Death of Rubén Salazar

Media - 1993.19 - SAAM-1993.19_1 - 65177
Copied Frank Romero, Death of Rubén Salazar, 1986, oil on canvas, 72 14120 38 in. (183.5305.8 cm.), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase made possible in part by the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment, 1993.19, © 1986, Frank Romero

Artwork Details

Title
Death of Rubén Salazar
Artist
Date
1986
Dimensions
72 14120 38 in. (183.5305.8 cm.)
Copyright
© 1986, Frank Romero
Credit Line
Museum purchase made possible in part by the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment
Mediums
Mediums Description
oil on canvas
Classifications
Keywords
  • Architecture — vehicle — automobile
  • Cityscape
  • State of being — death — murder
  • Architecture Exterior — commercial — tavern
  • Occupation — service — policeman
Object Number
1993.19

Artwork Description

 

 

Romero memorializes Rubén Salazar, a Los Angeles Times journalist and key chronicler of the Chicano civil rights movement. After covering the Chicano Moratorium of 1970, an anti-Vietnam War demonstration, Salazar stopped at the Silver Dollar Café in East LA. Reports of an armed disturbance sent deputies to the scene. A tear-gas projectile shot into the bar killed Salazar instantly. Romero combined references to this tragic day with a vision of the future when Salazar is the subject of a film announced on a theater marquee. The work’s large scale and subject link it with a tradition of grand painting that commemorates events that shaped history.

Our America: The Latino Presence in American Art, 2013

 

 

Description in Spanish

Romero rinde homenaje à la memoria de Rubén Salazar, un periodista del Los Angeles Times y uno de los principales cronistas del movimiento chicano de derechos civiles. Después de cubrir los sucesos de la Moratoria Chicana de 1970, una manifestación contra la Guerra de Vietnam, Salazar fue al Silver Dollar Café, en East Los Angeles. Información sobre un altercado armado atrajo la presencia de la policía. Un proyectil de gas lacrimógeno disparado hacia el interior del bar mató a Salazar instantáneamente. Romero combinó las referencias a este trágico día con u tema de una película anunciada en la marquesina de un teatro. El gran formato y el sujeto heroico de la obra la vinculan con la gran tradición de la pintura de historia, un género artístico que conmemora los sucesos históricos.

Nuestra América: la presencia latina en el arte estadounidense, 2013

Gallery Label

Rubén Salazar was a writer for the Los Angeles Times and was active in the civil rights battles of the 1960s. When Chicanos rallied against the Vietnam War on August 29, 1970, the Los Angeles police fired tear-gas canisters into the Silver Dollar Bar, where Salazar was struck and killed. Romero painted Death of Rubén Salazar on the scale of Mexico's revolutionary murals, but used the brilliant colors of the East L.A. barrio. To the right, a movie marquee announces that La Muerte de Rubén Salazar is now playing. At the left of the Silver Dollar, the Casa de Cambio suggests not only the exchange of paychecks and cash but also the idea of change in the community.

Officers, clouds of gas, buildings, and lowriders all share the bold brushwork and fiery color of graffiti, but this exuberance masks the emotional toll that painting the scene exacted. Romero acknowledges that it takes years to think through and to paint these episodes in the life of his community. He did not grow up thinking of himself as a Chicano, but embraced that identity after years of working with three other Latino artists in an informal group known as Los Four. The year he painted Death of Rubén Salazar, Romero said that "there's all this talk about America not having a culture other than McDonald's...I do have a culture. It's Aztlan." He was referring to the mythical birthplace of the Aztec people.

Exhibition Label, Smithsonian American Art Museum, 2006

Luce Center Label

Rubén Salazar was a writer for the Los Angeles Times and was active in the civil rights battles of the 1960s. When Chicanos rallied against the Vietnam War on August 29, 1970, police fired tear-gas canisters into the Silver Dollar Bar, where Salazar was struck and killed. To create Death of Rubén Salazar, Frank Romero combined the large scale of Mexican Revolution murals with the brilliant colors of the East LA barrio. To the right, a movie marquee announces that “La Muerte de Rubén Salazar” is now playing. At the left of the Silver Dollar, the Casa de Cambio suggests not only the exchange of paychecks and cash, but the idea of change in the community. Officers, clouds of gas, buildings, and lowriders all share the bold brushwork and fiery color of graffiti, but this exuberance masks the emotional toll that painting the scene exacted. The year he painted Death of Rubén Salazar, Romero said that “There’s all this talk about America not having a culture other than McDonald’s . . . I do have a culture. It’s Aztlan.” He was referring to the mythical birthplace of the Aztec people.

Luce Object Quote

“In my studio I have to deal with my own devils, and I wrestle with my own concerns and dreams and fears.” Frank Romero, Oral History interview, 1997, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution

Audio

Videos

Exhibitions

Media - 2011.12 - SAAM-2011.12_1 - 77591
Our America: The Latino Presence in American Art
October 24, 2013March 2, 2014
Our America: The Latino Presence in American Art presents the rich and varied contributions of Latino artists in the United States since the mid-twentieth century, when the concept of a collective Latino identity began to emerge.