Historical Representation of Culture

Juan O’Gorman’s A Historical Representation of Culture is a four-part stone mosaic spanning the large walls of the Central Library at the Universidad Nacional Autónima de Mexico. Divided into three periods, O’Gorman aims to represent Mexican identity not only through the mural’s subject of a nationalized history but also through the building’s architectural and material form.

O’Gorman organized his mural into three parts: the pre-Hispanic past, the colonial period, and the modern day. Each wall is filled with rich imagery and is meant to be read in three vertical registers, starting from the top. The North wall depicts the pre-Columbian past. The viewer starts in the top center with the Aztec sun. Below, O’Gorman has included symbols from the Aztec ritual calendar. The iconic Mexican eagle atop a nopal cactus is depicted in the center, referencing the myth of the founding of Tenochtitlan, which was built in the middle of Lake Texcoco through the use of chinampas and canals. O’Gorman further alludes to the famous Aztec city by depicting the city’s canals throughout the composition. The left and right columns parallel one another and represent complementary parts. At the top left, the gods Quetzalcoatl and Tlaloc contrast against Tezcatlipoca and Chalchihuitlicue, who are on the right. Flanking the Mexican eagle are allegorical figures representing time. The single enthroned figure to the left is Tlazoltéotl, the goddess of birth and agriculture. O’Gorman also uses her as a representation of stability and time, invoked by her positive association with agriculture and new life. Her location on the left side is also notable, as it is the side associated with the sun. The figure on the right is Tlahuizoalpantecuhtli, who is shown in her dual forms of life and death. Here, O’Gorman used the struggle of life and death to represent the complementary relationship between the past and future.

The South wall depicts the colonial past and the evangelization and oppression of Mexico’s Indigenous peoples by the Spaniards. Like the North wall, the viewer is meant to start at the top of the central column. Here, a Bible takes up the foreground, overshadowing Indigenous figures who are depicted as slightly in the foreground. The narrative then moves down, referencing the Spanish Empire with the double-headed Hapsburg Eagle. At the base of the center column is a Catholic cathedral overlaying a pre-Columbian pyramid, from which emerge Christ’s outstretched hands.

Representing modern Mexico as rooted in Mexico’s history and Indigenous culture was important to O’Gorman. By the time of this commission, he had abandoned his previous practice of functionalist architecture in favor of an ‘organic’ style. However, he was likely commissioned due to his successful older work, such as the functionalist schools he designed while he served as Head of Construction for the Department of Public Education. His original design for the Central Library was a pyramidal structure, but it was vetoed by his fellow architects. In order to add a more “Mexican character,” O’Gorman used rocks gathered from around Mexico.

His approach of grounding Mexico’s identity in its history was not accepted by all, as competing narratives and ideologies were held by other artists, such as Siqueiros, who was also commissioned by the university to create The University of the People, the People of the University. In regard to the Historical Representation of Culture, Siqueiros said that the library and its mosaic were akin to an “American tourist in Mexican kits and skirts" [1]. Siqueiros believed that Mexico’s identity lived in its present and future rather than its past. Siqueiros’ mosaic, The University of the People, the People of the University, was originally located on the route the students would take to the library. As students, faculty, and staff traversed the campus, they would be exposed to differing interpretations of Mexican culture. However, due to renovations, the path no longer exists, and the two works are isolated from each other.

 [1] Carney, Annemarie Elizabeth, "The mosaics of Ciudad Universitaria : Mexican muralism at the crossroads." (2018). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. Paper 2924.

https://doi.org/10.18297/etd/2924