Air, Earth, Fire, Water
Artist:
Luis Jiménez
(American, 1940 - 2006)
Date: 1994
Medium: Color lithograph
Dimensions:
35 × 48 1/8 in. (88.9 × 122.2 cm)
Credit Line: San Antonio Museum of Art, purchased with the Contemporary Art Acquisitions Fund
Object number: 2005.10
Copyright: © Estate of Luis A. Jimenez, Jr. / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Label Text
This work is based on La leyenda de los volcanes (The Legend of the Volcanoes), a narrative from indigenous Mexican culture that describes Popocatepetl and Itzacchihuatl, the volcanoes that overlook Mexico City, as star-crossed lovers who transform into neighboring mountains to spend eternity together. In this climactic moment, Aztec warrior Popocatepetl mourns the death of his beloved. Smoke and fire emerge from the figures signaling the transformation to come, fusing nature and humanity. Luis Jiménez’s composition is also indebted to the important Italian Renaissance sculpture Pietà by Michelangelo, which represents Christ’s body draped over the grieving Virgin’s lap after the Crucifixion.
Born in El Paso, Texas, Jiménez was an important figure in the Chicano Art Movement, which began in the 1960s and celebrated Mexican Americans’ bicultural heritage driven by the activism of the Chicano Civil Rights Movement. His work references imagery and issues associated with the Southwest and his Mexican American roots.
(Lana Meador, 2019)
Born in El Paso, Texas, Jiménez was an important figure in the Chicano Art Movement, which began in the 1960s and celebrated Mexican Americans’ bicultural heritage driven by the activism of the Chicano Civil Rights Movement. His work references imagery and issues associated with the Southwest and his Mexican American roots.
(Lana Meador, 2019)
Not on view
In Collection(s)
The San Antonio Museum of Art is in the process of digitizing its permanent collection. This electronic record was created from historic documentation that does not necessarily reflect SAMA's complete or current knowledge about the object. Review and updating of such records is ongoing.
This resource has been made possible in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities: Exploring the Human Endeavor.
