Becoming Pablo O'higgins

Becoming Pablo OHiggins tells the intriguing story of how a blond-haired blue-eyed Presbyterian from an upper middle-class family in Salt Lake City Utah became a celebrated Mexican muralist. Born Paul Higgins in 1904 into a Republican family of Mayflower English and Protestant Scots-Irish ancestry OHiggins boldly traveled to Mexico at age 20. He became an assistant to Diego Rivera working with him on three of his most important murals. Rivera said if he had a son hed want him to be like OHiggins. OHiggins lived in Mexico for the rest of his life gaining a reputation as an artist "of the people" who dedicated his life to the struggle of Mexicos workers. He is well-known as a muralist and co-founder of Mexicos famous Taller de Grfica Popular. In the U.S. he is an inspiration to Chicano artists: he appears in a mural in San Diegos Chicano Park alongside Mexicos revolutionary heroes. The transformation of Paul Higgins to Pablo OHiggins began under Riveras political tutelage. OHiggins joined the Communist Party just before its Sixth Congress when it began eliminating its "middle class element." To be accepted as a populist he distanced himself from his upbringing suggested native Irish heritage and kept secret his fathers role as a state attorney in the execution of miner and labor martyr Joe Hill. As an artist promoting revolutionary ideals OHiggins was drawn into Mexicos volatile politics. He went into hiding when the Communist Party was illegal and the Cristero Rebellion was raging as well as after an assassination attempt on Leon Trotsky. He followed radical photographer and fugitive Tina Modotti to Russia. He left the Communist Party in the late 1940s yet landed on the U.S. attorney generals blacklist during the 1950s. In his later years however he isolated himself in his studio creating stunning landscape paintings for wealthy collectors. Becoming Pablo OHiggins reveals OHiggins as a complex person who sought to reconcile his U.S. citizenship (which he held onto for most of his life) and his blue-blood ancestry with his love of Mexico and his deep desire to be accepted as a Mexican. There was no dual citizenship during OHigginss lifetime; he essentially created it for himself. Today OHiggins is admired not only for his art but for his determination to bridge these two countries and their cultures.