The forgotten murals

The Supreme Court of Justice, Mexico City, south of the National Palace on Pino Suarez Street.

No doubt my favorite murals in town, located at the Supreme Court of Justice, they are seldom visited by our foreign visitors. As you enter, after registration, you take a left, climb the stairs and to your right you will see the amazing ¨war and peace¨ mural by Philadelphia born, Groton and Harvard educated George Biddle , the mural will strike you by its serene palette and it´s renaissance design, one may be thinking of an Italian renaissance mural, the triptych disposition and the figures chosen play beautifully in the story told by the artist, order, chaos, death, redemption and peace.  Biddle who studied in Paris was very much influenced by different artistic movements, but his main drive was the social function of art. During the depression, Biddle helped to develop the actions regarding the production of art works as part of the new deal, he was a friend and old school mate of President F.D. Roosevelt and his influence played a great deal in the implementation of the program.

Then you turn left , climb more steps and arrive to the lost steps hall, the four great murals by Orozco, depicting in an unflattering fashion the state of justice, are shown on the four walls, on the south one you see justice and freedom (with the attributes of the Statue of Liberty) in total disarray, the only wall where order rules is the eastern wall, where the emblems of the Mesoamerican cultures are represented, actually is the only mural with color, the rest were painted in a palette of black, grey, white and the telluric red that represents the only hope in middle of chaos.

Now direct your steps back to the entrance, in middle of the hall make a left, you will pass two other murals, not the ones you are after, at the end on the stair case a modern, dramatic, truly impressive mural by Cauduro. When the public offer made by the Supreme Court to paint that staircase was open Caudoro warned that if he was the winner the subject will be the crimes made in the name of justice, he won and he painted what he had in mind. The optic of the place is a difficult one, very well resolved by the artist and the technique is a complex one, not to forget the materials employed. If you enter though the parking lot the first thing you will see is a Tzompantli (the ritual altar of skulls of the Aztecs), from there on the visual surprises will appear at every step, all related to the miscarriages of justice, at the top of the stair the menacing presence of the riot police.

The building is in a simple elegant style, built on the plaza del volador, one of the historic places of the city where bullfights were run for the first time in Mexico City and I believe is or was until recently in legal dispute with the descendants  of the Conqueror Hernan Cortés. NOTE the pic was taken from la Jornada Newspaper the photographer was Carlos Ramos Mamahua