Highlights of the MOLAA Collection
CARLOS ALMARAZ
(Mexico, 1941 - USA, 1989)
La Llorona de los Siglos, 1973
Acrylic on canvas
72 3/16 x 53 3/4 in./ 183 x 137 cm.
MOLAA Permanent Collection. Museum purchase with funds provided by the Lynne O. Scholnick Fund
Accession: 2018
ABOUT THE ARTWORK
Carlos Almaraz was a prominent Chicano artist whose work bridged the worlds of pop culture, surrealism, and social commentary, blending vibrant, bold imagery with deep cultural narratives. As a key figure in the Chicano Art Movement, he became known for his dynamic, colorful works that not only represented his cultural heritage but also critiqued societal issues affecting the Chicano community.
One of Almaraz’s most powerful and evocative works is La Llorona de los Siglos (The Weeping Woman of the Centuries). This striking piece, painted in the early 1970s, encapsulates the artist's ability to weave together Mexican folklore, personal history, and contemporary concerns.
Almaraz’s interpretation of La Llorona takes this familiar mythological figure and transforms her into a symbol of collective sorrow and cultural survival. Almaraz’s use of vibrant, saturated colors and distorted forms reflects his deep connection to the surrealist aesthetic, but also his desire to create art that was visceral and evocative. In La Llorona de los Siglos, the artist fuses the mythological with the contemporary, drawing a direct line between the struggles of the past and the ongoing challenges faced by marginalized communities.
BIOGRAPHY
Carlos Almaraz was born in Mexico City, but his family moved to Chicago, Illinois, while he was still an infant. While still young, his family eventually settled in Los Angeles, where he would live for the rest of his life. He studied art at the California State University in Los Angeles before completing his Master of Fine Arts at the Otis Art Institute in 1974. Several years later, he became involved in the César Chavez United Farm Workers movement. Almaraz was a founding member of the Chicano art collective Los Four, alongside Gilbert “Magu” Luján, Roberto “Beto” de la Rocha, and Frank Romero. Reflecting a life he had spent mostly in Los Angeles, many of his pieces were depictions of neighborhoods in the city. Almaraz used bright colors next to contrasting darker shades, creating a vibrant and cacophonous depiction of the city. One of his murals, Boycott Gallo, was considered a community landmark before its destruction in 1980. His works are featured in the collections of the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C., the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, among others. The first major survey of his art was held at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in 2017, titled Playing with Fire: Paintings by Carlos Almaraz. He died in 1989 from AIDS-related complications.
