1930s was a decade of dictatorship. Germany led the movement, making Hitler its chancellor in 1933. Italy's fascist Prime Minister Mussolini was in power and making an alliance with Nazi Germany. General Franco was right behind, ready to take the part in dominance of Spain and dethrone the said republican democracy.
A group declared as nationalist had declared military opposition on the democratic government under the leadership of José Sanjurjo. The country was split under who had control of which cities. Efforts to preserve the government were supported by those with communist and anarchist beliefs. to defy the control of a potential dictator. The conservatives were then commanded by the general Francisco Franco.
The war became brutal and very unsympathetic. Purges were performed by the nationalists on controlled territories to rid any opposition and bring purity of supporters to their cause. The alliance of the nationalists and the Germans welcomed destruction the country could not fathom. The atrocities and bombings were noticed worldwide.
Picasso even made a painting about the horrific bombing on Guernica, executed by Germany. The supporters of the Republican side became the communists and anarchists from Mexico and Russian volunteers. Among the Mexican volunteers was an artist with a bold and strong heart that would not allow the society of right-wing men take power over the people of Spain. David Siquieros was a Mexican muralist and a soldier. He was an artist that can be analyzed through colonial lenses as he made many murals of a fight against invasion and oppression to portray the passion that he felt against colonialism and those that felt that they deserved powers over all others, such as his work Death to the Invader.
David Alfaro Siquieros made Echo of a Scream as a piece that portrayed the struggles of the lower class in the Spanish Civil War. in the time that he had been fighting in it. This image was a show of his Marxist-Communist views, as he saw the destruction of the fascist enemies and held them responsible for the pain of this child.
These images of war stayed with him through his life and he continued to protest fascism and support communism through his art. David Alfaro Siqueiros was born on December 29, 1896 in Camargo, Chihuahua, Mexico. Young Pepe Siqueiros lost his mother at the age of three and his father took him and his brother to live with his grandparents.
His grandfather was a combatant against the French invasion, was an excellent writer, and was known for standing up in his strong beliefs. As Siqueiros grew up, he became a great inspiration for him. After moving to Mexico City and going to school, he found himself exposed to art and became inspired by Mexican colonial artists. and Dr. Alto's muralism art, which had been brought back from Europe.
Although his father did not support his decision to study art, Pepe did not allow him to stop his path. Dr. Alto, the art school staff, and many students inspired a far-left-wing political view into Siquiero's life. After a coup was done against the elected president of Mexico, a revolution against the new leader began heating up.
Siquieros and his classmates were communist supporters involved in political protests against the new leader, Victoriano Huerta. Huerta didn't accept any oppositions, and the involvement of Siquieros'friends led to their arrests and executions. At the young age of 17, Siquieros joined the war with the constitutionalists and overthrew the government.
Then, the constitutionists had a fallout and continued the fight. And as time followed during the revolution and the villistas, He met many natives and lower class people all over Mexico and surrounding territories. Where he saw the injustices of being a lower class citizen, this fed his Marxist views. After the war, the paintbrush was back in his hand. He began to paint portraits and paintings for profit.
He received a grant that allowed him and his wife to continue his art career in Europe, where he met Diego Rivera and many other artists. Many of these artists were involved in Cubism. but he became more influenced by the renaissance mural art. which came by in his European tour. He found that the current art was too dispirited and not a beneficial piece to society.
With his renaissance influence, he began to make great paintings that caught the eye of people back in Mexico. He got sponsored to make a mural in Mexico and made his first major work, The Elements. As he gained more publicity, he began to make more political art. He started a magazine, El Machete, with associates that was meant to stand up for the working class.
His work became very influential in that it made the people begin to seriously question the government, and he was placed under arrest. Given that he left Mexico City, after some time he left the U.S. and in his time there, many people became interested in his muralism, and he even took a teaching job. But his stay was short as his visa expired. He went to Uruguay for a few years, but the fascist government did not enjoy his stay and expelled him out of the country. He applied for a new visa and headed to New York, where he participated a lot in the Mar community.
He made a name for himself, and even made some of the most important pieces in his art career, such as Births of Fascism and Stop the War. In his time in the U.S., he was approached by some Spanish friends and was told about the troubles of the Civil War in Spain. The fascist versus republican struggle was exactly what Siqueiros was about. He joined the war and signed up for the 5th regiment led by the Italian communist Vittorio Vidali.
He was promoted up to Lieutenant Colonel, which gave him the nickname El Coronelazo. The opposing sides then had an agreement promising to rid the ranks of foreign troops. Siquieros and other Mexican troops were sent home.
When Siquieros returned home, he felt sympathy for the victims that were affected in the Spanish Civil War. He campaigned for the welcoming of Spanish refugees, which the government disagreed with. bringing him in conflict with the government again.
He painted works such as Echo of a Scream and The Sob to rake in support for his cause. While this can't be confirmed, sources say it seems he was inspired to make Echo of a Scream from a photograph of an Asian child in the aftermath of a Japanese bombing on China in 1937. This photograph shows the child in an open spot in the rubble, crying with an expression of pain, sorrow. and fear from the destruction surrounding him.
The scene looks like the aftermath of a result from a devastating war, with broken steel tubing, sheet metal, and concrete pieces lying all around the child. This rubble is drawn in very organic lines, signifying that the destruction of this is man-made. The balance of this piece makes the right side heavier with the industrial buildings, possibly representing the industrial weapon manufacturing Spain was conducting, which eventually aided Germany in the coming World War II. The color is very monochromatic in this piece. The focus of the piece is the child and its head painted above it.
The bigger head here looks as if it represents the cry of the child. The open setting of the destruction gives the impression that the cries of the child echo through the land that is empty of life and sound that help it resonate. Placing a child in the setting shows a sense of hopelessness. The head can also be enlarged to make the viewer pay attention to it and humanize the child.
The child is lost in an endless rubble and that makes the child part of the destruction. This child becomes materialized as part of the debris and Siqueiros wants to make sure we don't see it that way by blowing up the proportion of the child's head. In the background, an opening in the clouds and the rubble appears. The only other sign of life in this painting is the tree behind the child. This tree could possibly be the hope of the painting, possibly showing that there will be a reconstruction that will come out of the destruction.
Siqueiros possibly hoped that from the destruction caused by fascism, a rise in a better system run by communism would be reborn. He shows that even though he had seen the worst, he would always fight and have hope for the vision of a better world he believed in. In the end, Echo over screams a political peace made for a good cause.
A cause that would help the women and children of Spain that were left in ruins because of the war. Siqueiros had seen too much suffering and too wars, and wanted to make sure the people that needed help would get it. The tree behind the child was the hopes Ikero's had to give this child a second chance at a life in his home, Mexico. In inspiration of Echo of a Scream, I have taken this picture.
It portrays a teddy bear lost in a mess of someone's room. The bear has been abandoned and forgotten in a mess, just as the child in Echo of a Scream has. I've made the mess look endless, just as the destruction did. The bear is unnoticed as it becomes part of the mess. and would just be left with it and unthought of as the child who owned it has moved on and continued his or her life just as the war continued leaving the child behind