Chavez Morado destructor de mitos. Silencios y aniquilaciones de la ciudad(1949)

Abstract

The art of the twentieth century was a fertile terrain for mythical representations of the Mexican capital, which even came to include an imagined apocalyptic destruction. An interesting example of this genre is La ciudad by José Chávez Morado (1909-2002); this is an oil painting which synthesizes an elaborate critique regarding the disintegration of the economic, political and religious powers, juxtaposing it to the myths of origin of Mexico City. This article explores the manipulations that caused this work of art to disappear from the history of Mexican art, following a competition which was convoked in 1949 by the newspaper Excélsior : “Mexico City interpreted by its painters”. The painting of a naked woman with three pairs of breasts representing the city was suppressed; this led to its absence from monographs on the artist. Later, La ciudad was reproduced with the following caption: “destroyed by the painter”. La ciudad was, however, never destroyed. The painting survived its initial consignment to oblivion and even its later rhetorical destruction.