The editorial categories are research topics that have guided researchers during the recovery phase and continue to be the impetus behind the Documents Project’s digital archive and the Critical Documents book series. Developed by the project’s Editorial Board, each of the teams analyzed this framework and adapted it to their local contexts in developing their research objectives and work plans during the Recovery Phase. Learn more on the Editorial Framework page.
This essay praises the work of José Clemente Orozco and considers him one of the greatest painters in the world. Luis Cardoza y Aragón analyzes Orozco’s article step by step in a rather poetic manner. He mentions the great complexity of his work, the subjects that the artist selected, and how he interpreted them, demonstrating his lack of adaptability and his disappointment vis-à-vis reality. This resulted in a very particular handling of his proposals, which distinguishes him from his contemporaries. Cardoza y Aragón concludes by praising Orozco, stating that for Mexico, he was someone “como la voz más clara y más alta de su tiempo” [the clearest and highest voice of his time].
Luis Cardoza y Aragón (1901–1992), the Guatemalan writer and poet based in Mexico, dedicated his life to literature. Cardoza y Aragón’s first visits to Mexico date back to the 1930s; he settled permanently in this country in 1952, a few years after the publication of this article on Orozco’s prime and grandeur. Years before this article, Cardoza y Aragón wrote La nube y el reloj [The Cloud and the Watch] (1940), a book in which he accuses the Muralism movement of being traditionalist and conservative. The dispute between Cardoza and Muralism began in September 1949, the year of this article and by the way of Orozco’s demise. During the Congreso de Partidiarios por la Paz [The Conference of Peace Supporters], Diego Rivera (1886–1957) accused him of being an agent of imperialism. The significance of this article arises from the presentation of Orozco as a poet whose works always contain tragedy, superhuman passion, pure idealism, and spirituality, despite the Antiguan poet’s opposition to both Muralism and the imposition of a homogeneous pictorial discourse in Mexico. Cardoza y Aragón speaks of Orozco not only as a renowned muralist, but also as a multi-faceted artist who reaches the highest level of poetry in the arts, an attribute that undoubtedly places him among the greatest masters of Mexican painting.