Object Details
- Artist
- Luis Jiménez, born El Paso, TX 1940-died Hondo, NM 2006
- Gallery Label
- How would you portray a childhood hero? Man on Fire references the historical figure Cuauhtémoc, the Aztec ruler who was tortured with fire during the Spanish conquest of Mexico. Growing up in the Southwest borderlands, Luis Jiménez heard stories of Cuauhtémoc's bravery from his grandmother and thought of him as a mythic figure, a "kind of Superman."
- Rendered in glossy fiberglass, the burning man stands defiantly upright, one arm aloft, even as he is wrapped in flames. Jiménez made the sculpture at a time of growing dissent against the Vietnam War among many Chicanos. Man on Fire draws on the famous photographs of Thích Qu?ng Ð?c, a Buddhist monk who set himself aflame in protest of the US-backed South Vietnamese government. For Jiménez, the monk's act resonated with his own antiwar stance. Man on Fire thus references martyrdom and resistance spanning multiple continents, cultures, and centuries.
- Credit Line
- Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Philip Morris Incorporated
- Copyright
- © 1969, Luis Jiménez
- 1969
- Object number
- 1979.124
- Restrictions & Rights
- Usage conditions apply
- Type
- Sculpture
- Medium
- fiberglass in acrylic urethane resin on painted wood fiberboard base
- Dimensions
- 106 1/4 x 80 1/4 x 29 1/2 in. (269.9 x 203.8 x 74.9 cm)
- See more items in
- Smithsonian American Art Museum Collection
- Department
- Painting and Sculpture
- On View
- Smithsonian American Art Museum, 3rd Floor, North Wing
- Smithsonian American Art Museum
- Topic
- Figure male\nude
- Figure male\full length
- Allegory\element\fire
- Record ID
- saam_1979.124
- GUID (Link to Original Record)
- http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/vk7aec99f46-5a1f-4989-b88a-c68fa2c5f94b
