April 1917, however, Germany attacked American ships leading to the declaration of war. U.S. troops helped lead the Allies to victory in November 1918. President Woodrow Wilson imagined this was the \u201cwar that will end wars\u201d (as H.G. Wells had written in 1914) and pushed the establishment of a League of Nations to keep peace, but in the end his own country favored isolation over involvement.<\/p>\n<p>Isolationism remained strong during the start of World War II. Congress passed the neutrality act which banned the sale of war goods to fighting countries. In 1940, France surrendered to Germany and President Roosevelt sent supplies to England. The next year Japan bombed the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor and the U.S. declared war on Japan. After securing the European front at Normandy in 1944, the U.S. dropped two atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Japan surrendered nine days later.<\/p>\n<figure style=\"width: 1508px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/negros-war-bearden.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/pressbooks.palomar.edu\/arthc1200\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/72\/2026\/06\/negros-war-bearden.jpg\" alt=\"A two-page magazine spread featuring a colorful illustration of African American workers in an industrial setting on the left and an article titled &quot;The Negro's War&quot; on the right. The article discusses the impact of World War II on African Americans, highlighting economic and social challenges, with a black-and-white photo of men gathered outside a building included.\" width=\"1508\" height=\"999\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Illustration by Romare Bearden for \u201cThe Negro\u2019s War,\u201d <em>Fortune<\/em> (May 1942) (Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/1898-1945-in-the-united-states-an-introduction\/\">Smarthistory<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>World War II increased opportunity for African Americans in the workplace with the signing of Executive Order 8802 preventing racial discrimination in federal hiring practices. Romare Bearden\u2019s\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/seeing-america-2\/beardens-factory-workers\/\"><em>Factory Workers<\/em><\/a>\u00a0(1942) addressed such discrimination portraying workers being turned away from employment in the steel industry. Because the U.S. was at war with Japan, many people of Japanese descent living in the United States (like\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/seeing-america-2\/ruth-asawa-untitled\/\">Ruth Asawa<\/a>) were forced into internment camps, losing their homes, businesses, and freedoms.<\/p>\n<p>During the war, women took the place of men in many fields of employment, including factory work to produce supplies needed both at home and overseas. In order to recruit women, the U.S. government printed posters of a strong female dressed in a blue jumpsuit and red bandanna saying, \u201cWe Can Do It.\u201d Rosie the Riveter is still an icon of working women in America. Beneath the icon, however, women experienced much lower wages than men for the same positions and, when the soldiers came home, were expected to give up their jobs and resume more traditional roles.<\/p>\n<p>The horrors of the Holocaust stunned people around the globe. America had refused to admit many of the Jews who sought to escape Nazi persecution though some who had secured employment were allowed entry including the scientist Albert Einstein. The United States was immeasurably strengthened by the many brilliant immigrants who fled Europe including composer Igor Stravinsky, author Thomas Mann, architect\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/the-bauhaus-and-bau\/\">Walter Gropius<\/a>, and artist George Grosz whose painting <a href=\"https:\/\/collections.artsmia.org\/art\/127319\/remembering-george-grosz\"><em>Remembering<\/em><\/a> speaks the agony of have left friends and family behind in Nazi Germany.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"alfred-stieglitz-and-the-291little-galleries-of-the-photo-secession\">Alfred Stieglitz and the 291\u2014Little Galleries of the Photo Secession<\/h2>\n<figure style=\"width: 485px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/restricted.jpeg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/pressbooks.palomar.edu\/arthc1200\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/72\/2026\/06\/restricted.jpeg\" alt=\"Two black-and-white photographs depict interior views of an art gallery with framed artworks displayed on walls above draped fabric panels. Both scenes include potted plants in the foreground, ceiling-mounted spotlights illuminating the artworks, and a cozy, intimate exhibition setting.\" width=\"485\" height=\"600\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Alfred Stieglitz, \u201cLittle Galleries of the Photo-Secession,\u201d image from <em>Camera Work<\/em>, No. 14 (April 1906) ((<a href=\"http:\/\/www.metmuseum.org\/Collections\/search-the-collections\/285361\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Alfred Stieglitz Collection<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/291-stieglitz\/\">Smarthistory<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h3 id=\"fifth-avenue\">291 Fifth Avenue<\/h3>\n<p>If you walked into the \u201cLittle Galleries of the Photo Secession\u201d at 291 Fifth Avenue run by New York photographer Alfred Stieglitz and his devotees between 1905\u20131917, you would likely have been surprised. You might have seen an exhibition of\u00a0avant-garde\u00a0photography or perhaps an exhibition of bizarre Cubist paintings. The latter, especially, would have been an unusual sight.<\/p>\n<p>At the time, New York City was not yet well known as an artistic center. As a result, many artists and institutions in New York still looked to European cities\u2014particularly Paris\u2014as artistic and cultural beacons. Although Modernism was gaining ground in Europe, it held little appeal to American audiences outside of small artistic circles. Stieglitz\u2019s 291 gallery, which exhibited modern European painting as well as the latest art photography, helped to change all of that.<\/p>\n<h3 id=\"stieglitz-and-the-art-of-photography\">Stieglitz and the art of photography<\/h3>\n<p>Stieglitz had become a well-known photographer\u2014perhaps the most renowned photographer in the United States\u2014a result of his advocacy for the relatively new medium, forming camera clubs (such as the Photo Secession, in 1902), and publishing photography journals. Photography had been used to create art since its invention in the mid-nineteenth century, but it was a relative late comer in comparison to easel painting and printmaking, which had been the preferred artistic media for two-dimensional work since the end of the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/northern-renaissance-art-an-introduction\/\">Renaissance<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Because photographs were created using a mechanical device (an analog camera) rather than by the artist\u2019s hand, many artists and critics debated whether it belonged within the realm of art exhibited in galleries and museums.<\/p>\n<figure style=\"width: 550px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/pressbooks.palomar.edu\/arthc1200\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/72\/2026\/06\/image428.jpeg\" alt=\"Vintage advertisement for Kodak Camera promoting ease of use with slogan &quot;You press the button, we do the rest.&quot; Features illustration of hand holding camera, pricing details, and company information from Eastman Dry Plate and Film Co. in Rochester, NY.\" width=\"550\" height=\"358\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Advertisement for the Kodak camera, 1889 (<a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/291-stieglitz\/\">Smarthistory<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Further complicating photography\u2019s claims to art status was the invention in 1888 by the Eastman Kodak Company of the first portable hand-held camera and the advertising slogan \u201cyou press the button, we do the rest,\u201d making the ability to take pictures affordable and widely available to ordinary people for the first time. With photography in the hands of the masses as well as commercial studios concerned primarily with portraits, advertisements, and other practical matters, Stieglitz and fellow art photographers felt compelled to differentiate their photography from the production of commercial studios and the common snapshots of everyday life.<\/p>\n<figure style=\"width: 1972px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/06929701-1-scaled.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/pressbooks.palomar.edu\/arthc1200\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/72\/2026\/06\/06929701-1-scaled-1.jpg\" alt=\"Photograph of a foggy urban street scene from the early 20th century, featuring horse-drawn carriages, a pedestrian, and leafless trees along a sidewalk. The sepia-toned view highlights historic architecture, street activity, and atmospheric conditions, emphasizing transportation and daily life of the era.\" width=\"1972\" height=\"2560\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Alfred Stieglitz, [The Street \u2013 Design for a Poster], 1896, photogravure, 30.6 \u00d7 23.3 cm (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.getty.edu\/art\/collection\/objects\/62772\/alfred-stieglitz-the-street-design-for-a-poster-american-1896\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The J. Paul Getty Museum<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/publicdomain\/zero\/1.0\/\">CC0 1.0<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h3 id=\"pictorialism-and-later-modern-life\">Pictorialism, and later, modern life<\/h3>\n<figure style=\"width: 1835px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/pressbooks.palomar.edu\/arthc1200\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/72\/2026\/06\/image430.jpeg\" alt=\"Black and white photograph showing diagonal shadows cast by a railing onto a curved surface, creating a pattern of alternating light and dark stripes. The composition emphasizes geometric shapes and contrast between light and shadow.\" width=\"1835\" height=\"2560\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Paul Strand, Photograph \u2013 New York [Abstraction, Porch Shadows], negative 1916; printed spring 1917, photogravure, 24.2 \u00d7 16.7 cm (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.getty.edu\/art\/collection\/objects\/131415\/paul-strand-photograph-new-york-abstraction-porch-shadows-american-negative-1916-print-1917\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The J. Paul Getty Museum<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/publicdomain\/zero\/1.0\/\">CC0 1.0<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Early in his career, Stieglitz championed a photographic style known as Pictorialism, which sought to achieve artistic, even painterly, effects that included soft focus and altering of the photograph using cropping or marking the prints with chemicals. Pictorialist photographers also preferred idealized imagery over images of modern life. Over time, however, Stieglitz shifted his approach and helped to cultivate a photographic aesthetic grounded in the idea of \u201cstraight photography.\u201d This meant renouncing the pictorialist alteration of photographs (a practice conceived of as being too rooted in nineteenth-century practices), in favor of more sharply focused images that featured modern forms and artistically emphasized the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/formalism-i-formal-harmony\/\">formal elements<\/a>\u00a0of the image.\u00a0\u201cStraight photographers\u201d heralded in the era of the modern photographic image. In fact, the younger photographer, Paul Strand, instigated a decidedly modernist aesthetic in photography after seeing a Cubist exhibition at 291.<\/p>\n<figure style=\"width: 2042px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/pressbooks.palomar.edu\/arthc1200\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/72\/2026\/06\/image431.jpeg\" alt=\"Black and white photograph showing a crowded ship deck with men, women, and children dressed in early 20th-century clothing. The scene captures passengers standing and sitting near ropes and ship structures, highlighting a moment of travel or migration.\" width=\"2042\" height=\"2560\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Alfred Stieglitz, <em>The Steerage<\/em>, 1907, photogravure, 33.5cm x 26.4cm (Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:Alfred_Stieglitz_-_The_Steerage_-_Google_Art_Project,_from_Getty.jpg\">Wikimedia<\/a>, License: <a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/publicdomain\/mark\/1.0\/\">Public Domain<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h3 id=\"the-modern-age-the-artistic-avant-garde-and-little-gallery-known-as-291\">The modern age, the artistic avant-garde, and \u201cLittle Gallery\u201d known as 291<\/h3>\n<p>The painter and photographer Edward Steichen and other notable artists were instrumental in developing the program of exhibitions at 291, which first highlighted Photo Secessionist photographers and then went on to feature exhibitions by prominent European artists including Henri Matisse, Paul C\u00e9zanne, and the Cubist works of Pablo Picasso that would influence artists across media around the world. But 291 also exhibited the work of emerging American artists whose paintings and photographs explored modernity (modern life as impacted by new industrial, social, and political developments) or Modernism (the radically different artistic sensibilities avant-garde artists thought best represented modern experiences).<\/p>\n<figure style=\"width: 2000px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/SAAM-1978.34_1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/pressbooks.palomar.edu\/arthc1200\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/72\/2026\/06\/SAAM-1978.34_1.jpg\" alt=\"Painting depicting a close-up of a large yellow flower with green accents against a muted gray background. The composition emphasizes organic shapes and smooth color transitions, highlighting the flower's central structure and petal curves.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1480\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Georgia O\u2019Keeffe,<em> Yellow Calla<\/em>, 1926, oil on fiberboard, 22.9 x 32.4 cm (<a href=\"https:\/\/americanart.si.edu\/artwork\/yellow-calla-18900\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Smithsonian American Art Museum<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>One of the American Modernists exhibiting at 291 was Georgia O\u2019Keefe, whose abstracted urban and organic forms captivated Stieglitz and with whom he became romantically involved. The exhibitions of innovative photographs, paintings, and sculptures at 291 made it the preeminent venue for modern art in the United States in the early twentieth century.<\/p>\n<h3 id=\"the-modern-metropolis\">The Modern Metropolis<\/h3>\n<p>The modern skyscrapers being built in New York appealed to Stieglitz, and he was known to roam the streets of the city looking to capture its essence in his photographs. The thriving metropolis also intrigued Strand, whose photographs of the city conveyed the new modernist aesthetic. New York attracted artists from Europe as well, including Francis Picabia, a French modernist who spearheaded the New York iteration of the Dada movement (artists associated with Dada responded to the horrors of WWI by creating works that featured chance, humor, and absurdity).<\/p>\n<p>Picabia had developed a rapport with Stieglitz and the artists at 291 when he visited New York for the first large-scale exhibition of modern art at the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/duchamp-descending\/\">Armory Show<\/a>\u00a0in 1913. When he returned to New York to escape serving in WWI he spent time helping out at 291, where artists also gathered for lively discussions. Picabia experimented with a new machine aesthetic and with the idea of the photograph as a work of mechanical reproduction that would change art\u2014including painting\u2014forever.<\/p>\n<p>While at 291, Picabia made portraits called \u201cMechanomorphs\u201d that portrayed the artists, photographers, and critics there as hybrid machines\u2014depicting Stieglitz as an intriguing camera-like device. Such works also represented the wide array of practices supported by 291 and the idea that the gallery fostered the transmission of European Cubism and Collage (practices of cutting and rearranging images from visual culture) to artists in the United States.<\/p>\n<h3 id=\"publishing-circulation-and-art-in-visual-culture\">Publishing, circulation, and art in visual culture<\/h3>\n<figure style=\"width: 1682px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/CameraWorks-copy.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/pressbooks.palomar.edu\/arthc1200\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/72\/2026\/06\/CameraWorks-copy-scaled.png\" alt=\"Cover page of a vintage photographic quarterly titled &quot;Camera Work,&quot; edited and published by Alfred Stieglitz in New York. The design features stylized green text on a dark background, with issue number XXXVI and year MDCCCCXI (1911) indicated.\" width=\"1682\" height=\"2560\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><em>Camera Work<\/em>: 36 (1911) (<a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/291-stieglitz\/\">Smarthistory<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>One of the activities at 291 that helped promote modern painting and photography was publishing. Stieglitz and his friend Steichen began publishing the journal\u00a0<em>Camera Work<\/em>\u00a0in 1903 and continued this project until 1917. During that time the journal featured illustrious art photographs and articles about photography as well as features on modern art from Europe.<\/p>\n<p>The publishing efforts at 291 served as an important conduit for modern art in the United States (even for those viewers who did not pay a visit to the gallery). From 1915\u20131916 Stieglitz and companions at 291 published a journal of the same name. The short-lived journal\u00a0<em>291<\/em>\u00a0featured even more radically modern art\u2014so radical in fact that few readers were interested.<\/p>\n<figure style=\"width: 1003px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/Francis_Picabia_Ici_cest_ici_Stieglitz_foi_et_amour_cover_of_291_No1_1915.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/pressbooks.palomar.edu\/arthc1200\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/72\/2026\/06\/Francis_Picabia_Ici_cest_ici_Stieglitz_foi_et_amour_cover_of_291_No1_1915.jpg\" alt=\"A vintage technical drawing illustrates a mechanical device with an accordion-like central section and scissor-like arms, labeled with the number 291. The design includes black and red line elements, with French text &quot;ICI, C'EST ICI STIEGLITZ FOI ET AMOUR&quot; and a small signature at the bottom right, suggesting artistic and engineering significance.\" width=\"1003\" height=\"1418\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Francis Picabia, <em>Ici, c\u2019est ici Stieglitz, foi et amour<\/em>, cover of<em> 291<\/em>, No. 1 (1915) (<a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/291-stieglitz\/\">Smarthistory<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Picabia\u2019s bizarre mechanical portrait of Stieglitz (see the Smarthistory essay \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/picabia-ideal\/\">Ideal<\/a>\u201d) was featured on the cover of a 1915 edition of the journal but represented another conundrum. The tendencies of some contributing artists, such as Picabia,\u00a0to embrace the newly emerging Dada movement made the publication too enigmatic for general audiences and, it is said, even to Stieglitz himself.<\/p>\n<p>Despite the fact that this journal seemed relevant to only a small group of artists in early twentieth-century New York, its transnational contributions and cutting-edge content remain historically significant. Like the gallery at 291, the journal\u2019s function as a conduit for modernism in the United States has earned it a prominent place in art history.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"alfred-stieglitz-the-steerage\">Alfred Stieglitz,\u00a0<em>The Steerage<\/em><\/h2>\n<p>Alfred Stieglitz championed modern \u201cstraight photography\u201d featuring the medium\u2019s innate characteristics and also promoted modern art in the United States.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" id=\"oembed-1\" title=\"The first modern photograph? Alfred Stieglitz, The Steerage\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/uWcPi8Iwf08?feature=oembed&#38;rel=0\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h2 id=\"georgia-okeeffe-radiator-buildingnight-new-york\">Georgia O\u2019Keeffe,\u00a0<em>Radiator Building\u2014Night, New York<\/em><\/h2>\n<p>Influenced by modern photography and the close-up, Georgia O\u2019Keeffe\u2019s mature style used close-in detail and cropped views as a means to abstraction.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" id=\"oembed-2\" title=\"Georgia O&#39;Keeffe and the New York Skyline\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/b7EMVU2eRnM?feature=oembed&#38;rel=0\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<div class=\"textbox textbox--key-takeaways\">\n<header class=\"textbox__header\">\n<h2 class=\"textbox__title\">Practicing Visual Analysis<\/h2>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"textbox__content\">\n<p>Often known for her paintings of flowers or the American southwest, Georgia O\u2019Keeffe also painted the New York skyline. In <em>Radiator Building\u2014Night, New York<\/em>, O\u2019Keeffe centered a black rectangular skyscraper in the <strong>composition.<\/strong> The primary building is situated in the middle of other rectangular structures made mostly from varying tones of black and gray. The <strong>rectilinear forms<\/strong> of the buildings are simplified. Within the primary rectilinear forms are smaller rectangular <strong>shapes.<\/strong> O\u2019Keeffe used these shapes to indicate lit windows through varying <strong>tones<\/strong> of white, gray, or yellow. The <strong>pictorial space<\/strong> is relatively flat. <strong>Foreground<\/strong> and <strong>background<\/strong> are condensed. At the same time, some <strong>overlap<\/strong> of structures and the variations in <strong>tone<\/strong> suggest minimal depth. <strong>Chiaroscuro lighting<\/strong> is not used. Rather <strong>color<\/strong> is used to designate minimal depth and light sources. <strong>Rectilinear<\/strong> beams of blue light project from rooftops to suggest search lights. On the right side of the <strong>composition<\/strong>, a <strong>white curvilinear form<\/strong> of smoke emits from a building rooftop. The smoke intersects with one of the <strong>rectilinear<\/strong> blue lights to suggest the dissipation of light through smoke. In this piece, O\u2019Keeffe drew upon the modernist traditions coming from Europe. Mostly notably here, she borrowed ides from the Cubism and abstraction.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<h2 id=\"harlem-renaissance\">Harlem Renaissance<\/h2>\n<p>The Harlem Renaissance was the period when Harlem was the cultural capital of Black America; writers, musicians, and artists lived and worked in Harlem between the wars.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"aaron-douglas-aspiration\">Aaron Douglas,\u00a0<em>Aspiration<\/em><\/h2>\n<p>A member of the New Negro Movement and a leading voice of Afrocentric modernist art in the Harlem Renaissance, Aaron Douglas studied in New York and Paris.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" id=\"oembed-3\" title=\"A beacon of hope, Aaron Douglas&#39;s Aspiration\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/fEcmAEpVZSA?feature=oembed&#38;rel=0\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h2 id=\"jacob-lawrence-the-migration-series\">Jacob Lawrence,\u00a0<em>The Migration Series<\/em><\/h2>\n<p>Jacob Lawrence was an American painter known for his narrative series of Black history and contemporary life, Lawrence communicated through abstraction and color.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" id=\"oembed-4\" title=\"Jacob Lawrence, The Migration Series (short version)\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ZLC8xRNcJvE?feature=oembed&#38;rel=0\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h2 id=\"social-realism-in-america\">Social Realism in America<\/h2>\n<p>Around 1930 through 1945, Social Realism emerged in the United States as an art style that focused on the daily lives of the working classes and the poor. Social Realism critiqued the social structures that maintain these conditions. Social Realism demonstrates that not every American artist working in the early to mid-twentieth century were following the Modernist aesthetics prominent in avant-garde circles.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"grant-wood-american-gothic\">Grant Wood,\u00a0<em>American Gothic<\/em><\/h2>\n<p>Promoted as making American art in opposition to European Modernism, Regionalist Grant Wood painted rural and small-town themes and enjoyed national renown.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" id=\"oembed-5\" title=\"Wood, American Gothic\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/vk2GvyNmYD0?feature=oembed&#38;rel=0\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h2 id=\"hale-woodruff-the-banjo-player\">Hale Woodruff,\u00a0<em>The Banjo Player<\/em><\/h2>\n<p>An American artist who studied in Paris and Mexico, Hale Woodruff\u2019s paintings and prints address the problems faced by Black Americans. In the <em>Banjo Player<\/em>, Woodruff reimagines racist tropes of Black banjo players with a figure who is confident and joyful. Please note, this video includes historical images that are racist.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" id=\"oembed-6\" title=\"Hale Woodruff, The Banjo Player\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Nr7oOp0nZDc?feature=oembed&#38;rel=0\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h2 id=\"mexican-muralism-los-tres-grandesdavid-alfaro-siqueiros-diego-rivera-and-jos\u00e9-clemente-orozco\">Mexican muralism:\u00a0<em>Los Tres Grandes<\/em>\u2014David Alfaro Siqueiros, Diego Rivera, and Jos\u00e9 Clemente Orozco<\/h2>\n<figure style=\"width: 1429px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/pressbooks.palomar.edu\/arthc1200\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/72\/2026\/06\/image436.jpeg\" alt=\"Photograph of a large mural on a building facade depicting two hands reaching toward each other, with a heart in the center and a ship on the right side. The mural includes years 1520, 1810, 1857, 1910, and a partially obscured date, suggesting historical or cultural significance.\" width=\"1429\" height=\"762\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">David Alfaro Siqueiros, <em>Dates in Mexican History or the Right for Culture<\/em>, National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), 1952\u201356, Mexico City (photo: <a href=\"https:\/\/flic.kr\/p\/8GeNDH\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Fausto Puga<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc-sa\/2.0\/deed.en\">CC BY-NC-SA 2.0<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h3 id=\"siqueiros-and-mexican-history\">Siqueiros and Mexican history<\/h3>\n<p>At the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) in Mexico City visitors enter the rectory (the main administration building), beneath an imposing three-dimensional arm emerging from a mural. Several hands, one with a pencil, charge towards a book, which lists critical dates in Mexico\u2019s history: 1520 (the Conquest by Spain); 1810 (Independence from Spain); 1857 (the Liberal Constitution which established individual rights); and 1910 (the start of the\u00a0Revolution\u00a0against the regime of Porfirio D\u00edaz). David Alfaro Siqueiros left the final date blank in<em>\u00a0Dates in Mexican Histor<\/em>y or the\u00a0<em>Right for Culture<\/em>\u00a0(1952\u201356), inspiring viewers to create Mexico\u2019s next great historic moment.<\/p>\n<h3 id=\"the-revolution\">The revolution<\/h3>\n<p>From 1910 to 1920\u00a0civil war ravaged the nation as citizens revolted against dictator\u00a0Porfirio D\u00edaz. At the heart of the Revolution was the belief\u2014itself revolutionary\u2014that the land should be in the hands of laborers, the very people who worked it. This demand for agrarian reform signaled a new age in Mexican society: issues concerning the popular masses\u2014universal public education and health care, expanded civil liberties\u2014were at the forefront of government policy.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_3484\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3484\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-3484 size-medium\" src=\"http:\/\/pressbooks.palomar.edu\/arthc1200\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/72\/2026\/06\/24211950360_b3ee1bed5a_k-300x196.jpg\" alt=\"A mural depicting a central figure operating a large mechanical device with four colorful, intricately designed blades extending outward, each blade featuring distinct symbolic imagery representing science, technology, agriculture, and human progress. Surrounding the central scene are groups of people and machinery, highlighting themes of industrialization, innovation, and societal development through vibrant colors and detailed composition.\" width=\"300\" height=\"196\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pressbooks.palomar.edu\/arthc1200\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/72\/2026\/06\/24211950360_b3ee1bed5a_k-300x196.jpg 300w, https:\/\/pressbooks.palomar.edu\/arthc1200\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/72\/2026\/06\/24211950360_b3ee1bed5a_k-1024x671.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/pressbooks.palomar.edu\/arthc1200\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/72\/2026\/06\/24211950360_b3ee1bed5a_k-768x503.jpg 768w, https:\/\/pressbooks.palomar.edu\/arthc1200\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/72\/2026\/06\/24211950360_b3ee1bed5a_k-1536x1006.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/pressbooks.palomar.edu\/arthc1200\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/72\/2026\/06\/24211950360_b3ee1bed5a_k-65x43.jpg 65w, https:\/\/pressbooks.palomar.edu\/arthc1200\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/72\/2026\/06\/24211950360_b3ee1bed5a_k-225x147.jpg 225w, https:\/\/pressbooks.palomar.edu\/arthc1200\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/72\/2026\/06\/24211950360_b3ee1bed5a_k-350x229.jpg 350w, https:\/\/pressbooks.palomar.edu\/arthc1200\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/72\/2026\/06\/24211950360_b3ee1bed5a_k.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-3484\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Diego Rivera, <em>Man, Controller of the Universe<\/em>, 1934, fresco, 4.85 x 11.45 m (Museum of the Palace of Fine Arts, Mexico City; photo:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/flic.kr\/p\/CTwzj1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Steven Zucker<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc-sa\/2.0\/deed.en\">CC BY-NC-SA 2.0<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h3 id=\"mexican-muralism\">Mexican muralism<\/h3>\n<p>At the end of the Revolution\u00a0the government commissioned artists to create art that could educate the mostly illiterate masses about Mexican history. Celebrating the Mexican people\u2019s potential to craft the nation\u2019s history was a key theme in Mexican muralism, a movement led by Siqueiros,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/diego-rivera-third-floor-murals-secretaria-educacion-publica\/\">Diego Rivera<\/a>, and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/orozco-dive-bomber-and-tank\/\">Jos\u00e9 Clemente Orozco<\/a>\u2014known as\u00a0<em>Los tres grandes<\/em>. Between the 1920s and 1950s, they cultivated a style that defined Mexican identity following the Revolution.<\/p>\n<p>The muralists developed an iconography featuring atypical, non-European heroes from the nation\u2019s illustrious past, present, and future\u2014<a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/introduction-mexica\/\">Aztec<\/a>\u00a0(Mexica) warriors battling the Spanish, humble peasants fighting in the Revolution, common laborers of Mexico City, and the mixed-race people who will forge the next great epoch, like in Siqueiros\u2019s UNAM mural.\u00a0<em>Los tres grandes<\/em>\u00a0crafted epic murals on the walls of highly visible, public buildings using techniques like fresco,\u00a0encaustic, mosaic, and sculpture-painting.<\/p>\n<p>One of the earliest government commissions for a post-Revolution mural was for the National Preparatory School, a high school in Mexico City affiliated with UNAM. During the 1920s\u00a0<em>Los tres grandes\u00a0<\/em>and other artists completed works throughout the school\u2019s expansive exteriors and interiors.<\/p>\n<figure style=\"width: 1429px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/pressbooks.palomar.edu\/arthc1200\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/72\/2026\/06\/image438.jpeg\" alt=\"A mural painting depicting two central figures in traditional clothing engaged in conversation, surrounded by abstract architectural shapes and flowing red fabric. The artwork uses muted earth tones and vibrant reds to contrast themes of culture, struggle, and movement.\" width=\"1429\" height=\"1055\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jos\u00e9 Clemente Orozco, <em>Destruction of the Old Order<\/em> (detail), 1926 (National Preparatory School, Mexico City; photo: <a href=\"https:\/\/flic.kr\/p\/Dik9uA\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Steven Zucker<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc-sa\/2.0\/deed.en\">CC BY-NC-SA 2.0<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h3 id=\"destruction-of-the-old-order\">Destruction of the old order<\/h3>\n<p>Orozco painted nearly two dozen murals at the school\u00a0including\u00a0<em>Destruction of the Old Order<\/em>, 1926. It depicts two figures in peasant attire who watch nineteenth-century\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/neoclassicism-an-introduction\/\">neoclassical<\/a>\u00a0structures fracture into a\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/cubism-and-multiple-perspectives\/\">Cubist<\/a>-like pile, signaling the demise of the past. Just as Siqueiros\u2019s UNAM murals anticipate an unrealized historic event, the \u201cnew order\u201d implied in Orozco\u2019s work is the world these men will encounter once they turn to face the viewer. These anonymous men are unlikely heroes given their modest attire, yet they represent a new age where the Revolution has liberated the masses from centuries of repression.<\/p>\n<h3 id=\"murals-for-the-palace-of-fine-arts\">Murals for the Palace of Fine Arts<\/h3>\n<p>In 1934 the government inaugurated the Palace of Fine Arts Mexico City, which soon became the nation\u2019s most important cultural institution. The Palace\u2019s Museum, Mexico\u2019s first art museum, opened the same year with works by two of\u00a0<em>Los tres grandes<\/em>: Rivera\u2019s\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/diego-rivera-man-controller-of-the-universe\/\"><em>Man, Controller of the Universe<\/em><\/a>, 1934, a recreation of\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/diego-rivera-man-at-the-crossroads\/\"><em>Man at the Crossroads<\/em><\/a>\u00a0(painted at Rockefeller Center and destroyed the year before), and Orozco\u2019s\u00a0<em>Catharsis<\/em>, 1934<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_3485\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3485\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-3485 size-medium\" src=\"http:\/\/pressbooks.palomar.edu\/arthc1200\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/72\/2026\/06\/Palacio_de_Bellas_Artes_-_Mural_Katharsis_Orozco_1-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"A mural painting depicting a chaotic battle scene with intertwined human and robotic figures, emphasizing struggle and conflict. The artwork features vivid colors, detailed expressions, and mechanical elements, highlighting themes of war, resistance, and technological oppression.\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pressbooks.palomar.edu\/arthc1200\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/72\/2026\/06\/Palacio_de_Bellas_Artes_-_Mural_Katharsis_Orozco_1-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/pressbooks.palomar.edu\/arthc1200\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/72\/2026\/06\/Palacio_de_Bellas_Artes_-_Mural_Katharsis_Orozco_1-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/pressbooks.palomar.edu\/arthc1200\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/72\/2026\/06\/Palacio_de_Bellas_Artes_-_Mural_Katharsis_Orozco_1-65x49.jpg 65w, https:\/\/pressbooks.palomar.edu\/arthc1200\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/72\/2026\/06\/Palacio_de_Bellas_Artes_-_Mural_Katharsis_Orozco_1-225x169.jpg 225w, https:\/\/pressbooks.palomar.edu\/arthc1200\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/72\/2026\/06\/Palacio_de_Bellas_Artes_-_Mural_Katharsis_Orozco_1-350x263.jpg 350w, https:\/\/pressbooks.palomar.edu\/arthc1200\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/72\/2026\/06\/Palacio_de_Bellas_Artes_-_Mural_Katharsis_Orozco_1.jpg 960w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-3485\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jos\u00e9 Clemente Orozco, <em>Catharsis<\/em> (partial view), 1934 ((<a href=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20230418191253\/https:\/museopalaciodebellasartes.gob.mx\/orozco-katharsis\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Museum of the Palace of Fine Arts, Mexico City<\/a>, Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:Palacio_de_Bellas_Artes_-_Mural_Katharsis_Orozco_1.jpg\">Wikimedia<\/a>, License: <a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/publicdomain\/mark\/1.0\/\">Public Domain<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The title of Orozco\u2019s painting dates to 1942, when an art historian speculated that the fire at the top of the composition symbolized catharsis, and thus \u201cthe only possibility of saving and purifying civilization\u201d as it succumbed to the excesses of moral depravity. The laughing central figure jerks the viewer into an immoral world, where the malevolent aspects of modern life\u2014senseless warfare, destructive technology, and prostitution\u2014run rampant.<\/p>\n<p>In <a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/mexican-muralism-los-tres-grandes-david-alfaro-siqueiros-diego-rivera-and-jose-clemente-orozco\/\"><em>Torment and Apotheosis of Cuauht\u00e9moc<\/em><\/a>, 1950\u201351, another mural at the Museum of the Palace of Fine Arts, Siqueiros explores the violent period of the Conquest. In this mural Spanish soldiers torture the Mexican tribal leader for information on the location of the treasure they seek. The Mexican motherland, symbolized by the blood-stained female figure, stretches her arms protectively over his still figure. Siqueiros\u2019 penchant for sinewy limbs, showcased in the UNAM murals and exemplified here in the bodies of Cuauht\u00e9moc and his praying companion, underscore the tension in this encounter.<\/p>\n<p>The Mexican Revolution was a watershed moment in the twentieth century because it marked a true break from the past, ushering in a more egalitarian age. With its grand scale, innovative iconography, and socially relevant message, Mexican muralism remains a notable compliment to the Revolution. The way the muralists reoriented history, recovered lost stories, and drafted new narratives continues to stir audiences and inspire artists, like the\u00a0Chicano\u00a0muralists that emerged in the U.S. Southwest. The fact that their in-situ masterpieces can still be seen publicly in Mexico and beyond is a testament to their relevance, popularity, and the power of their didactic message.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"the-history-of-mexico-diego-riveras-murals-at-the-national-palace\"><em>The History of Mexico<\/em>: Diego Rivera\u2019s Murals at the National Palace<\/h2>\n<figure style=\"width: 2046px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/RiveraHistoryWestWall.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/pressbooks.palomar.edu\/arthc1200\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/72\/2026\/06\/RiveraHistoryWestWall.jpg\" alt=\"A mural depicting a vibrant historical scene with numerous figures engaged in various activities, including battles, celebrations, and cultural rituals. The artwork features rich colors, intricate details, and symbolic elements such as warriors, animals, and traditional attire, illustrating a complex narrative of heritage and conflict.\" width=\"2046\" height=\"1045\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Diego Rivera, \u201cFrom the Conquest to 1930,\u201d <em>History of Mexico<\/em> murals, 1929\u201330, fresco, Palacio Nacional, Mexico City (<a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/mexico-diego-rivera-murals-national-palace\/\">Smarthistory<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h3 id=\"how-is-history-told\">How is history told?<\/h3>\n<p>Typically, we think of history as a series of events narrated in chronological order. But what does history look like as a series of images? Mexican artist Diego Rivera responded to this question when he painted\u00a0<em>The History of Mexico<\/em>, as a series of murals that span three large walls within a grand stairwell of the National Palace in Mexico City. In Rivera\u2019s words, the mural represents \u201cthe entire history of Mexico from the Conquest through the Mexican Revolution . . . down to the ugly present.\u201d<a class=\"footnote\" title=\"Diego Rivera,\u00a0My Art, My Life: An Autobiography\u00a0(New York: Dover Publications, 1991), pp. 94\u201395.\" id=\"return-footnote-3349-1\" href=\"#footnote-3349-1\" aria-label=\"Footnote 1\"><sup class=\"footnote\">[1]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n<p>In an overwhelming and crowded composition, Rivera represents pivotal scenes from the history of the modern nation-state, including scenes from the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/introduction-to-the-spanish-viceroyalties-in-the-americas-2\/\">Spanish Conquest<\/a>, the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/mexican-independence\/\">fight for independence<\/a>\u00a0from Spain, the Mexican-American war, the Mexican Revolution, and an imagined future Mexico in which a workers\u2019 revolution has triumphed. Although this mural cycle spans hundreds of years of Mexican history, Rivera concentrated on themes that highlight a Marxist interpretation of history as driven by\u00a0class conflict\u00a0as well as the struggle of the Mexican people against foreign invaders and the resilience of\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/pre-columbian-mesoamerica\/\">Indigenous cultures<\/a>.<\/p>\n<figure style=\"width: 2320px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/RiveraMarx.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/pressbooks.palomar.edu\/arthc1200\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/72\/2026\/06\/RiveraMarx.jpg\" alt=\"Mural painting depicting Karl Marx pointing forward while addressing workers and soldiers, symbolizing class struggle and social change. Background features industrial smokestacks, flames, and a factory setting, with a prominent text block in Spanish discussing history, class struggle, and societal transformation.\" width=\"2320\" height=\"1532\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Diego Rivera, \u201cMexico Today and Tomorrow,\u201d detail featuring Karl Marx, <em>History of Mexico<\/em> murals, 1935, fresco, Palacio Nacional, Mexico City (photo:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/Category:Murals_by_Diego_Rivera_in_the_Palacio_Nacional#\/media\/File:Murales_Rivera_-_Treppenhaus_7_Marx.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Wolfgang Sauber<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-sa\/3.0\/deed.en\">CC BY-SA 3.0<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h3 id=\"a-new-national-identity\">A new national identity<\/h3>\n<p>In the immediate years following the\u00a0Mexican Revolution\u00a0(1910\u20131920), the newly formed government sought to establish a national identity that eschewed Eurocentrism (an emphasis on European culture) and instead heralded the Amerindian. The result was that Indigenous culture was elevated in the national discourse. After hundreds of years of colonial rule and the Eurocentric dictatorship of Porfirio D\u00edaz, the new Mexican state integrated its national identity with the concept of\u00a0<em>indigenismo<\/em>, an ideology that lauded Mexico\u2019s past Indigenous history and cultural heritage (rather than acknowledging the ongoing struggles of contemporary Indigenous people and incorporating them into the new state governance).<\/p>\n<p>Jos\u00e9 Vasconcelos, the new government\u2019s Minister of Public Education, conceived of a collaboration between the government and artists. The result were state-sponsored murals such as those at the National Palace in Mexico City.<\/p>\n<h3 id=\"why-murals\">Why murals?<\/h3>\n<p>Rivera and other artists believed easel painting to be \u201caristocratic,\u201d since for centuries this kind of art had been the purview of the elite.\u00a0Instead they favored\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/mexican-muralism-los-tres-grandes-david-alfaro-siqueiros-diego-rivera-and-jose-clemente-orozco\/\">mural painting<\/a>\u00a0since it could present subjects on a large scale to a wide public audience. This idea\u2014of directly addressing the people in public buildings\u2014suited the muralists\u2019 Communist politics. In 1922, Rivera (and others) signed the\u00a0<em>Manifesto of the Syndicate of Technical Workers, Painters, and Sculptors<\/em>, arguing that artists must invest \u201ctheir greatest efforts in the aim of materializing an art valuable to the people.\u201d<a class=\"footnote\" title=\"\u201cManifesto of the Syndicate of Technical Workers, Painters, and Sculptors,\u201d published in Alejandro Anreus, et.al,\u00a0Mexican Muralism : A Critical History\u00a0(Berkeley: University of California Press, 2012) pp. 319\u2013321. Signed by Diego Rivera, Dav\u00edd Alfaro Siqueiros, Xavier Guerrero, Ferm\u00edn Revueltas, Jos\u00e9 Clemente Orozco, Ram\u00f3n Alva Guadarrama, Germ\u00e1n Cueto, and Carlos M\u00e9rida and published in the journal\u00a0El Machete\u00a0in June 1924.\" id=\"return-footnote-3349-2\" href=\"#footnote-3349-2\" aria-label=\"Footnote 2\"><sup class=\"footnote\">[2]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Rivera had to design his composition around the pre-existing built environment of the National Palace. Rivera painted in the historical\u00a0<em>buon fresco<\/em>\u00a0technique, in which the artist paints directly upon wet plaster that has been applied to a wall resulting in the pigment being permanently fused to the lime plaster. Such murals were common in pre-conquest Mexico as well as in Europe.<\/p>\n<p>In the case of\u00a0<em>The History of Mexico<\/em>, this meant creating a\u00a0three-part\u00a0allegorical\u00a0portrayal\u00a0of Mexico that was informed by the specific history of the site. Today the National Palace is the seat of executive power in Mexico, but it was built atop the ruins of the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/introduction-mexica\/\">Aztec<\/a>\u00a0emperor Moctezuma II\u2019s residence after the Spanish Conquest of the capital of Tenochtitlan in 1521. The site then served as the residence of the conquistador Hern\u00e1n Cort\u00e9s and later the Viceroy of\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/new-spain\/\">New Spain<\/a>\u00a0until the end of the Wars of Independence in 1821. This site is a potent symbol of the history of conflict between Indigenous Aztecs and Spanish invaders.<\/p>\n<h3 id=\"the-north-wall\">The North Wall<\/h3>\n<figure style=\"width: 1151px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/9778762661_8688a32304_o.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/pressbooks.palomar.edu\/arthc1200\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/72\/2026\/06\/9778762661_8688a32304_o.jpg\" alt=\"A large mural painting depicting an ancient Mesoamerican scene with numerous figures engaged in various activities such as rituals, music, and daily tasks, set against a backdrop of mountains, temples, and symbolic elements like a sun and serpent. The mural features vibrant colors, detailed human forms, and cultural motifs, illustrating historical and mythological aspects of indigenous life.\" width=\"1151\" height=\"900\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">North wall: Diego Rivera, \u201cThe Aztec World,\u201d <em>History of Mexico<\/em> murals, 1929, fresco, Palacio Nacional, Mexico City (photo:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/101561334@N08\/9778762661\/in\/photostream\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Gary Todd<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/publicdomain\/zero\/1.0\/deed.en\">CC0<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><em>The Aztec World<\/em>, the title of the mural on the North Wall, features Rivera\u2019s first large-scale rendering of Mesoamerica before the Spanish invasion\u2014here focused on the Aztecs (the Mexica). Rivera\u2019s representation of the deity Quetzalcoatl (\u201cfeathered serpent\u201d), seated in the center of the composition wearing a headdress of quetzal feathers\u2014draws on imagery from colonial-era sources, in particular, an image of Quetzalcoatl from the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/bernardino-de-sahagun-and-collaborators-florentine-codex\/\"><em>Florentine Codex<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n<figure style=\"width: 324px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/32.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/pressbooks.palomar.edu\/arthc1200\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/72\/2026\/06\/32.jpg\" alt=\"Illustration of Quetzalcoatl, an Aztec deity, depicted in traditional attire with a feathered headdress, shield, and ceremonial object. Colors include green, red, white, and yellow, with handwritten labels identifying the figure and chapter reference.\" width=\"324\" height=\"468\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Quetzalcoatl, detail, Bernardino de Sahag\u00fan and collaborators, <em>Florentine Codex<\/em>, vol. 1, 1575\u20131577 (Medicea Laurenziana Library, Florence, Italy, <a href=\"https:\/\/florentinecodex.getty.edu\/\">Digital Florentine Codex<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Against the backdrop of the Valley of Mexico (where Tenochtitlan and now Mexico City are located), Rivera renders a Mesoamerican pyramid and various aspects of Aztec life. He represents figures grinding ma\u00edz (corn) to make tortillas, playing music, creating paintings, sculpture, and leatherwork, and transporting goods for trade and imperial tribute.<\/p>\n<figure style=\"width: 2560px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/pressbooks.palomar.edu\/arthc1200\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/72\/2026\/06\/annotated-3rd-wall-rivera-national-palace-copy-scaled-1.jpg\" alt=\"Photograph of a large mural depicting Aztec culture and history with labeled elements such as pyramids, Quetzalcoatl, transport of tribute, grinding maize, resistance, warfare and class struggle, sculpting, painting, playing music, and Quetzalcoatl leaves. The mural uses vibrant colors and detailed human figures to illustrate various cultural practices, social dynamics, and mythological symbols within a historical context.\" width=\"2560\" height=\"2202\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Annotated image of the north wall: Diego Rivera, \u201cThe Aztec World,\u201d <em>History of Mexico<\/em> murals, 1929, fresco, Palacio Nacional, Mexico City (photo:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/101561334@N08\/9778762661\/in\/photostream\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Gary Todd<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/publicdomain\/zero\/1.0\/deed.en\">CC0<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Despite Rivera\u2019s great admiration for pre-Conquest civilizations (he was a great collector of pre-Columbian art) he did not uncritically portray the Aztec world as utopian. In addition to rendering scenes of agriculture and cultural production,\u00a0<em>The Aztec World<\/em>\u00a0shows laborers building pyramids, a group resisting Aztec control, and scenes of the Aztecs waging the wars that created and maintained their empire. Rivera demonstrates the Marxist position that class conflict is the prime driver of history\u2014here, even before the arrival of the Spaniards.<\/p>\n<h3 id=\"the-west-wall\">The West Wall<\/h3>\n<p>On the West Wall and in the center of the stairway, visitors are confronted with a chaotic composition titled\u00a0<em>From the Conquest to 1930<\/em>. The wall is divided at the top by\u00a0corbels\u00a0from which spring five arches.<\/p>\n<figure style=\"width: 2560px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/pressbooks.palomar.edu\/arthc1200\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/72\/2026\/06\/annotated-3rd-wall-rivera-national-palace-copy-scaled-1.jpg\" alt=\"A mural depicting key historical periods of Mexico, including Spanish Conquest, Mexican eagle, Porfirian era, Independence and Mexican Revolution, Reform and Ju\u00e1rez era, French Rule and Emperor Maximilian, and U.S. invasion. The mural uses vibrant colors and detailed figures to illustrate significant events and cultural symbols across different eras.\" width=\"2560\" height=\"2202\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Annotated image of the west wall: Diego Rivera, \u201cFrom the Conquest to 1930,\u201d <em>History of Mexico<\/em> murals, 1929\u201330, fresco, Palacio Nacional, Mexico City (photo:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:Epopeya_del_pueblo_mexicano.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">drkgk<\/a>, License: <a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/publicdomain\/zero\/1.0\/deed.en\">CC0 1.0<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Across the top, In the outermost sections, Rivera represents the two nineteenth-century invasions of Mexico\u2014by France and the United States respectively. From left to right, the three central sections depict: the dictatorship of Porfirio D\u00edaz, figures associated with Independence and the Mexican Revolution, and the Constitution of 1857 (during the presidency of Benito Ju\u00e1rez) and the War of Reform. These historical events are somewhat distinguishable thanks to the arches that separate the scenes.<\/p>\n<p>In the lower section of the mural however, there is no such distinction between, for example, scenes of the Spanish conquest of the Aztec empire, the subsequent destruction of Mesoamerican painted books (now called codices), the arrival of Christian missionaries, the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/unearthing-the-aztec-past-the-destruction-of-the-templo-mayor\/\">destruction of pre-Columbian temples, and construction of new colonial structures<\/a>\u2014emphasizing the interrelated nature of these events.<\/p>\n<figure style=\"width: 870px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/pressbooks.palomar.edu\/arthc1200\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/72\/2026\/06\/mexican-flag-870x497-1.jpg\" alt=\"Flag with three vertical stripes in green, white, and red from left to right. Central emblem on white stripe features a golden eagle perched on a cactus holding a snake, surrounded by a wreath of oak and laurel branches.\" width=\"870\" height=\"497\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mexican flag<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>An\u00a0eagle standing on a nopal cactus\u00a0at the very center of the wall, mirrors the insignia at the center of the Mexican flag. These historical scenes have been compressed and flattened on the picture surface resulting in a dense visual mosaic of intertwining figures and forms. The lack of deep space in the composition makes it difficult to distinguish between different scenes, and results in an allover composition without a central focus or a clear visual pathway. This cacophony of historical figures and flurried action overwhelms viewers as they walk up the stairs.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_3486\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3486\" style=\"width: 378px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-3486\" src=\"http:\/\/pressbooks.palomar.edu\/arthc1200\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/72\/2026\/06\/specific-figures-rivera-mural-300x147.jpg\" alt=\"Mural painting depicting key figures and events from Mexican history, including Emiliano Zapata, Benito Ju\u00e1rez, and Miguel Hidalgo, with a crowd of revolutionaries holding banners and rifles. The artwork features vibrant colors, detailed facial expressions, and historical costumes, emphasizing themes of liberty, resistance, and national identity.\" width=\"378\" height=\"185\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pressbooks.palomar.edu\/arthc1200\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/72\/2026\/06\/specific-figures-rivera-mural-300x147.jpg 300w, https:\/\/pressbooks.palomar.edu\/arthc1200\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/72\/2026\/06\/specific-figures-rivera-mural-1024x501.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/pressbooks.palomar.edu\/arthc1200\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/72\/2026\/06\/specific-figures-rivera-mural-768x376.jpg 768w, https:\/\/pressbooks.palomar.edu\/arthc1200\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/72\/2026\/06\/specific-figures-rivera-mural-1536x752.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/pressbooks.palomar.edu\/arthc1200\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/72\/2026\/06\/specific-figures-rivera-mural-2048x1003.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/pressbooks.palomar.edu\/arthc1200\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/72\/2026\/06\/specific-figures-rivera-mural-65x32.jpg 65w, https:\/\/pressbooks.palomar.edu\/arthc1200\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/72\/2026\/06\/specific-figures-rivera-mural-225x110.jpg 225w, https:\/\/pressbooks.palomar.edu\/arthc1200\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/72\/2026\/06\/specific-figures-rivera-mural-350x171.jpg 350w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 378px) 100vw, 378px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-3486\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Annotated upper section of the west wall: Diego Rivera, \u201cFrom the Conquest to 1930,\u201d <em>History of Mexico<\/em> murals, 1929\u201330, fresco, Palacio Nacional, Mexico City (photo:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:Epopeya_del_pueblo_mexicano_2.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">drkgk<\/a>, License: <a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/publicdomain\/zero\/1.0\/deed.en\">CC0 1.0<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Given the breadth of the wall space, Rivera had to make critical decisions about which historical figures and narratives to include. Rivera\u2019s formal choices\u2014the flattening of the pictorial space, the nonlinear organization, and the monumental scale of the figures\u2014create a non-hierarchical composition. These formal choices support Rivera\u2019s decision to represent not just the historically well-known and recognizable figures, such as the independence fighter Miguel Hidalgo, revolutionary Emiliano Zapata (who holds a flag with the words\u00a0<em>tierra y libertad,\u00a0<\/em>or land and liberty), or the first Indigenous president Benito Ju\u00e1rez, but also anonymous workers, laborers, and soldiers. As Rivera later noted,<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEach personage in the mural was dialectically connected with his neighbors, in accordance with his role in history. Nothing was solitary; nothing was irrelevant.\u201d <a class=\"footnote\" title=\"Diego Rivera,\u00a0My Art, My Life: An Autobiography, pp. 100\u2013101.\" id=\"return-footnote-3349-3\" href=\"#footnote-3349-3\" aria-label=\"Footnote 3\"><sup class=\"footnote\">[3]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The artist\u2019s portrayal of the interconnection of social struggle throughout Mexico\u2019s history and the non-hierarchical representation of the historical figures reflects his Marxist perspective.<\/p>\n<h3 id=\"the-south-wall\">The South Wall<\/h3>\n<p>Rivera\u2019s politics become more evident on the South Wall, titled\u00a0<em>Mexico Today and Tomorrow<\/em>, which was painted years later in 1935.\u00a0<em>Mexico Today and Tomorrow<\/em>\u00a0depicts contemporary class conflict between industrial capitalism (using machinery and with a clear division of labor) and workers around the world.<\/p>\n<figure style=\"width: 2560px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/pressbooks.palomar.edu\/arthc1200\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/72\/2026\/06\/annotated-3rd-wall-rivera-national-palace-copy-scaled-1.jpg\" alt=\"A large mural painting depicting various social and political themes, including urban workers, campesinos, and workers oppressed by police, with labels identifying Karl Marx, Frida Kahlo, and negative social forces. The mural uses vibrant colors and dynamic compositions to highlight struggles of labor and social justice movements.\" width=\"2560\" height=\"2202\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Annotated image of the south wall: Diego Rivera, \u201cMexico Today and Tomorrow,\u201d <em>History of Mexico<\/em> murals, 1935, fresco, Palacio Nacional, Mexico City (photo:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/Category:Murals_by_Diego_Rivera_in_the_Palacio_Nacional#\/media\/File:History_of_Mexico_mural_by_Diego_Rivera_(Mexico_City).jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Cbl62<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/publicdomain\/zero\/1.0\/deed.en\">CC0<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The narrative begins in the lower right and progresses upward in a boustrophedonic pattern (here, a reverse S-curve), similar to the compositional layout of pre-Conquest Mesoamerican painted manuscripts (such as the Codex Nuttall). In the lower section Rivera depicts\u00a0<em>campesinos<\/em>\u00a0(peasant farmers) laboring, urban workers constructing buildings, and his wife\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/frida-kahlo-introduction\/\">Frida Kahlo<\/a>\u00a0with a number of school children who are being taught as part of an expansion of rural education after the Revolution.<\/p>\n<figure style=\"width: 1180px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/pressbooks.palomar.edu\/arthc1200\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/72\/2026\/06\/image452.jpeg\" alt=\"A detailed mural painting depicting a diverse group of people, including workers, soldiers, and intellectuals, symbolizing unity and social struggle. Prominent figures include a woman with a red blouse and a man with a star necklace, surrounded by individuals holding newspapers and armed soldiers in the background.\" width=\"1180\" height=\"876\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Frida Kahlo wearing a necklace with a red star and hammer and sickle pendant (detail), Diego Rivera, \u201cMexico Today and Tomorrow,\u201d <em>History of Mexico<\/em> murals, 1935, fresco, Palacio Nacional, Mexico City (photo:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/guerillagrrl\/8185874248\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Jen Wilton<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc\/2.0\/deed.en\">CC BY-NC 2.0<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Following the narrative up, Rivera represents\u2014using a pictorial structure unique to this wall\u2014negative social forces such as high-society figures, corrupt and reactionary clergy, and the invasion of foreign capital\u2014here represented by contemporaneous capitalists such as John D. Rockefeller, Jr. who was attempting to secure access to Mexican oil at the time.<\/p>\n<figure style=\"width: 1428px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/pressbooks.palomar.edu\/arthc1200\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/72\/2026\/06\/image453.jpeg\" alt=\"Mural painting depicting interconnected scenes of industrial workers, intellectuals, and political figures engaged in various activities, symbolizing social and economic struggles. The composition features detailed human expressions, mechanical pipes linking different sections, and text references to Marxist ideology, highlighting themes of labor, power, and revolution.\" width=\"1428\" height=\"1092\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Negative social forces\u2014showing capitalist corruption and greed (detail), Diego Rivera, \u201cMexico Today and Tomorrow,\u201d <em>History of Mexico<\/em> murals, 1935, fresco, Palacio Nacional, Mexico City (photo:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/shoplifters\/4665210515\/in\/photolist-m3wj3e-m3vbt8-m3xKBu-m3vCuB-m3wFuV-m3uTBH-m3uZMP-m3wV4C-m3tT66-m3wC3V-m3xbp6-m3wRvK-m3uETB-m3wsDe-m3uQza-m3veUM-m3yqeu-m3tHHi-m3yRRS-m3uf1F-m3w7Eq-wHn9Lj-m3wnhv-m3vxno-m3wjdW-m3uZYT-wHnLjw-m3vNMx-m3ug1P-m3yytA-m3ux48-m3uGeK-m3xcmZ-m3u9nM-m3yv6d-m3tVAM-m3xQiT-m3vzK9-4VuvjA-m3upr6-m3wbhK-m3xYtk-m3ys3Q-m3y6Ca-87fqy4-m3vQEE-87iCyb-6ZLW6H-5QvoAp-87iCnf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Carlos Villarreal<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc\/2.0\/deed.en\">CC BY-NC 2.0<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>To the right, workers are being oppressed by police wearing gas masks, yet just above this scene a figure in blue emerges from a mass of uprising workers, their fists raised in the air against the backdrop of downtown Mexico City. The narrative culminates in a portrait of Karl Marx who is shown pointing wearied workers and\u00a0<em>campesinos<\/em>\u00a0towards a \u201cvision of a future industrialized and socialized land of peace and plenty.\u201d<a class=\"footnote\" title=\"Diego Rivera,\u00a0My Art, My Life: An Autobiography, p.\u00a0131.\" id=\"return-footnote-3349-4\" href=\"#footnote-3349-4\" aria-label=\"Footnote 4\"><sup class=\"footnote\">[4]<\/sup><\/a> Unlike the non-linear composition of the West Wall, here Rivera expresses his vision for the future of Mexico, a winding path that leaves oppression and corruption behind.<\/p>\n<figure style=\"width: 2320px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/RiveraMarx.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/pressbooks.palomar.edu\/arthc1200\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/72\/2026\/06\/RiveraMarx.jpg\" alt=\"Mural painting depicting Karl Marx pointing forward with industrial workers and machinery in the background, symbolizing class struggle and industrialization. The artwork features bold colors, detailed human figures, and a prominent text block explaining Marxist theory on societal change and class conflict.\" width=\"2320\" height=\"1532\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Diego Rivera, \u201cMexico Today and Tomorrow,\u201d detail featuring Karl Marx, <em>History of Mexico<\/em> murals, 1935, fresco, Palacio Nacional, Mexico City (photo:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/Category:Murals_by_Diego_Rivera_in_the_Palacio_Nacional#\/media\/File:Murales_Rivera_-_Treppenhaus_7_Marx.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Wolfgang Sauber<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-sa\/3.0\/deed.en\">CC BY-SA 3.0<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h3 id=\"an-alternative-history\">An alternative history<\/h3>\n<p>So what type of history has Rivera told us and how did he tell it? Is he the sole narrator?\u00a0<em>The History of Mexico<\/em>\u00a0was painted in a governmental building as part of a campaign to promote Mexican national identity, and yet, the mural cycle is not necessarily didactic. Rivera could have created a much simpler representation of Mexican history, one that directed the viewer\u2019s experience more explicitly. Instead, the viewer\u2019s response to this visual avalanche of history is to play an active role in the interpretation of the narrative. The lack of illusionistic space and the flattening of forms creates a composition that allows the viewer to decide where to look and how to read it. Moreover, the experiential and sensorial act of moving up the stairs allows the viewer to perceive the murals from multiple angles and vantage points. There is no \u201cright way\u201d to read this mural because there is no clear beginning or end to the story. The viewer is invited to synthesize the narrative to construct their own history of Mexico.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"frida-kahlo-the-two-fridas-las-dos-fridas\">Frida Kahlo,\u00a0<em>The Two Fridas (Las dos Fridas)<\/em><\/h2>\n<p>Frida Kahlo\u2019s paintings reflect an extended examination of her personal and cultural identity, depicted in a meticulous and realistic style.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_3487\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3487\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-3487 size-medium\" src=\"http:\/\/pressbooks.palomar.edu\/arthc1200\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/72\/2026\/06\/Screen-Shot-2022-01-07-at-4-300x300.webp\" alt=\"Painting depicting two women sitting side by side, connected by a red artery linking their exposed hearts, symbolizing emotional and physical connection. One woman wears a white dress with lace and holds surgical scissors cutting the artery, while the other wears a blue and brown dress, both set against a stormy sky background.\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pressbooks.palomar.edu\/arthc1200\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/72\/2026\/06\/Screen-Shot-2022-01-07-at-4-300x300.webp 300w, https:\/\/pressbooks.palomar.edu\/arthc1200\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/72\/2026\/06\/Screen-Shot-2022-01-07-at-4-1020x1024.webp 1020w, https:\/\/pressbooks.palomar.edu\/arthc1200\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/72\/2026\/06\/Screen-Shot-2022-01-07-at-4-150x150.webp 150w, https:\/\/pressbooks.palomar.edu\/arthc1200\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/72\/2026\/06\/Screen-Shot-2022-01-07-at-4-768x771.webp 768w, https:\/\/pressbooks.palomar.edu\/arthc1200\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/72\/2026\/06\/Screen-Shot-2022-01-07-at-4-65x65.webp 65w, https:\/\/pressbooks.palomar.edu\/arthc1200\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/72\/2026\/06\/Screen-Shot-2022-01-07-at-4-225x226.webp 225w, https:\/\/pressbooks.palomar.edu\/arthc1200\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/72\/2026\/06\/Screen-Shot-2022-01-07-at-4-350x351.webp 350w, https:\/\/pressbooks.palomar.edu\/arthc1200\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/72\/2026\/06\/Screen-Shot-2022-01-07-at-4.webp 1098w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-3487\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Frida Kahlo, <em>The Two Fridas (Las dos Fridas)<\/em>, 1939, oil on canvas, 67-11\/16 x 67-11\/16\u2033 (Museo de Arte Moderno, Mexico City, Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wikiart.org\/en\/frida-kahlo\/the-two-fridas-1939\">Wikiart<\/a>, This work is in the <a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/publicdomain\/mark\/1.0\/\">Public Domain<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h3 id=\"indelible-marks\">Indelible marks<\/h3>\n<p>Facial hair indelibly marks the self-portraits of Mexican artist\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/frida-kahlo-introduction\/\">Frida Kahlo<\/a>. In an era when women still wore elaborate hairstyles, hosiery, and attire, Kahlo was a rebellious loner, often dressed in Indigenous clothing. Moreover, she lived as an artist during a period when many middle-class women sacrificed their ambitions to live entirely in the domestic sphere. Kahlo flouted both conventions of beauty and social expectations in her self-portraits. These powerful and unflinching self-images explore complex and difficult topics including her culturally mixed heritage, the harsh reality of her medical conditions, and the repression of women.<\/p>\n<p>The double self-portrait\u00a0<em>The Two Fridas<\/em>, 1939 features two seated figures holding hands and sharing a bench in front of a stormy sky. The Fridas are identical twins except in their attire, a poignant issue for Kahlo at this moment. The year she painted this canvas she was divorced from\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/mexico-diego-rivera-murals-national-palace\/\">Diego Rivera<\/a>, the acclaimed Mexican muralist. Before she married Rivera in 1929, she wore the modern European dress of the era, evident in her first self-portrait (left) where she dons a red velvet dress with gold embroidery. With Rivera\u2019s encouragement, Kahlo embraced attire rooted in Mexican customs.<\/p>\n<h3 id=\"dress\">Dress<\/h3>\n<p>In her second self-portrait (left) her accessories reference distinct periods in Mexican history (her necklace is a reference to the pre-Columbian Jadite of the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/introduction-mexica\/\">Aztecs<\/a>\u00a0and the earrings are\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/new-spain\/\">Spanish colonial<\/a>\u00a0in style) while her simple white blouse is a nod to peasant women.<\/p>\n<p>The portraits from the 1930s reflect Kahlo\u2019s growing penchant for Indigenous attire and hair-styling, as is evident in\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/frida-kahlo-frieda-and-diego-rivera\/\"><em>Frieda and Diego Rivera<\/em><\/a>, 1931 and\u00a0<em>The Two Fridas<\/em>. Yet Kahlo never abandoned dressing her subjects and herself in mainstream, European dress; her female relatives wear non-Indigenous clothing in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.moma.org\/collection\/works\/78784\"><em>My Grandparents, My Parents, and I (Family Tree)<\/em><\/a>, 1936 (below).<\/p>\n<p>In this painting, the bridal dress Kahlo\u2019s mother wears is reminiscent of the white, stiff-collared dress the artist wears in\u00a0<em>The Two Fridas<\/em>. Indeed, the grotesque view into each woman\u2019s insides is heightened by the virginal whiteness of both dresses.<\/p>\n<p>In her brief lifetime, Kahlo painted about two hundred works of art, many of which are\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/frida-kahlo-self-portrait-with-monkey\/\">self-portraits<\/a>. With the exception of a few family trees, the double-portrait with Rivera and\u00a0<em>The Two Fridas<\/em>\u00a0represents a departure in her oeuvre. If a self-portrait by definition is a painting of one\u2019s self, why would Kahlo paint herself twice? One way to answer this question is to examine\u00a0<em>The Two Fridas<\/em>\u00a0as a bookend to the 1931 portrait,\u00a0<em>Frieda and Diego Rivera<\/em>. Though this painting was meant to celebrate the birth of their union, their tentative grasp seems to reflect Kahlo\u2019s misgivings about her husband\u2019s fidelity. By contrast, the double self-portrait, though laden with suffering, exhibits resilience.<\/p>\n<figure style=\"width: 1381px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/pressbooks.palomar.edu\/arthc1200\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/72\/2026\/06\/two-fridas-hands.webp\" alt=\"Side by side detail images from a painting showing two close-up views of hands performing medical-related actions. The left panel depicts a hand holding surgical forceps pinching a bleeding wound on white fabric, while the right panel shows a hand holding a circular miniature portrait reflecting a small figure.\" width=\"1381\" height=\"450\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Frida Kahlo, Details of<em> The Two Fridas (Las dos Fridas)<\/em>, 1939, oil on canvas, 67-11\/16 x 67-11\/16\u2033 (Museo de Arte Moderno, Mexico City)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h3 id=\"anatomy-of-two-fridas\">Anatomy of Two Fridas<\/h3>\n<p>The two Fridas clasp hands tightly. This bond is echoed by the vein that unites them. Where one is weakened by an exposed heart, the other is strong; where one still pines for her lost love (as underscored by the vein feeding Rivera\u2019s miniature portrait), the other clamps down on that figurative and literal tie with a hemostat.<\/p>\n<p>Human anatomy is often graphically exposed in Kahlo\u2019s work, a topic she knew well after a childhood bout with polio deformed her right leg and a bus accident when she was eighteen years old left her disabled and unable to bear children. She would endure 32 operations as a result. Kahlo utilized blood as a visceral metaphor of union, as in the 1936 family portrait (above) where she honors her lineage through these bloody ties. She returns to this metaphor in\u00a0<em>The Two Fridas<\/em>\u00a0though with the added impact of two hearts, both vulnerable and laid bare to the viewer as a testament to her emotional suffering.<\/p>\n<h3 id=\"i-am-the-person-i-know-best\">\u201cI am the person I know best\u201d<\/h3>\n<p>Photographs by artists within her milieu, like Manuel Alvarez Bravo and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gallery.ca\/collection\/artwork\/frida-kahlo\">Imogen Cunningham<\/a>, confirm that Kahlo\u2019s self-portraits were largely accurate and that she avoided embellishing her features. The solitude produced by frequent bed rest\u2014stemming from polio, her near-fatal bus accident, and a lifetime of operations\u2014was one of the cruel constants in Kahlo\u2019s life. Indeed, numerous photographs feature Kahlo in bed, often painting despite restraints. Beginning in her youth, in order to cope with these long periods of recovery, Kahlo became a painter. Nevertheless, the isolation caused by her health problems was always present. She reflected, \u201cI paint self-portraits because I am so often alone, because I am the person I know best.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"conclusion-13\">Conclusion<\/h2>\n<p>In Mexico and the United States, avant-garde artists reworked European modernist styles to fit their own cultural contexts. In Mexico, artists like Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera blended the cultural heritage of Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica with elements of Surrealism and Cubism. In the United States, artists like Georgia O\u2019Keeffe and Jacob Lawrence brought together components of abstraction and Cubism in their works. Within the turbulent cultural context of 1900-1945, artists in the United States and Mexico used the aesthetics of modern art to communicate about larger social issues and advocate for change. The early 20<sup>th<\/sup> century began to establish North America as an international artistic center. This would be further emphasized during and after World War II.<\/p>\n<h3 id=\"citation-and-licensing-13\">Citation and Licensing<\/h3>\n<p>The following sections were written by Chelsea Wright and licensed <a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc-sa\/4.0\/\">CC BY-NC-SA 4.0<\/a>:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Chapter Overview and Introduction<\/li>\n<li>Focus artwork and term list compiled by Chelsea Wright<\/li>\n<li>Practicing Visual Analysis<\/li>\n<li>Conclusion<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The following articles from <em>Smarthistory<\/em> licensed <a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc-sa\/4.0\/\">CC BY-NC-SA 4.0<\/a> were remixed and adapted for the chapter:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Dr. Kelly Enright, &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/1898-1945-in-the-united-states-an-introduction\/\">1898\u20131945 in the United States, an introduction<\/a>,&#8221; in\u00a0<em>Smarthistory<\/em>, June 25, 2024.<\/li>\n<li>Dr. Stephanie Chadwick, &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/291-stieglitz\/\">291\u2014Little Galleries of the Photo Secession<\/a>,&#8221; in\u00a0<em>Smarthistory<\/em>, August 20, 2020.<\/li>\n<li>Smarthistory, \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/artist\/alfred-stieglitz\/\">Alfred Stieglitz<\/a>,\u201d in\u00a0<em>Smarthistory.<\/em><\/li>\n<li>Dr. Kris Belden-Adams, &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/stieglitz-the-steerage\/\">Alfred Stieglitz,\u00a0<em>The Steerage<\/em><\/a>,&#8221; in\u00a0<em>Smarthistory<\/em>, August 9, 2015.<\/li>\n<li>Smarthistory, \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/artist\/georgia-okeeffe\/\">Georgia O\u2019Keeffe<\/a>,\u201d in\u00a0<em>Smarthistory.<\/em><\/li>\n<li>Dr. Jennifer Padgett, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art and Dr. Steven Zucker, &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/georgia-okeeffe-radiator-building-night-new-york\/\">Georgia O\u2019Keeffe,\u00a0<em>Radiator Building\u2014Night, New York<\/em><\/a>,&#8221; in\u00a0<em>Smarthistory<\/em>, October 4, 2022.<\/li>\n<li>Smarthistory, \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/period-culture-style\/modernisms\/harlem-renaissance\/\">Harlem Renaissance<\/a>,\u201d in\u00a0<em>Smarthistory.<\/em><\/li>\n<li>Smarthistory, \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/artist\/aaron-douglas\/\">Aaron Douglas<\/a>,\u201d in\u00a0<em>Smarthistory.<\/em><\/li>\n<li>Timothy Anglin Burgard, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco and Dr. Beth Harris, &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/aaron-douglas-aspiration\/\">Aaron Douglas,\u00a0<em>Aspiration<\/em><\/a>,&#8221; in\u00a0<em>Smarthistory<\/em>.<\/li>\n<li>Smarthistory, \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/artist\/jacob-lawrence\/\">Jacob Lawrence<\/a>,\u201d in\u00a0<em>Smarthistory.<\/em><\/li>\n<li>Dr. Steven Zucker and Dr. Beth Harris, &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/jacob-lawrence-the-migration-series\/\">Jacob Lawrence,\u00a0<em>The Migration Series<\/em><\/a>,&#8221; in\u00a0<em>Smarthistory<\/em>, August 9, 2015.<\/li>\n<li>Smarthistory, \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/period-culture-style\/modernisms\/social-realism\/\">Social Realism<\/a>,\u201d in\u00a0<em>Smarthistory.<\/em><\/li>\n<li>Smarthistory, \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/artist\/grant-wood\/\">Grant Wood<\/a>,\u201d in\u00a0<em>Smarthistory.<\/em><\/li>\n<li>Dr. Beth Harris and Dr. Steven Zucker, &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/grant-wood-american-gothic\/\">Grant Wood,\u00a0<em>American Gothic<\/em><\/a>,&#8221; in\u00a0<em>Smarthistory<\/em>, December 4, 2015.<\/li>\n<li>Smarthistory, \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/artist\/hale-woodruff\/\">Hale Woodruff<\/a>,\u201d in\u00a0<em>Smarthistory.<\/em><\/li>\n<li>Dr. Leo G. Mazow and Dr. Beth Harris, &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/hale-woodruff-the-banjo-player\/\">Hale Woodruff,\u00a0<em>The Banjo Player<\/em><\/a>,&#8221; in\u00a0<em>Smarthistory<\/em>, December 1, 2021.<\/li>\n<li>Dr. Doris Maria-Reina Bravo, &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/mexican-muralism-los-tres-grandes-david-alfaro-siqueiros-diego-rivera-and-jose-clemente-orozco\/\">Mexican muralism:\u00a0<em>Los Tres Grandes<\/em>\u2014David Alfaro Siqueiros, Diego Rivera, and Jos\u00e9 Clemente Orozco<\/a>,&#8221; in\u00a0<em>Smarthistory<\/em>, August 9, 2015.<\/li>\n<li>Megan Flattley, &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/mexico-diego-rivera-murals-national-palace\/\"><em>The History of Mexico<\/em>: Diego Rivera\u2019s Murals at the National Palace<\/a>,&#8221; in\u00a0<em>Smarthistory<\/em>, September 22, 2020.<\/li>\n<li>Smarthistory, \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/artist\/frida-kahlo\/\">Frida Kahlo<\/a>,\u201d in\u00a0<em>Smarthistory.<\/em><\/li>\n<li>Dr. Doris Maria-Reina Bravo, &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/kahlo-the-two-fridas-las-dos-fridas\/\">Frida Kahlo,\u00a0<em>The Two Fridas (Las dos Fridas)<\/em><\/a>,&#8221; in\u00a0<em>Smarthistory<\/em>, August 9, 2015.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr class=\"before-footnotes clear\" \/><div class=\"footnotes\"><ol><li id=\"footnote-3349-1\">Diego Rivera,\u00a0<em>My Art, My Life: An Autobiography<\/em>\u00a0(New York: Dover Publications, 1991), pp. 94\u201395. <a href=\"#return-footnote-3349-1\" class=\"return-footnote\" aria-label=\"Return to footnote 1\">&crarr;<\/a><\/li><li id=\"footnote-3349-2\">\u201cManifesto of the Syndicate of Technical Workers, Painters, and Sculptors,\u201d published in Alejandro Anreus, et.al,\u00a0<em>Mexican Muralism : A Critical History<\/em>\u00a0(Berkeley: University of California Press, 2012) pp. 319\u2013321. Signed by Diego Rivera, Dav\u00edd Alfaro Siqueiros, Xavier Guerrero, Ferm\u00edn Revueltas, Jos\u00e9 Clemente Orozco, Ram\u00f3n Alva Guadarrama, Germ\u00e1n Cueto, and Carlos M\u00e9rida and published in the journal\u00a0<em>El Machete<\/em>\u00a0in June 1924. <a href=\"#return-footnote-3349-2\" class=\"return-footnote\" aria-label=\"Return to footnote 2\">&crarr;<\/a><\/li><li id=\"footnote-3349-3\">Diego Rivera,\u00a0<em>My Art, My Life: An Autobiography<\/em>, pp. 100\u2013101. <a href=\"#return-footnote-3349-3\" class=\"return-footnote\" aria-label=\"Return to footnote 3\">&crarr;<\/a><\/li><li id=\"footnote-3349-4\">Diego Rivera,\u00a0<em>My Art, My Life: An Autobiography, p.\u00a0<\/em>131. <a href=\"#return-footnote-3349-4\" class=\"return-footnote\" aria-label=\"Return to footnote 4\">&crarr;<\/a><\/li><\/ol><\/div>","protected":false},"author":2,"menu_order":15,"template":"","meta":{"pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[],"contributor":[],"license":[],"class_list":["post-3349","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry"],"part":3,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.palomar.edu\/arthc1200\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/3349","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.palomar.edu\/arthc1200\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.palomar.edu\/arthc1200\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.palomar.edu\/arthc1200\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.palomar.edu\/arthc1200\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/3349\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3499,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.palomar.edu\/arthc1200\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/3349\/revisions\/3499"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.palomar.edu\/arthc1200\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/3"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.palomar.edu\/arthc1200\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/3349\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.palomar.edu\/arthc1200\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3349"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.palomar.edu\/arthc1200\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=3349"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.palomar.edu\/arthc1200\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=3349"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.palomar.edu\/arthc1200\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=3349"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}