American Masters, Orozco: Man of Fire
PBS Western Reserve (WNEO 45.1 / WEAO 49.1):
Sunday, Sept. 22, at 11 PM
Monday, Sept. 23, at 4 AM
Fusion (WNEO 45.2 / WEAO 49.2):
Monday, Sept. 16, at 10 PM
Saturday, Sept. 21, at noon
In the post-revolutionary 1920s, a groundbreaking group of Mexican artists had a vision of bringing art to the people. After centuries of painting dominated by Spanish and other European art, Mexican painters including José Clemente Orozco declared that Indigenous and mestizo lives matter and that their untold history should be displayed on public buildings for all to see.
The life of Orozco is one of the great stories of modern art, filled with drama, adversity and remarkable achievement. He survived the loss of his left hand and the destruction of his early work by U.S. border agents and witnessed the carnage of the Mexican Revolution and the turmoil of the Great Depression in New York. A gifted easel painter, Orozco was first and foremost a public artist whose greatest achievements were murals created not for individual patrons but for society.