SYMPOSIUM - The Siqueiros Legacy: Challenges of Conserving the Artist's Monumental Murals October 16-17, 2012 Getty Center, Los Angeles

	Schematic design of the mural viewing platform. Image: Pugh + Scarpa Architects

América Tropical, located at El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historical Monument in downtown Los Angeles, is the only extant public work in the United States by the famed Mexican muralist David Alfaro Siqueiros. The Getty Conservation Institute in collaboration with El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historical Monument is working to conserve the mural through:

• design and construction of a protective shelter and public viewing platform
• final conservation of the mural

• design and installation of an interpretive center

Background
David Alfaro Siqueiros, one of the great Mexican muralists of the twentieth century, painted América Tropical in 1932 on the second story exterior south wall of the Italian Hall, a large brick building located in the center of El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historical Monument in downtown Los Angeles. Measuring some 80-by-18 feet, América Tropical depicts a Mexican Indian, crucified on a double cross beneath an American eagle, with sharp shooters taking aim at the eagle.

Commissioned by the building's tenant, F.K. Ferenz, the mural was controversial from the start and within a few months of its completion was partially covered with white paint; within a decade, it was completely painted over. With the rise of the Chicano mural movement in the 1960s, there was renewed interest in the mural.

Getty and City of Los Angeles officials gathered at El Pueblo Historical Monument to break ground for the shelter, viewing platform and interpretive center. Left to right: Robert Andrade, general manager El Pueblo; Deborah Marrow, interim president and CEO, J. Paul Getty Trust; Tim Whalen, director, Getty Conservation Institute; Cynthia Ruiz, commission president, Board of Public Works, City of Los Angeles; Jose Huizar, councilman, 14th District; and Gary Lee Moore, city engineer. Photo: Stacey Rain Strickler, J. Paul Getty Trust.

Overview
In 1988 the Getty Conservation Institute entered into an official partnership with El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historical Monument (a department of the City of Los Angeles) to conserve the mural. In the years that followed, the GCI measured environmental conditions, analyzed the mural materials, performed the first phase of conservation treatment, and digitally documented the mural's condition.

The walls of the Italian Hall—including the wall on which the mural is painted—were seismically stabilized by the City of Los Angeles in 1995. In 1997 the GCI undertook a thorough condition survey; in 2002 the Institute stabilized the mural and, with the help of the J. Paul Getty Museum, installed temporary protection over it.

In March 2010, at an event organized by the Amigos de Siqueiros and the Mayor's Office of the City of Los Angeles, the project for the conservation, protection, and presentation of América Tropical was presented to stakeholders.

On September 8, 2010, the GCI and Los Angeles city officials broke ground for the viewing platform, protective shelter, and interpretive center. The viewing platform will enable visitors to view the mural at eye level; the shelter will protect the mural from sun and rain. The interpretive center will feature information about the artist and mural and will provide historic and artistic context for the work. Construction of these features is scheduled to be completed in 2012.

Funding for this project was achieved through a $8.95 million public-private investment, including a $3.95 million commitment from the Getty Foundation and $5 million from the City of Los Angeles. It marks the culmination of years of effort to showcase América Tropical.

Last updated: Februry 2011