III.2.5 DIGITAL ARCHIVE 747269
“El arte y el panamericanismo” is the first of three essays based on a lecture series that Rivera delivered at Mexico City’s Colegio Nacional in 1943. The artist was among a founding group of writers, scientists, and artists—including fellow muralist José Clemente Orozco—who lent their expertise to a focused series of conferences and seminars established and held at this prestigious center that same year. At the height of World War II, Rivera—in his seminar titled “Necesidad del arte e importancia del mismo para la unión de América”—called for the unification of Latin America. The Mexican painter proposed art—essential to humankind’s subsistence—as the basis for Latin America’s redemption. Paradoxically, despite being written in a conspicuously Marxist tone, the essay is an unfettered defense of Pan Americanism that undoubtedly contradicts Rivera’s position as a communist leader. This translation is based on the original publication in Así [(Mexico City), no. 154 (October 23, 1943), 16–17].
DURING THE SERIES OF LECTURES on “the need for art and its importance in the development of Pan American Unity,” several examples of the art created on our continent during its entire history were exhibited in support of the overall theme of the series. . . .
We presented specific examples to show that, ever since the dawn of “the political animal”—who, throughout the history of mankind has frequently been led by brutish politicians—art has been closely linked to every major activity involved in dealing with basic human needs, which are: a) food; b) clothing and shelter; and c) love.
In the first category, primitive man developed his hunting and fishing skills in order to survive. His senses became keener, and his eyesight and hearing evolved to the point where they were sharp enough to help him catch the prey he needed. That was an essential step, and it was immediately reflected in the art that this early man produced. He depicted the movements of animals and human beings with such precision and acuity and painted such accurate scenes of beauty in action that only now—since developing photographic lenses capable of catching movements that last fractions of a second—are we able to re-create the prehistoric images that can still be seen on rocks in parts of Africa and Europe.
Once primitive man began to seek or create shelter, he discovered architecture and the art of body ornaments. This custom quickly spread to all the implements he used in his domestic life and the tools he used for hunting and fishing; it was soon also apparent in the weapons he used for war and the artifacts that were part of his religious life that, like science, evolved out of his involvement with magic.
With regard to love, the beautification of dwellings and the decoration of garments played an important role in the mutual attraction of the sexes that led to the amorous relationships required to produce new human beings to continue the species. In time, the art of decoration was expressed on the human body as well and influenced grooming, makeup, tattoos, and the jewelry that was often inserted into the skin and the flesh. . . .
We can also see from available examples that whenever the oppressed fought back against their oppressors, art and artists spontaneously took part in the struggle. This is because art—whose essential function is to nourish and invigorate—is naturally progressive and subversive, and there can be no progress without the necessary level of subversion that keeps alive man’s desire for independence, freedom, and resistance. Any society or government that is not threatened from time to time by the resistance of its people becomes corrupt and degenerates into tyranny, backwardness, and idiocy. This is the basis of true democracy that was expressed with dazzling clarity of thought and word in the late eighteenth century by Thomas Jefferson, one of the greatest founders of modern America.
When we examine works of art from the Americas we find that, ever since the earliest periods (from the mists of proto-history until our present times), everything that deserves to be called American art possesses the distinctive quality of being the work of free men, endowed with extraordinary vitality. . . .
We must, therefore, from a logical, scientific standpoint, conclude that art is a necessary form of human expression whose function, like all mankind’s other needs, is influenced by the telluric environment and the kind of social structure in which it is produced. This is the foundation for a superstructure or culture that operates from top to bottom and can be modified by new factors introduced at different levels. It disseminates its works that then filter down to the lowest levels of the structure or, rising from below, contribute to its modification and affect the culture in a genuine organic, circular motion. . . .
This is why, obviously, every country develops an official art and culture apparatus—which can be controlled by the class that holds power—to create the sedatives, drugs, and toxic products that keep the oppressed masses docile and happy and facilitate their exploitation. This is also why the seeds of rebellion and progress rise from the lowest levels of the structure toward the superstructure. There they develop, forming clandestine organizations within the official state art and culture apparatus, and then filter back down to the lowest levels, energizing the people in their struggle for freedom.
As this movement demands greater vitality and boldness in the expression and production of its subversive, progressive, revolutionary art, the aesthetic quality of the art increases. This allows us to witness the strange, apparently paradoxical yet in fact entirely dialectical way in which the powerful, wealthy bourgeois classes acquire and capitalize on subversive, progressive works of art because of their high aesthetic quality. These works in turn become interchangeable assets within the socio-economic superstructure that are subject to increases in price that generate profits for the owner.
When we take all these circumstances into account, it becomes obvious that the social phenomenon of art is extremely important on our continent in terms of its social, political, and economic unity. But, even more importantly, the art of the Americas, in addition to its very high aesthetic quality, possesses a distinct unity of its own. This unity is apparent within the variables created by the geographic and social environments of the region and by the links and ligaments that connect its various national and even tribal forms of expression. This art is therefore a genuine continental backbone, similar to the one created by the mountains that stretch from one pole to the other.
This unity is not an archeological reality, much less a prehistoric one. There is no country on this continent where hundreds of thousands of men do not continue to observe the traditions of continental art in their contemporary production. Furthermore, many superstructure artists of great culture and refinement have managed to put down roots once again in the Americas where, from north to south, a marvelous art of the people is flourishing.
In conclusion, it is clear that these circumstances are most useful and can help to promote the development of Pan-American unity. When we work toward that goal in our continental society’s superstructure, where we can easily establish the necessary connections to do so, we will immediately see positive results that will filter down to the lowest levels of our social structure, given this art’s deep roots in the past and the present, and its involvement with the people’s desire for liberty and resistance. Liberty and resistance in the face of life and death. The development of this art will contribute directly to stimulating and nourishing the desire for freedom, independence, and equality in the lower echelons of our society—which are conditions that can only be achieved through true continental democracy. I am referring to a democracy that will put an end to semi-colonial goals, imperialist pride and abuses, racial discrimination, and national divisions, and instead will create unity and planned industrialization among countries that have not yet been industrialized—by the largest and strongest country in the world, the United States—in order to mobilize the continent’s vast natural resources, boundless development, and extensive social possibilities. This can only happen and will have to happen if Latin America does not want to perish under the rubble of the slave-owning, racist Greco-Latin world that is now collapsing, as well as under the X-factor of the powers still standing. [This can only be achieved] through continental unification around an American culture with roots established in ancient times that are now flowering in the modern conditions of our current scientific, industrial, and artistic period. . . .