After decades of deterioration and near obscurity, The Struggle Against Terrorism (1934–35), a towering fresco by Philip Guston and Reuben Kadish, is set to reclaim its place in art history. On January 31, 2025, the monumental mural—conceived as a visceral protest against rising fascism—will be unveiled at the Regional Museum of Michoacán in Morelia, Mexico, marking the completion of a significant conservation effort.
The project, led by The Guston Foundation in collaboration with Mexico’s Ministry of Culture and the National Center for the Conservation of Artistic and Architectural Heritage, brings new visibility to a forgotten chapter in Guston’s early practice. The restoration effort was prompted by growing concerns over the mural’s deteriorating condition, exacerbated by humidity and structural instability. Sally Radic, executive director of The Guston Foundation, enlisted renowned Argentinian architect Luis Laplace to oversee the conservation. The initiative also gained crucial support from Marina Nuñez Bespovola, Undersecretary of Cultural Development at Mexico’s Ministry of Culture. By May 2024, a full-scale effort was underway to stabilize and restore the fresco, guided by expert conservators from Mexico’s National Institute of Fine Arts and Literature.
Guston and Kadish, then just 21, painted The Struggle Against Terrorism in 1934 at the invitation of their mentor, the legendary Mexican muralist David Alfaro Siqueiros. The fresco—spanning a commanding 1,024 square feet across a soaring courtyard wall—was completed over 180 days with assistance from itinerant poet and art critic Jules Langsner. Visually striking and ideologically urgent, the mural is an allegorical warning against oppression, threading together scenes of persecution and brutality from biblical times to the 20th century. Its graphic depictions of suffering, juxtaposed with Nazi and Communist symbols, Inquisition-era torture, and Ku Klux Klan iconography, were undeniably radical for their time—and remain startlingly relevant today.
Stylistically, the mural is a volatile mix of Surrealism, Futurism, and Renaissance grandeur, filtered through Siqueiros’ polyangular perspective techniques. The composition seethes with fragmented planes and shifting vanishing points, lending it a cinematic dynamism that foreshadows Guston’s later figurative experiments. Notably, elements such as ladders, hooded figures, and hobnail boots hint at motifs that would dominate Guston’s work in the late 1960s.
Despite its audacity, The Struggle Against Terrorism was sealed behind a false wall in the 1940s, forgotten until its rediscovery in 1973. Even then, the fresco languished in a precarious state, its colors fading and surface crumbling. “When I first visited the mural in 2006, its former power was only a ghost of itself,” says Musa Mayer, Guston’s daughter. “Seeing it resurrected today is nothing short of extraordinary. Its message is as urgent now as it was 90 years ago.”
Radic echoes this sentiment, emphasizing that the restoration represents a landmark achievement for The Guston Foundation: “This project has been a priority for us, and our collaboration with Mexico’s cultural institutions has been exceptional.”
With its reemergence, The Struggle Against Terrorism demands a reappraisal—not just as a historical artifact, but as a work that continues to challenge, unsettle, and resonate in a world still grappling with the specters of intolerance and authoritarianism.
