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Lot Essay
We are grateful to Prof. Irene Herner for her assistance cataloguing this work.
Executed during the artist's final year of life, Untitled is structured compositionally around multiple angles and a dark palette (reminiscent of Siqueiros's early works) of greenish tones of black and white tinged with yellow and metallic overtones. The present work appears to be one from a series of studies, related to several works made by Siqueiros at the end of his life, many of which consisted of studies or sketches for a mural commission he received from the State of Mexico, including Viejo enclaustrado (1973) and Sketch for State of Mexico Mural (1973).
The subject of this painting is consistent with the "March of Humanity" a central theme in Siqueiros's work. Here depicted through a series of small, synthesized white figures marching in unison with arms raised along the lower left-hand corner of the composition. The figures are framed within an architectural space reminiscent of an ancient temple. A mysterious gate or portal pulls the viewer in towards a deep passageway constructed from several layers of paint.
The horizontal space along the upper part of the painting is comprised of straight lines and concentric circles that suggest the effects of a dynamic locomotive.
Viewed from a distance one may gleam a voluminous figure that occupies much of the right hand side of the composition. The latter consists of the semi abstract head of a mythic bird with its beak and eye in profile and its head surrounded by a halo-like form.
Dr. Irene Herner, Professor, Facultad de Ciencias Polticas y Sociales , Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City
Comps:
David Alfaro Siqueiros, Viejo enclaustrado, 1973
acrylic on Novopan, 36 7/8 x 46 x 1 in. (93.5 x 118.2 x 2.7 cm.)
Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes y Literatura Sala de Arte Público Siqueiros
Photo: Agustín Estrada
David Alfaro Siqueiros, Sketch for State of Mexico Mural, 1973
acrylic on Novopan, 38 x 86 7/8 x 1 in. (98.3 x 220.3 x 2.7 cm.)
Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes y Literatura Sala de Arte Público Siqueiros
Photo: Agustín Estrada
Executed during the artist's final year of life, Untitled is structured compositionally around multiple angles and a dark palette (reminiscent of Siqueiros's early works) of greenish tones of black and white tinged with yellow and metallic overtones. The present work appears to be one from a series of studies, related to several works made by Siqueiros at the end of his life, many of which consisted of studies or sketches for a mural commission he received from the State of Mexico, including Viejo enclaustrado (1973) and Sketch for State of Mexico Mural (1973).
The subject of this painting is consistent with the "March of Humanity" a central theme in Siqueiros's work. Here depicted through a series of small, synthesized white figures marching in unison with arms raised along the lower left-hand corner of the composition. The figures are framed within an architectural space reminiscent of an ancient temple. A mysterious gate or portal pulls the viewer in towards a deep passageway constructed from several layers of paint.
The horizontal space along the upper part of the painting is comprised of straight lines and concentric circles that suggest the effects of a dynamic locomotive.
Viewed from a distance one may gleam a voluminous figure that occupies much of the right hand side of the composition. The latter consists of the semi abstract head of a mythic bird with its beak and eye in profile and its head surrounded by a halo-like form.
Dr. Irene Herner, Professor, Facultad de Ciencias Polticas y Sociales , Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City
Comps:
David Alfaro Siqueiros, Viejo enclaustrado, 1973
acrylic on Novopan, 36 7/8 x 46 x 1 in. (93.5 x 118.2 x 2.7 cm.)
Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes y Literatura Sala de Arte Público Siqueiros
Photo: Agustín Estrada
David Alfaro Siqueiros, Sketch for State of Mexico Mural, 1973
acrylic on Novopan, 38 x 86 7/8 x 1 in. (98.3 x 220.3 x 2.7 cm.)
Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes y Literatura Sala de Arte Público Siqueiros
Photo: Agustín Estrada