- Title
- Woman Carrying a Coffin (Mujer cargando un ataúd)
- Date Made
- circa 1936
- Medium
- Cellulose nitrate and oil on panel
- Dimensions
- Frame: 31 1/2 × 22 1/2 × 1 1/4 in. (80.01 × 57.15 × 3.18 cm)
- Accession Number
- M.2001.201
- Collecting Area
- Latin American Art
- Curatorial Notes
Woman Carrying a Coffin (Mujer cargando un ataúd) shows an indigenous woman seemingly walking into infinity with a coffin on her head; the right side depicts an eerie sky created with a dripping technique. Luis Arenal Bastar participated in David Alfaro Siqueiros's legendary Experimental Workshop in New York, which was founded in 1936. The workshop was designed as a laboratory for experimentation, and artists were encouraged to use unconventional materials such as industrial paint, as well unconventional methods such as pouring, dripping, and splattering to create the effect of controlled accidents. Ilona Katzew, 2008
- Selected Bibliography
- Affron, Matthew, Mark A. Castro, Dafne Cruz Porchini, and Renato González Mello, eds. Paint the Revolution: Mexican Modernism, 1910-1950. Philadelphia: Philadelphia Museum of Art; Mexico City: Museo del Palacio de Bellas Artes, 2016.
