In 1917, José Clemente Orozco left Mexico to find a better place to make art in the United States. Along the way, Orozco was detained in Laredo, Texas, where officials took issue with many of his paintings and deemed them “immoral.”
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- [Orozco] In 1917, finding the atmosphere in Mexico unfavorable to art, and wishing to know the United States, I resolved to go north.
I made a bundle of the paintings that were left in my studio, and set out.
(music) In Laredo, Texas, I was detained in the customs, and my baggage was inspected.
My pictures were scattered all over the office and examined in detail by the customs officials.
After this, over 60 of them were set aside and destroyed.
I was left to believe that it was against the law to bring immoral drawings into the United States, or that they already had enough of their own.
At first, I was too dumbfounded to make a sound, but when I did protest furiously, it did no good.
I sadly continued on my way to San Francisco.
