La Tallera used to be

David Alfaro Siqueiros David Alfaro Siqueiros (born José de Jesús Alfaro Siqueiros; December 29, 1896 – January 6, 1974) was a Mexican social realist painter, best known for his large public murals using the latest in equipment, materials and technique. Along with ...

' workshop, and in recent years it has become one of the most important art spaces in Mexico. It is located in the city of

Cuernavaca Cuernavaca (; nci-IPA, Cuauhnāhuac, kʷawˈnaːwak "near the woods", ) is the capital and largest city of the state of Morelos in Mexico. The city is located around a 90-minute drive south of Mexico City using the Federal Highway 95D. The na ...

, Morelos. In the artist's own words: "the space was born of an idea that

Diego Rivera Diego María de la Concepción Juan Nepomuceno Estanislao de la Rivera y Barrientos Acosta y Rodríguez, known as Diego Rivera (; December 8, 1886 – November 24, 1957), was a prominent Mexican painter. His large frescoes helped establish the ...

and I had since 1920, that is, the creation of a real workshop for

Mural Painting A mural is any piece of graphic artwork that is painted or applied directly to a wall, ceiling or other permanent substrate. Mural techniques include fresco, mosaic, graffiti and marouflage. Word mural in art The word ''mural'' is a Spanis ...

; here the different techniques, materials, paintings, perspectives and geometric aspects will be rehearsed". Maybe it was the first

workshop Beginning with the Industrial Revolution era, a workshop may be a room, rooms or building which provides both the area and tools (or machinery) that may be required for the manufacture or repair of manufactured goods. Workshops were the only ...

of Muralism on the world. "A workshop," Siqueiros said "huge, big, full of machines, with mobile scaffolds, with chemical laboratories to prove the durability of the colors, with plastic materials, without the suffering of limitation, with a photograph department, with film cameras, with everything, everything that a muralist need, also with elements and accessories to dig in the dark field of the colors and the relativity of the geometrical forms in the active space. It will be an enormous barn with light, but without doors. To get in there, we will make an underground passage. Nobody would know the target". The idea took place when Don

Manuel Suárez y Suárez Manuel Suárez y Suárez (23 March 1896 – 23 July 1987) was a Spanish immigrant to Mexico who became a successful entrepreneur and patron of the arts. He is known for the Casino de la Selva in Cuernavaca, the Hotel de México, and the adjacent Po ...

– a well-known patron of the arts— asked him to develop 18 paintings for the Congress Hall of the

Hotel Casino de la Selva The Hotel Casino de la Selva (Jungle Casino Hotel) was a hotel and casino located in the city of Cuernavaca, Mexico. The main building was opened in 1931 as a hotel and casino, but from 1934 it was used only as a hotel. Additions in the late 1950 ...

in Cuernavaca. Later, Siqueiros was put into jail and there he conceived the idea that instead of canvases, he would make a Mural Painting of great proportions. In his cell, Siqueiros painted approximately 200 images that served the mural's theme.

References

{{coord missing, Morelos Artists' studios in Mexico Cuernavaca