Domingo Ulloa painted this canvas after several visits to a Bracero camp in Holtville, California. The Bracero Program (1942−64) was a bi-national effort that brought Mexican guest workers, known as braceros, to fill in agricultural labor shortages caused by World War II. Ulloa’s crowd of workers, who peer dejectedly through a barbed-wire fence, reinforce the mounting public protest against their poor living and working conditions. His composition recalls photographs of concentration camp inmates, which Ulloa – a World War II veteran – was familiar with. Ulloa later stated, “Most of my paintings are inspired by the common people in their work, in their joy, and their struggle.”
- Title
-
Braceros
- Artist
- Date
- 1960
- Location
- Dimensions
- 36 × 49 in. (91.4 × 124.5 cm)
- Credit Line
-
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Gift of Eugene Iredale and Julia Yoo
- Mediums Description
- oil on masonite
- Classifications
- Highlights
- Keywords
-
- Dress – accessory – hat
- Mexican
- Architecture Exterior – detail – fence
- Figure group – male
- Object Number
-
2014.20
- Palette
- Linked Open Data
- Linked Open Data URI
