David Alfaro Siqueiros

BIO

Party at Alma Reed's Delphic Studios 

Author: Unknown

Title: Party at Alma Reed's Delphic Studios

Date: 1936

Description: Included in the photograph are José David Alfaro Siqueiros, Chago Rodriguez, Alma Reed, Enrique Riveron, José Clemente Orozco, and Julia Codesico.

Subjects in photograph, title and date derived from handwritten note on verso.

Forms part of: Enrique Riverón papers, 1918–1990s

Citation Information: Party at Alma Reed's Delphic Studios, ca. 1936. Enrique Riverón papers, 1918–1990s. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution. 

Digital ID: 1445

  • David Alfaro Siqueiros (1896–1974) was one of the leading figures of Mexican muralism, alongside Diego Rivera and José Clemente Orozco. A committed Marxist and communist militant, he understood public art as a form of political intervention. His murals addressed class conflict, revolution, imperialism, and the social transformation of Mexico. His political commitments also shaped his life directly, from his participation in the Mexican Revolution to the Spanish Civil War.

    Siqueiros was equally radical in his approach to artistic technique. He rejected many of the conventions of easel painting and experimented with industrial paints, spray guns, photographic projection, and collective forms of production. His murals often relied on extreme foreshortening, dramatic changes of scale, and compositions designed to involve the spectator physically in the painted space.

    A photograph taken in 1936 shows Siqueiros at Alma Reed’s Delphic Studios in New York together with José Clemente Orozco and other artists and intellectuals. The Delphic Studios were the artistic branch of the the Delphic Society, an organization founded in 1928 that brought together artists and writers interested in Theosophy and in the revival of ancient Greek culture. Siqueiros’s presence there places him in a setting where these interests came into contact with modern Mexican art.

    Orozco had already painted his monumental Prometheus at Pomona College in 1930. Siqueiros later turned to the same mythological figure in Complete Social Security for All Mexicans (Por una seguridad social completa y para todos los mexicanos, 1951–54), painted for the Hospital de La Raza in Mexico City. Prometheus occupies a central place in the mural as an image of struggle, sacrifice, and human emancipation. The 1936 photograph therefore provides an earlier point of contact between Siqueiros and an artist who had already given Prometheus a major place in modern Mexican art.

    Siqueiros also worked in settings where Theosophy and other forms of alternative spirituality were present. His participation in Plastic Exercise (Ejercicio plástico, 1933) in Argentina offers one example. Such encounters are relevant to the persistence of mythological and religious imagery in his work. In the 1950s he recast Prometheus as a revolutionary figure, and from the 1960s onward he repeatedly painted Christ as a persecuted and suffering political figure, including in works such as Mutilated Christ (Cristo mutilado) and Christ of Peace (Cristo de la paz). These images show how classical and Christian subjects could remain active within Siqueiros’s explicitly Marxist art.

Author: David Alfaro Siqueiros

Name: Plastic Exercise

Date: 1933

Location: Museo del Bicentenario, Argentina

Copyright photo: Museo del Bicentenario, Argentina

  • Plastic Exercise (Ejercicio plástico, 1933) is one of the most radical and visually striking works by David Alfaro Siqueiros. Unlike his explicitly political murals in Mexico and the United States, this fresco, painted in Argentina, is an exploration of femininity that blends spiritual themes. The work was executed in the underground chamber of Los Granados, the country estate of the influential Argentinian publisher Natalio Botana, with the collaboration of Argentine artists Lino Enea Spilimbergo, Antonio Berni, and Juan Carlos Castagnino, along with the Uruguayan scenographer Enrique Lázaro.

    Siqueiros’s experimental approach in Plastic Exercise reflects his radical vision for muralism. He and his team utilized non-traditional materials, including industrial paints, photographic projections, and airbrush techniques, anticipating later developments in kinetic and multimedia art. The composition, which extends across the walls, ceiling, and floor, creates an immersive environment that engulfs the viewer, challenging the conventional boundaries of mural painting.

    A key feature of the mural is the repeated depiction of Blanca Luz Brum (1905–1985), a Uruguayan poet and political activist who was Siqueiros’s wife at the time. The multiple portrayals of Brum merge with broader symbolic associations between femininity, spirituality, and transformation—motifs frequently explored in both esoteric movements and political iconography. This thematic connection is also evident in Montenegro’s The Unity of Latin America, included in this exhibit, where Latin America is personified as a woman, reinforcing the fusion of gendered allegories with spirituality.

    The presence of Antonio Berni in the project adds another layer of complexity. Berni, an Argentine painter and socialist realist, was closely associated with Lelio Zeno (1890–1935), a medical doctor who attempted to synthesize Theosophy and Communism. Zeno, known for his articles praising Annie Besant, Vladimir Lenin, and Leon Trotsky, argued that Bolshevism and Theosophy were parallel revolutionary forces—one operating in the material world, the other in the spiritual realm. His influence in Argentine leftist and esoteric circles raises intriguing questions about the ideological environment surrounding the mural’s creation.

    Though Plastic Exercise remains a unique and anomalous work in Siqueiros’s oeuvre, it encapsulates his pursuit of innovation and his willingness to push the limits of muralism beyond the constraints of political propaganda. The fresco not only reveals his fascination with experimental techniques but also places him—perhaps unintentionally—at the intersection of Latin American leftist movements and esoteric networks that, at the time, sought to redefine the relationship between art, spirituality, and revolution.

Author: David Alfaro Siqueiros

Name: Plastic Exercise

Date: 1933

Location: Museo del Bicentenario, Argentina

Copyright photo: Museo del Bicentenario, Argentina

  • Plastic Exercise (Ejercicio plástico, 1933) is one of the most radical and visually striking works by David Alfaro Siqueiros. Unlike his explicitly political murals in Mexico and the United States, this fresco, painted in Argentina, is an exploration of femininity that blends spiritual themes. The work was executed in the underground chamber of Los Granados, the country estate of the influential Argentinian publisher Natalio Botana, with the collaboration of Argentine artists Lino Enea Spilimbergo, Antonio Berni, and Juan Carlos Castagnino, along with the Uruguayan scenographer Enrique Lázaro.

    Siqueiros’s experimental approach in Plastic Exercise reflects his radical vision for muralism. He and his team utilized non-traditional materials, including industrial paints, photographic projections, and airbrush techniques, anticipating later developments in kinetic and multimedia art. The composition, which extends across the walls, ceiling, and floor, creates an immersive environment that engulfs the viewer, challenging the conventional boundaries of mural painting.

    A key feature of the mural is the repeated depiction of Blanca Luz Brum (1905–1985), a Uruguayan poet and political activist who was Siqueiros’s wife at the time. The multiple portrayals of Brum merge with broader symbolic associations between femininity, spirituality, and transformation—motifs frequently explored in both esoteric movements and political iconography. This thematic connection is also evident in Montenegro’s The Unity of Latin America, included in this exhibit, where Latin America is personified as a woman, reinforcing the fusion of gendered allegories with spirituality.

    The presence of Antonio Berni in the project adds another layer of complexity. Berni, an Argentine painter and socialist realist, was closely associated with Lelio Zeno (1890–1935), a medical doctor who attempted to synthesize Theosophy and Communism. Zeno, known for his articles praising Annie Besant, Vladimir Lenin, and Leon Trotsky, argued that Bolshevism and Theosophy were parallel revolutionary forces—one operating in the material world, the other in the spiritual realm. His influence in Argentine leftist and esoteric circles raises intriguing questions about the ideological environment surrounding the mural’s creation.

    Though Plastic Exercise remains a unique and anomalous work in Siqueiros’s oeuvre, it encapsulates his pursuit of innovation and his willingness to push the limits of muralism beyond the constraints of political propaganda. The fresco not only reveals his fascination with experimental techniques but also places him—perhaps unintentionally—at the intersection of Latin American leftist movements and esoteric networks that, at the time, sought to redefine the relationship between art, spirituality, and revolution.

Author: David Alfaro Siqueiros

Name: Plastic Exercise

Date: 1933

Location: Museo del Bicentenario, Argentina

Copyright photo: Museo del Bicentenario, Argentina

  • Plastic Exercise (Ejercicio plástico, 1933) is one of the most radical and visually striking works by David Alfaro Siqueiros. Unlike his explicitly political murals in Mexico and the United States, this fresco, painted in Argentina, is an exploration of femininity that blends spiritual themes. The work was executed in the underground chamber of Los Granados, the country estate of the influential Argentinian publisher Natalio Botana, with the collaboration of Argentine artists Lino Enea Spilimbergo, Antonio Berni, and Juan Carlos Castagnino, along with the Uruguayan scenographer Enrique Lázaro.

    Siqueiros’s experimental approach in Plastic Exercise reflects his radical vision for muralism. He and his team utilized non-traditional materials, including industrial paints, photographic projections, and airbrush techniques, anticipating later developments in kinetic and multimedia art. The composition, which extends across the walls, ceiling, and floor, creates an immersive environment that engulfs the viewer, challenging the conventional boundaries of mural painting.

    A key feature of the mural is the repeated depiction of Blanca Luz Brum (1905–1985), a Uruguayan poet and political activist who was Siqueiros’s wife at the time. The multiple portrayals of Brum merge with broader symbolic associations between femininity, spirituality, and transformation—motifs frequently explored in both esoteric movements and political iconography. This thematic connection is also evident in Montenegro’s The Unity of Latin America, included in this exhibit, where Latin America is personified as a woman, reinforcing the fusion of gendered allegories with spirituality.

    The presence of Antonio Berni in the project adds another layer of complexity. Berni, an Argentine painter and socialist realist, was closely associated with Lelio Zeno (1890–1935), a medical doctor who attempted to synthesize Theosophy and Communism. Zeno, known for his articles praising Annie Besant, Vladimir Lenin, and Leon Trotsky, argued that Bolshevism and Theosophy were parallel revolutionary forces—one operating in the material world, the other in the spiritual realm. His influence in Argentine leftist and esoteric circles raises intriguing questions about the ideological environment surrounding the mural’s creation.

    Though Plastic Exercise remains a unique and anomalous work in Siqueiros’s oeuvre, it encapsulates his pursuit of innovation and his willingness to push the limits of muralism beyond the constraints of political propaganda. The fresco not only reveals his fascination with experimental techniques but also places him—perhaps unintentionally—at the intersection of Latin American leftist movements and esoteric networks that, at the time, sought to redefine the relationship between art, spirituality, and revolution.

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