Latino Artists of Los Angeles

A History of Beginnings

Wayne Alaniz Healy (left), David Botello and George Yepes are pictured with their mural “Filling Up on Ancient Energies.” The trio, known as the East Los Streetscapers, were pioneers of the Chicano Mural Movement of the 1960’s and 70’s. (Photo courtesy of East Los Streetscapers)

Los Angeles has been a mecca for artists since the early 1920s when the Mexican Mural Movement was born. The movement was led by “los tres grandes”, Mexico’s three greatest artists of the 20th century: José Celemente Orozco, Diego Rivera and David Alfaro Siqueiros. Intended to promote the ideals of a new society led by the poor, working and middle class, the movement blended Mexican nationalism with representations of the people living in El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora La Reina de Los Ángeles (The Village of Our Lady the Queen of Angels). These murals were located outside on city buildings and represented the residents cry for social and political justice. At the time, families immigrating from Mexico tripled the city’s population, reaching nearly 97,000 by 1930. However, the increase usage of the automobile, rise of capitalism and the birth of “Hollywood”, dominated the cityscape and overshadowed the indigenous heritage of early Angelenos.

Siqueiros believed in the act of protesting through art and was determined to represent his ideals through his work in Los Angeles. In 1932, Siqueiros was comissioned to create a mural that depicted happy men, parrots and palms with falling fruit into the mouths of people. At the time of the mural’s commission, Mexican immigrants and Mexican-Americans throughout the Southwest were being…