Crystal Aranda, M.S.

she/her

Education: Bachelor of Arts in history and international studies (May 2011)

Master of Science in history from the University of Alabama

McNair Project: Socialism and Communism in Art in Post-revolutionary Mexico with Influences from Russia (2010)

Mentors: David Stone, Ph.D., and Heather McCrea, Ph.D.

The importance of understanding art is great, especially when trying to understand a direction of a culture. it is, however, even greater when that culture is in a post-revolutionary state. By understanding the art, it is easy to see what that culture hopes to achieve and the general direction of their state. The focus of this paper was to understand Mexico's post-revolutionary socialist art movement and the influences that shaped its direction. By analyzing, Russia's Revolution in 1917 to see if there were any shared influences between Russia's and Mexico socialist art movements. In addition, this research studied the communication and travel of the most well known revolutionaries and artists in each country, such as Diego Rivera, David Siquieros, Leon Trotsky and Vladimir Mayakovsky, as well as the formation of Communist groups within Mexico and the propaganda associated with each. Due this research, it can be inferred that there were definite connections, concerning art between Mexico and Russia during their post-revolutionary years. It is also apparent that Mexico adopted Soviet ideologies to fit their own identity, resulting in a natural developing of Soviet roots and influence in the minds of Mexican artists that persisted through its post-revolution.