Jos Clemente Orozco

Nacin pequea

Marian de Abiega, Miguel Arturo Meja, Andrea Noriega, Aliv Piliado (Exalumnos Maestra y
Licenciatura en Historia del Arte, Universidad Iberoamericana)


Nacin Pequea (Small Nation), by Jos Clemente Orozco, is a medium sized painting depicting brutal
violence. The viewer is confronted with an interior scene in which an act of violence is being
committed in a disproportionate way -in reason of number and power- by a male strength, richly
dressed and armed, to an absolutely vulnerable nude body.
The victims sexual ambiguity allows different interpretations: on the one hand it could be
the representation of a woman, a prostitute, which is a recurrent subject matter in the artistic production
of Orozco, and could be a direct reference to the homonymous paintings from the same series. On the
other hand, the painting could be portraying a homosexual man. The nakedness, depicted in a grotesque
and undesirable manner, emphasized by the high heel shoes, suggests different sexual perversions. Why
did the artist represent this character in an androgynous way?
The bed is a metaphor of a battlefield: the sheets rumpled with rage, the red theatrical
curtain makes a visual echo of the blood shed over the injured members that struggled violently in that
intimate space; the majestic bedhead dressed with the crown and cross symbols of monarchic and
religious power over the world, and the two heraldic crossed tools or weapons in resemblance of the
hammer and sickle representing political power and alluding communism are elements that legitimize
violence exercised by an hegemonic group. Both tools also relate ichnographically to Christ's sacrifice:
the saw is an attribute of the Passion, and the axe a direct reference to Orozcos painting entitled Cristo
destruyendo su cruz (Christ Destroying his Cross, 1943). Could this be a representation of the
sacrifice of the innocent, the weak, the Other?
The diversity of the military uniforms worn by the perpetrators is not fortuitous. Starting
with the machine-men who hold the victims leg on the far left, wearing armors visually relating to
Conquistadors; the soldier in the flesh whose exaggerated musculature immobilizes the arm of the
victim; the Prussian type, who in words of Orozco "was the devil of that time", and whose pickelhaube
replicates the threat of penetration with the bayonet; and finally the two soldiers wearing uniforms that
resemble those worn by the Mexican Army during the Revolution. All of them are faceless witnesses,
accomplices and perpetrators. Each button, helmet and decoration on their uniforms represent
hierarchy, pride and a patriarchal war attitude that dominates from the discourse of power, and fosters
competition and predisposition for aggression. Why does official History commemorate wars? What is
the difference with todays Mexico?
The green, white and red palette formally suggests the aggression is happening in
Mexican territory, and the rough brushstrokes and continuous appearance of black diagonal lines
constructs the horror in a German expressionist way. The vicious caricatured faces of the rapists and
conquerors are shown side-faced, thus obtaining anonymity. While the distorted face of the victim,
absolutely defenseless, launches a muffled cry for help to the viewer, who sees himself mirrored on him
and on the Mexican soldiers passively witnessing the rape. What is the responsibility of the viewer
when facing violence?
Jos Clemente Orozco turns us into voyeurs of a violent scene bordering the obscene; the
body as the link between the public and the private is the strategic site for the management of
violence, as well as the place for the others perversion, and pleasure of the viewer. The scene depicts
abuse in a broad sense, mistreatment and violence against minorities in Mexico and elsewhere, attacked
as an inferior race that "must" be ruled by a superior one, legitimized by the excess of institutionalized
power.
In the 1940s, Mexican politics were directed by the Partido Nacional Revolucionario
(predecessor to PRI), and under Lzaro Crdenas presidency (1934-1940) they were tinted by
communism and fascism. A sublimed national identity was being built through a new, naturalized
official History based in hegemonic values related to the feminine such as earth, race, culture and the
romantic idea of Mother Land. Could Orozco be representing a raped nation?
In that time, Mexico driven by a patriarchal need to belong to a group of power- short on
funds and not solving its internal issues, decides to get symbolically involved in World War II, thus
aiming to project an image of a modern and powerful nation along with the global power countries.
Orozco, already disenchanted of the world, two decades after the failure of Mexicos
revolutionary project, might have decided to describe the nation as small. One governed by a selfish,
abusive class lacking human values and where, no matter the time, belligerent facts and human rights
violations are recurrent actions.
A violent image perpetuates or denounces violence? Can we change the present by
reconsidering how we represent the past?