The Mexican Walls: A Challenge for the Female Spanish Exiled Artists

Abstract

This paper focuses on the muralism of the female Spanish artists exiled in Mexico after the Spanish Civil War. Although we are studying some specific artists, the murals which we explain here –some of them unknown until now– show the female refugees’ interest in actively inserting themselves not only in the Mexican society but also in their culture. Thanks to the work of Germaine Greer, we can elucidate which were the difficulties in the Mexican country and why their interventions were such limited. In that way, on the following pages, we study Manuela Ballester’s productions in leisure space or Elvira Gascón’s contributions in the religious context, pass through Mary Martín’s or Regina Raull’s isolated participations. In any case, these artists did not yield to the artistic practices that supposedly belong to them, but they knew to adapt themselves to the new requirements, making themselves visible on the Mexican walls.