Restored Guston Mural Unveiled in Mexico
149Feb. 4, 2025
A 1,000-square-foot mural painted byPhilip GustonandReuben Kadishwhen both artists were just twenty-one has been restored to its former glory and was revealed to the public on January 31 in Mexico. TitledThe Struggle Against Terrorism, the 1934–35 work is painted on a forty-foot-high wall in theRegional Museum of Michoacán, which occupies an eighteenth-century Baroque palace in Morelia, roughly two hundred miles west of Mexico City. Guston and Kadish created the mural at the invitation of noted Mexican muralist David Alfaro Siqueiros, whom they considered a mentor, and with the assistance of poet and critic Jules Langsner. The painting features robust, muscular figures in the style of Michelangelo and references the Klan, Nazism, torture, communism, and the Inquisition, evident in such forms as a swastika, hooded figures, a cross, and a hammer and sickle.
“When I first traveled to see the mural in 2006, its former power could only be imagined,” said Musa Mayer, Guston’s daughter, in a statement. “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.”
Greeted with appreciation on its completion, the mural by the mid-1940s had drawn condemnation from the local clergy owing to its religious symbolism and naked forms, and the museum hid it behind a massive canvas screen in order to avoid further offending religious groups and to protect it from those riled by its content. In 1973, it was uncovered as renovations to the patio above which it was painted got underway. Though the damage to it then was evident, it remained largely untouched, save for a few cosmetic attempts at repair stymied by sun and humidity. The work was finally restored through a collaboration between the Guston Foundation, Mexico’s Ministry of Culture, and the National Center for the Conservation of Artistic and Architectural Heritage. Guston Foundation director Sally Radic spearheaded the six-month effort alongside Argentinian architect Luis Laplace, who designed a system to protect the revived work from moisture. Speaking to the New York Times, Laplace expressed confidence in the mural’s future.
“Now that we have created awareness, people will take care of it,” he said. “They know that they have something precious.”