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Casa arruinada (Ruined House)

Artist/Maker (Mexican, 1883–1949)
Date1928
MediumLithograph
DimensionsImage: 12 13/16 × 18 in. (32.5 × 45.7 cm)
Sheet: 15 15/16 × 11 11/16 in. (40.5 × 29.7 cm)
Credit LineGift of Leona E. Prasse from the Mr. and Mrs. Charles G. Prasse Collection in honor of Ellen H. Johnson
Edition84/100
Object number1977.91
Status
Not on view
Copyright© Estate of Jose Clemente Orozco / Artist Rights Society (ARS), New York, NYMore Information
Orozco began working with lithography while simultaneously exploring architectural theory. These studies encouraged him to think about deconstructing the large structure in order to rethink it, piece by piece. In this way, Orozco began to use "samples" or excerpts from his murals as lithographic prints to highlight their broader political statements. Ruined House (Casa Arruinada) formed part of his "Horrors of the Revolution" series. Orozco's dark and troubling image underscores his bleak portrayal of post-revolutionary Mexico even as it offers another reading of Mexican identity (mexicanidad) in which people and landscape echo each other endlessly. Ruined House (Casa Arruinada) provides the viewer with a focused insight into the complexity and depth of Orozco's revolutionary murals as well as his notably pessimistic political perspective.
Exhibition History
Representing the Revolution: Works on Paper by Jose Clemente Orozco, Diego Rivera and David Alfaro Siquieros
  • Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin, OH (February 16, 1999 - March 30, 1999 )
Elements of the North American Landscape: Works on Paper from the Allen Memorial Art Museum
  • Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin, OH (September 26, 2000 - December 17, 2000 )
The Mexican Revolution in Prints and Paintings
  • Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin, OH (September 9, 2008 - December 23, 2008 )
Latin American and Latino Art at the Allen
  • Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin, OH (September 2, 2014 - June 28, 2015 )
Collections
  • Modern & Contemporary
This record was created from historic documentation and may not have been reviewed by a curator. Noticed a mistake? Have some extra information about this object? Please contact us.