The California Chicano Cultural Movement: The Chicano Arts and Mural Movements

Title

The California Chicano Cultural Movement: The Chicano Arts and Mural Movements

Description

Chicano Arts Movement

Oakland would emerge as the birthplace of Chicano art groups during the Chicano movement. In 1969 the Mexican American Liberation Art Front (MALAF), a Chicano artists’ collective in the Fruitvale District of Oakland, was one of the first Chicano art collectives in the United States. Founded by Chicano artists Malaquias Montoya, Manuel Hernandez, Rene Yanez, and art professor Esteban Villa, it was one of the main poster producers for various protest events and movements in the 1960s and soon created a circle of artists and activists interested in political and cultural work.

In I970 the Royal Chicano Air Force (RCAF) was founded as the Rebel Chicano Arts Front at Sacramento State. This was an artist’s collective run by Jose Montoya, Esteban Villa, and Richard Favela to support the arts in the Chicano community and to educate young people in arts, history, and culture. Their mission also included promoting political awareness, and support for César Chávez and the United Farm Workers. In 1972, the RCAF created the Centro De Artistas Chicanos, a hub for community programs including La Nueva Raza Bookstore and Galeria Posada, RCAF Danzantes, RCAF Graphics and Design Center, and the Barrio Art Program for children. Many of the artists involved were educators, writers, poets, and musicians who contributed Chicano civil rights activism and to the promotion of Chicano art history, literature, and culture. As artists and activists, the silkscreen posters they created were highly political, expressing community concerns and viewed as instruments of social change.

The Chicano Mural Movement

The Chicano Mural Movement began in the 1960s when murals appeared extensively in the Southwest as part of the national Chicano Movement. While famous Mexican muralists such as Diego Rivera had created monumental public art, Chicano muralists used their work to increase the visibility of the Mexican American experience and to advance the Chicano Civil Rights Movement. Murals were painted on buildings, schools, churches, and other public areas in Mexican American barrios, or neighborhoods. Murals continued in their traditional role as a visual narrative, while recording significant social and political events. Traditional cultural icons and symbols were infused with new meaning when they depicted contemporary struggles. In the 1960s and 1970s, many artists were Vietnam veterans and their murals incorporated images of war and loss, along with Mexican revolutionary figures, the struggles of immigrants, and social justice issues relevant to Mexican and Latino-Americans.

Although women artists were still in the minority as muralists, the Mujeres Muralistas (MM) in San Francisco was an all-women art collective founded in the 1970s by Patricia Rodriguez, Graciela Carillo, Consuela Mendez, and Irene Perez. Their intention was to celebrate the culture and contributions of Mexican American and Latina women and to recognize the talent of Latina artists. Their images celebrated Latina women artists and historical figures as well as everyday women in the community in their various roles as wives, mothers, and workers. Some in the Mexican community questioned their ability to handle the physically strenuous work, while others questioned their focus on the lives of women and images of beauty. Public acceptance of their art influenced a shift from the stark images of war and loss typically produced by male muralists to a broader range of themes and color palettes. The Women’s Movement had often overlooked the perspectives of non-Anglo American women, and The Mujeres Muralistas’ art recognized Latina women’s experiences as integral to representations of Mexican American culture and socio-political issues.

Additional Online Information

¡Printing the Revolution! The Rise and Impact of Chicano Graphics, 1965 to Now | Smithsonian American Art Museum

Chicano/a Art, Movimiento y Más en Austen, Tejas 1960s to 1980s - Mexic-Arte Museum

A Public Voice: Fifteen Years of Chicano Posters

Galería de la Raza: Royal Chicano Air Force

Royal Chicano Air Force Posters | Harvard Library

Royal Chicano Air Force Archives

Royal Chicano Air Force – Art and Activism | Season 28 | Episode 4 | PBS

College Hour- The Royal Chicano Air Force: A Legacy of Art and Civil Rights

The Mural de La Raza was My Mirror

Do You Know the Way to San Jose's Chicano Murals? | KQED

"Mission History: Muralistas in Action 1975," 1:10 min.

Preserving Latina Women’s History in San Francisco’s Community Murals

Decades-Old Chicano Mural Erased in San Jose's East Side

Identifier

B4SV Exhibit Topic Six: Slide 019