MORELIA.- The Struggle Against Terrorism (1934–35), a monumental landmark mural by Philip Guston and Reuben Kadish will be unveiled to the public on Friday, January 31, 2025 in a celebration honoring the masterwork’s resplendent restoration. Located in an 18th Century Baroque palace in Morelia, Mexico that today houses the Regional Museum of Michoacán, this significant artwork has been brought back to life, and conserved for generations to come, through an intensive collaboration between The Guston Foundation, Mexico’s Ministry of Culture and the National Center for the Conservation of Artistic and Architectural Heritage.
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After years of concern about the mural’s declining condition, The Guston Foundation’s executive director, Sally Radic, enlisted the help of decorated Argentinian architect Luis Laplace in conserving the mural. Recognizing that immediate intervention would be crucial to the mural’s survival for posterity and for continued art historical scholarship, the Foundation entered into a dialogue with Marina Nuñez Bespovola, Undersecretary of Cultural Development in Mexico’s Ministry of Culture.
On May 31, 2024, a contract was signed initiating new construction to eradicate the humidity issues that had accelerated the artwork’s deterioration, as well as the actual restoration of the mural, which has been executed by a world-renowned team of conservators managed by Mexico’s National Institute of Fine Arts and Literature.
In 1934, Philip Guston (then Philip Goldstein) and Reuben Kadish—two enthusiastic North American painters, both 21 years old—traveled 1,700 miles from Los Angeles, California to Morelia, the capital city of Michoacán, an interior state that also borders on Mexico’s Pacific coastline. The young artists had received an invitation from their mentor David Alfaro Siqueiros, a prominent Mexican muralist, to paint an artwork on a 40-foot-high wall in a majestic colonial building, then belonging to the University of St. Nicholas. Over the course of 180 days, and with the assistance of itinerant poet and art critic Jules Langsner, Guston and Kadish would complete a massive and visually astounding work in pure fresco.
This spectacular composition spans 1,024 square feet (95 square meters) across a two-story wall enclosed within one of the building’s interior courtyards. Intended as a warning against the spread of fascism, the mural depicts scenes of torture and intolerance throughout the ages, from biblical times to the present day. The theme they chose for The Struggle Against Terrorism resonated deeply with the two artists. As children of Jewish immigrants who fled persecution overseas, the rise of fascism in Europe and in the United States was deeply concerning, as was the racism they had witnessed growing up in Los Angeles.
Beyond their social conscience, the young artists were strongly influenced by the freedom, ideals and innovations of the Mexican muralists. In the worldwide social and political turmoil of the times, the Mexican muralists created art that spoke to ordinary people. Siqueiros’ influence is also evident in the mural’s scale and dynamic composition. It is likely that Guston and Kadish employed Siqueiros’ theory and technique of polyangularity to simulate a cinematic effect with The Struggle Against Terrorism, captivating viewers by dispersing a dynamic set of vanishing points across their expansive mural.
In rendering their composition, Guston and Kadish drew upon various styles, including Surrealism, Futurism and the great frescoes of the Italian Renaissance masters. Staging colossal, looming figures among a kaleidoscopic set of discrete yet associated perspectives, the mural weaves together an array of narratives separated by history and geography. Allusions to the life of Jesus, the Inquisitions of Medieval Europe and the Ku Klux Klan are juxtaposed with Nazi and Communist symbols and instruments of torture in an epic, cinematic ensemble. Changes in scale, fragmented planes and extreme foreshortening challenge the viewer to move from one scene of evil to the next. Many details are striking, including a rendition of a 15th Century woodblock print depicting the persecution of the Jews of Trent, first identified by art historian Ellen G. Landau in Mexico and American Modernism (Yale University Press, 2013). Moreover, motifs that reappear in Guston’s late figurative work, such as hobnails, Klan hoods, ladders and guises of all kinds, affirm the artist’s perennial engagement with the mural’s intricate and painful themes.
Soon after its completion, sometime in the 1940s, The Struggle Against Terrorism was concealed from view by a false wall. It was subsequently rediscovered and exhumed in 1973 yet began to slowly degenerate due to unstable climatic conditions.
“When I first traveled to see the mural in 2006, its former power could only be imagined.” said Musa Mayer, Philip Guston’s daughter. “I am deeply grateful to all those whose diligent work has brought this extraordinary early work back to life. Its message is as relevant today at it was 90 years ago.”
“The restoration of this mural has been a key focus for our Foundation over the past two years,” said Sally Radic, executive director of The Guston Foundation. “We’re delighted with our excellent collaboration with the Mexican Culture Ministry, particularly the National Institute of Fine Arts and Literature and the Institute of Mural Conservation.”
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