Saturino Heran Our God Analysis

A movement to bring back the European symbolism and expressionism styles began in Mexico in the middle of a post Spanish American war society. This resulted in a sense of “Mexicanidad” or Mexican nationalism and a desire to identify with their Spanish roots through an interest in Spanish art. Saturino Herran was one of the essential artists of this movement in the era of Mexican independence, during which artists and writers would discuss their national heritage in their work. Herran was a member of the Ateneo de la Juventud (Atheneum of Youth), founded by a group of young artists in 1909 who, inspired by the ancient Greeks, advocated modern technological advancement and rejected the positivist philosophy of the followers of the dictator, Porfirio Diaz. This group’s search for national identity led them to embody indigenous themes in their artwork. Herran’s mural, Our Gods (1918 Mexico), uses the syncretism of Aztec and Spanish cultures to create a …show more content…
Herran passed away in 1918, and the mural was never finished, but the pieces of it tie together the Aztec earth-mother god, Coatlicue, as well as Christ on the cross using heavy symbolism. In the center of Jesus’ body, there is a Mexican calavera, or skull which is meant to further embody traditional Mexican culture. The stone deity is depicted as a large statue with Jesus laced into it, and Indians to the left and Spaniards to the right, worshipping this idol. They each appear to be offering up sacrifices to whichever deity they worship in a similar fashion of bowing their heads and carrying their sacrifices on stretchers. Even though they worship different gods, they still worship the same way, which is symbolic of the syncretism of these two cultures. This style of having a dominant figure in the center and secondary characters on the side originates from Pre-Columbian