Looks at the life and career of the Mexican mural painter.

The lifework of one of the finest Mexican muralists is fully illuminated here, capturing a full range of the politically charged images he created while living in the United States during the 1920s and 1930s.

Exhibition schedule: Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College: April 7-June 17, 2012; Pollock-Krasner House and Study Center [East Hampton, NY]: August 2-October 27, 2012.

In his Foreword to this edition, Jean Charlot says: "An unusual feature of Orozco's letters is the great deal that he has to say about art. That one artist writing to another would emphasize art as his subject seems normal enough to the American reader. Yet, within the context of the Mexico of those days, the fact remains exceptional. The patria Orozco was leaving behind had, even from the point of view of its artists, many cares more pressing than art." The letters and unpublished writings of Orozco from this period (1925-1929) describe an important period of transition in the artist's life, from his departure from Mexico, almost as a defeated man, to the period just before he received the great mural commissions—Pomona, The New School for Social Research in New York, Dartmouth—that were to bring him lasting international fame.

Published by Pomona College of Art in association with Getty Publications José Clemente Orozco’s 1930 mural Prometheus, created for the Pomona College campus, is a dramatic and gripping examination of heroism. This thoughtful exhibition catalogue examines the multiple ways Orozco’s vision resonates with four artists working in Mexico today. Isa Carrillo, Adela Goldbard, Rita Ponce de León, and Naomi Rincón- Gallardo share Orozco’s interest in history, justice, social protest, storytelling, and power yet approach these topics from their own twenty-first-century sensibilities. These artists activate Orozco’s mural by reinvigorating Prometheus for a contemporary audience. This gorgeous volume presents substantial new scholarship connecting Mexican muralism with contemporary art practices. Three new essays address different aspects of Orozco, Prometheus, and the connections between Los Angeles and Mexico. The contributors take on a broad range of topics, from murals as public art to how Orozco’s work fits into contemporary frameworks of aesthetic theory. The book also includes a chronology, vibrant reproductions, and critical essays focused on the con-temporary artists.

This is a new release of the original 1940 edition.

"The catalogue has been published in conjunction with the exhibition Maexico 1900-1950: Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo, Josae Clemente Orozco and the Avant-Garde, on view in Dallas from March 12 to July 16, 2017"--Title page verso.