Faculty News - Professor Michele Greet

Professor Michele Greet is offering an exciting new class in Spring 2018: ARTH 472/599 Mexican Muralism, which will travel to Mexico City to encounter art in person. The course focuses on the study of the murals (wall paintings) executed in Mexico during the years following the Mexican Revolution through the 1950s. The primary focus in on the works of the so-called Big Three: Diego Rivera, David Alfaro Siqueiros, and José Clemente Orozco.

To fully understand and appreciate murals, they must be viewed in person. Photographs or videos cannot convey the scale, architectural environment, city context, or even the true colors of the works. Post-revolutionary Mexican artists deliberately chose the mural medium as a means to distance art making from the bourgeois context. Because murals were painted on the walls of public buildings throughout Mexico City, they became part of the daily life of the Mexican people, not just the elite. In other words, murals became an art truly of and for the people, decorating the walls of schools, theatres, government buildings, union offices, and other public sites.

The class will travel to Mexico City over the spring break to view and experience these murals in context. Upon returning to the classroom following the trip, students will bring with them a deeper understanding of the art, which will not only enhance their classroom experience but their lives.