Abstract

The Shouting Walls. Mexico's Outdoor Murals

Last year more than a half- million Americans crossed the Rio Grande to visit Mexico. Most of them had their first look at Mexico's famed "shouting walls"-the huge mural paintings which have made Mexico unique in the art world during the past three decades. Whatever the reactions of visitors may be, they just can't avoid looking at murals. Since the early 1920's Mexican artists have been furiously daubing up blank walls, developing new techniques, indulging in wild and fantastic polemics and generally establishing Mexico's role in the mural arts as the most vital and significant since the Italian renaissance. Although the mural remains Mexico's most important art form, the vitality of the tradition appears to be losing ground.