DAVID A. SIQUEIROS: HIS MODIFICATION OF OIL- AND CELLULOSE NITRATE-BASED PAINT AND HIS ADVOCACY FOR INNOVATION, 1931–1949

Abstract

Although the use of cellulose nitrate paint by David A. Siqueiros (1896–1974) is well documented, when and how he used it is not well established. This article focuses on a technical examination of six paintings Siqueiros made between 1931 and 1949. The paintings analyzed come from two collections: Museo Nacional de Arte in Mexico City and The Museum of Modern Art in New York. Findings presented here show that Siqueiros did not use cellulose nitrate for a painting he made in 1933, despite having made that claim decades later. Rather, evidence indicates Siqueiros used it in Mexico City just prior to his trip to New York in 1935 where he established a workshop to further explore innovation in painting technique and focus especially on ways to paint without a brush. Examination of a small work from 1936 or 1937 by Jackson Pollock (1912–1956), who attended the workshop, confirms he also experimented with the medium. Afterwards, in 1939, Siqueiros again altered his technique and materials in a way to suggest that rendering specific details in his paintings was more important than being restricted to the innovative "brush-free" effects developed in the workshop.