The spark that ignited Orozco’s interest in art making
Clip: 10/7/2023 | 1m 25sVideo has Closed Captions
A young José Clemente Orozco was influenced by artist José Guadalupe Posada.
As a young student, José Clemente Orozco was enchanted by the work of Mexican artist José Guadalupe Posada. His work as an illustrator stirred Orozco’s imagination and “impelled [him] to cover paper with [his] first little figures.”
Support for American Masters is provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, AARP, Rosalind P. Walter Foundation, Judith and Burton Resnick, Blanche and Hayward Cirker Charitable Lead Annuity Trust, Koo...
The spark that ignited Orozco’s interest in art making
Clip: 10/7/2023 | 1m 25sVideo has Closed Captions
As a young student, José Clemente Orozco was enchanted by the work of Mexican artist José Guadalupe Posada. His work as an illustrator stirred Orozco’s imagination and “impelled [him] to cover paper with [his] first little figures.”
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Learn Moreabout PBS online sponsorship- [Narrator] From his earliest years, Clemente's secret ambition is painting.
At night, he studies at the renowned San Carlos Academy, drawing by rote and copying the European masters.
Down the street is the print shop of the most famous illustrator of the era, José Guadalupe Posada.
- [Orozco] On my way to school and back, I would stop and spend a few enchanted minutes to watch him.
Sometimes I even ventured to enter the shop and snatch up a bit of shavings that fell from the metal plate as a master's graver passed over it.
This set my imagination in motion and impelled me to cover paper with my first little figures.
This was my awakening to the existence of the art of painting.
- [Narrator] The San Carlos Academy and Posada's vivid art of the streets are the two formative influences of Clemente's youth, but his parents want him to pursue a respectable profession.
He tries agricultural engineering, but contracts rheumatic fever and returns home with a heart condition.
He then studies architecture, but leaves school when his father dies of typhus.
The history behind one of Orozco’s most iconic paintings
Video has Closed Captions
“Hidalgo and National Independence" showcases Orozco's artistic intensity. (1m 50s)
José Clemente Orozco: Man of Fire
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Mexican muralist José Clemente Orozco led a life filled with drama, adversity & triumph. (40s)
Orozco’s paintings were destroyed by U.S. customs agents
Video has Closed Captions
José Clemente Orozco left Mexico to seek artistic freedom in the United States. (1m 19s)
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Learn Moreabout PBS online sponsorship
Support for American Masters is provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, AARP, Rosalind P. Walter Foundation, Judith and Burton Resnick, Blanche and Hayward Cirker Charitable Lead Annuity Trust, Koo...