David-Alfaro Siqueiros
Mexico
1896-1974

Portrait of Ruben Salazar, n.d.
Lithograph printed in colors
23 x 18 in.
Sweeney Art Gallery Permanent Collection
Gift of Henry W. Coil Jr.
96.1.47

David-Alfaro Siqueiros is among the 20th century's most influential muralists. Along with Jose Clemente Orozco and Diego Rivera he revolutionized mural content by focusing on both the layered history of the Mexican people and their contemporary political and economic struggles. Siquieros believed that public murals were a powerful medium to make his work accessible to a broad audience traditionally ignored by elitist art institutions. These are similar qualities shared by printmaking, which served as an important counterpart medium for political art. In this print, Siqueiros depicts the acclaimed journalist Ruben Salazar. Salazar came to the U.S. from Juarez, Mexico and became a city staff reporter at The Los Angeles Times. Salazar won many awards for his coverage of Mexican-American affairs. Siqueiros and Salazar shared interests in bringing the sociopolitical injustices of the Mexican people to the forefront. Siqueiros draws Salazar rising from a scene where an indigenous woman raises her shackled arms in protest fleeing from the dead military man on the ground.

© UC Regents and the artist.