Los Four
Encyclopedia
Los Four was a Chicano
artist collective during the 1970s and early 1980s in Los Angeles, California
. The group was instrumental in bringing Chicano Art to the attention of the mainstream art world.
, Roberto de la Rocha
and founder Gilbert Luján
. Judithe Hernández
became the official fifth member of Los Four after the group's history-making exhibition at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art
(LACMA). Judithe Hernández had become acquainted with Carlos Almaraz when they attended graduate school at Otis Art Institute
in Los Angeles and he introduced her to the group. The addition of Judithe Hernández as the "fifth" member of Los Four made Los Four one of only two major Chicano artist collectives to include a woman, the other being ASCO (Willie Herron, Harry Gamboa, Jr.
, Gronk
, and Patssi Valdez).
In writing about the early history of Chicano art in his Reflection on the Chicano Art Movimiento, A Primer: by Armando Vazquez he wrote, "In Los Angeles there were two seminal art groups that would forge a new Chicano art sensibility; the first was Los Four, which included the late Carlos Almaraz, Gilbert (Magu) Lujan, Roberto (Beto) de la Rocha and Frank Romero; later the collective would include Judithe Hernández and John Valadez. Los Four were the intellectual vanguard of the Chicano art movement of the early 1970’s. It is safe to say that this grouping of artists, known collectively as Los Four, “legitimized” Chicano art in the Anglo American art world and inspired the younger Chicanada to forge ahead with a school of art that would come to be known as Chicano Art. Today, Frank Romero, Carlos Almaraz, Gilbert Lujan, Judithe Hernández, and John Valadez represent a group of Chicano artists that have obtained international respect and are admired by producing original and exceptional bodies of work throughout their artistic careers. Los Four opened the commercial door to all in the Chicano art world."
Although, after the untimely death of Carlos Almaraz in 1989, the group has shown together less actively, the remaining members were renunited in 1994 for an exhibition entitled Los Four: Twenty Years Later. All of the members of Los Four have enjoyed successful solo careers as visual artists and have exhibited extensively in the United States, Latin America, and Europe. Each artist of this historically significant group is responsilble for bringing well-deserved recognition to Chicano Art and, in no small way, helped pave the way for the Chicano/Latino artists that have followed.
Individual artworks by Carlos Almaraz, Judithe Hernández, Frank Romero, Gilbert Luján, and Roberto de la Rocha have been exhibited in museums in France
, Sweden
, Spain
, Japan
, England
, and other countries.
Along with their exhibitions, the members of Los Four are responsible for many of the most well-known murals of the period. Frank Romero painted several murals around Los Angeles, including Going to the Olympics on a wall of the Hollywood Freeway in downtown Los Angeles.
Judithe Hernández painted no fewer than nine murals in the Los Angeles area between 1968 and 1983, and she collaborated on two with Carlos Almaraz. She was one of the artists who created the first 1000 feet of the Great Wall of Los Angeles mural in 1976, and she was commissioned in 1981 by the Los Angeles Bicentennial Committee to paint the official mural commemorating the founding of the City of Los Angeles in 1781.
Carlos Almaraz also painted numerous significant murals in the Los Angeles area. With John Valadez, he painted the 200-foot-long Return of the Maya in Cypress Park, La Adelita in the Ramona Gardens Housing Project with Judithe Hernández, and California Dreamscape (completed after his death). He also painted murals for Cesar Chavez and the United Farmer Workers Union.
A 1984 film, Los Four, was dedicated to the painters that composed this group and their arts http://movies2.nytimes.com/gst/movies/movie.html?v_id=30091|1.
Chicano
The terms "Chicano" and "Chicana" are used in reference to U.S. citizens of Mexican descent. However, those terms have a wide range of meanings in various parts of the world. The term began to be widely used during the Chicano Movement, mainly among Mexican Americans, especially in the movement's...
artist collective during the 1970s and early 1980s in Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
. The group was instrumental in bringing Chicano Art to the attention of the mainstream art world.
Brief history and significance
The Chicano artist collective Los Four originally consisted of Frank Romero, Carlos AlmarazCarlos Almaraz
Carlos Almaraz was a Mexican-American artist and an early proponent of the Chicano street arts movement.-Childhood and education:...
, Roberto de la Rocha
Roberto de la Rocha
Roberto "Beto" de la Rocha is an American painter, graphic artist, and muralist. He was born in Wilmar, California to Mexican American parents. However, according to Carlos Almaraz, he claimed to be a Hasidic Jew from a Spanish Jewish family...
and founder Gilbert Luján
Gilbert Luján
Gilbert "Magú" Luján was a well known and influential Chicano sculptor, muralist and painter. He founded the famous Chicano collective Los Four that consisted of artists Carlos Almaraz, Beto de la Rocha , Frank Romero and himself...
. Judithe Hernández
Judithe Hernández
Judithe Hernández is a Chicana artist and a founding member of the Chicano Art/Los Angeles Mural movements. She first received acclaim in the 1970s as a muralist...
became the official fifth member of Los Four after the group's history-making exhibition at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art
Los Angeles County Museum of Art
The Los Angeles County Museum of Art is an art museum in Los Angeles, California. It is located on Wilshire Boulevard along Museum Row in the Miracle Mile vicinity of Los Angeles, adjacent to the George C. Page Museum and La Brea Tar Pits....
(LACMA). Judithe Hernández had become acquainted with Carlos Almaraz when they attended graduate school at Otis Art Institute
Otis College of Art and Design
Otis College of Art and Design is an art and design college in Los Angeles, California.The school's programs, accredited by WASC and National Association of Schools of Art and Design, include four-year BFA degrees in illustration, fine arts, graphic design, architecture, landscape design, interior...
in Los Angeles and he introduced her to the group. The addition of Judithe Hernández as the "fifth" member of Los Four made Los Four one of only two major Chicano artist collectives to include a woman, the other being ASCO (Willie Herron, Harry Gamboa, Jr.
Harry Gamboa, Jr.
Harry Gamboa Jr. is a Chicano essayist, photographer, director and performance artist. He was a founding member of the influential Chicano performance art collective ASCO.-Biography:...
, Gronk
Gronk
Gronk is the artistic name of Chicano painter, printmaker, and performance artist Glugio Nicandro...
, and Patssi Valdez).
In writing about the early history of Chicano art in his Reflection on the Chicano Art Movimiento, A Primer: by Armando Vazquez he wrote, "In Los Angeles there were two seminal art groups that would forge a new Chicano art sensibility; the first was Los Four, which included the late Carlos Almaraz, Gilbert (Magu) Lujan, Roberto (Beto) de la Rocha and Frank Romero; later the collective would include Judithe Hernández and John Valadez. Los Four were the intellectual vanguard of the Chicano art movement of the early 1970’s. It is safe to say that this grouping of artists, known collectively as Los Four, “legitimized” Chicano art in the Anglo American art world and inspired the younger Chicanada to forge ahead with a school of art that would come to be known as Chicano Art. Today, Frank Romero, Carlos Almaraz, Gilbert Lujan, Judithe Hernández, and John Valadez represent a group of Chicano artists that have obtained international respect and are admired by producing original and exceptional bodies of work throughout their artistic careers. Los Four opened the commercial door to all in the Chicano art world."
Although, after the untimely death of Carlos Almaraz in 1989, the group has shown together less actively, the remaining members were renunited in 1994 for an exhibition entitled Los Four: Twenty Years Later. All of the members of Los Four have enjoyed successful solo careers as visual artists and have exhibited extensively in the United States, Latin America, and Europe. Each artist of this historically significant group is responsilble for bringing well-deserved recognition to Chicano Art and, in no small way, helped pave the way for the Chicano/Latino artists that have followed.
Individual artworks by Carlos Almaraz, Judithe Hernández, Frank Romero, Gilbert Luján, and Roberto de la Rocha have been exhibited in museums in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, and other countries.
Exhibitions and murals
After having had well-received exhibitions in the Los Angeles area, the group's breakthrough came when LACMA made the decision to mount a major Los Four exhibition titled Los Four: Almaraz, de la Rocha, Lujan, Romero (Feb. 26–Apr. 7, 1974). In doing so, LACMA became the first mainstream museum to recognize the importance of Chicano Art as a unique school of American art.Along with their exhibitions, the members of Los Four are responsible for many of the most well-known murals of the period. Frank Romero painted several murals around Los Angeles, including Going to the Olympics on a wall of the Hollywood Freeway in downtown Los Angeles.
Judithe Hernández painted no fewer than nine murals in the Los Angeles area between 1968 and 1983, and she collaborated on two with Carlos Almaraz. She was one of the artists who created the first 1000 feet of the Great Wall of Los Angeles mural in 1976, and she was commissioned in 1981 by the Los Angeles Bicentennial Committee to paint the official mural commemorating the founding of the City of Los Angeles in 1781.
Carlos Almaraz also painted numerous significant murals in the Los Angeles area. With John Valadez, he painted the 200-foot-long Return of the Maya in Cypress Park, La Adelita in the Ramona Gardens Housing Project with Judithe Hernández, and California Dreamscape (completed after his death). He also painted murals for Cesar Chavez and the United Farmer Workers Union.
A 1984 film, Los Four, was dedicated to the painters that composed this group and their arts http://movies2.nytimes.com/gst/movies/movie.html?v_id=30091|1.
Trivia
- Roberto de la Rocha is the father of alternative metalAlternative metalAlternative metal is a genre of alternative rock and heavy metal that gained popularity in the early 1990s. Most notably, alternative metal bands are characterized by heavy guitar riffs and experimental approaches to heavy music.-Origins:...
band Rage Against the MachineRage Against the MachineRage Against the Machine is an American rock band from Los Angeles, California. Formed in 1991, the group's line-up consists of vocalist Zack de la Rocha, bassist and backing vocalist Tim Commerford, guitarist Tom Morello and drummer Brad Wilk...
frontman Zack De La RochaZack de la RochaZacarías Manuel "Zack" de la Rocha is an American rapper, musician, poet, and activist best known as the vocalist and lyricist of Rage Against the Machine.-Early life and childhood:...
. - Gilbert "Magu" Luján was commissioned as artistic director for Hollywood/Vine Metro Red Line Subway Station in Los Angeles.
External links
- lamurals.com
- Transcript of interview with Carlos Almaraz from the Smithsonian Archives of American Art
- Transcript of interview with Judithe Hernández from the Smithsonian Archives of American Art
- Transcript of interview with Gilbert Lujan from the Smithsonian Archives of American Artists
- Transcript of interview with Frank Romero from the Smithsonian Archives of American Art
- The Art of Aztlan Directory of Artists