Social Realism, a Political and Social Art

In the 1930s there were several changes in the artistic and social scene in Uruguay, encouraged by the arrival of David Alfaro Siqueiros, who carried out in depth work in both politic and artistic subjects, spreading the basis of Social Realism. This artistic movement defended the idea that the art should be at the service of society, being used as a tool of social complaint. The human values and the social function were the main concepts developed, the aesthetic and technic aspects being secondary. In Uruguay, the social realist mural movement was based on a trend which talks about the social behaviour and anthropological aspects of rural and marginal urban humans, being less politically combative than in Mexico. Artists such as Felipe Seade, Luis Mazzey, Carlos Gonzalez or Demetrio Urruchua, among others, formed part of this artistic movement.