rt Gallery, commissioned Siqueiros to paint a mural across the 16 x 80 foot second-story wall of the Gallery. This time the place and the occasion were even less promising for the type of art Siqueiros wanted to create--though they probably inspired him in his choice of theme. The Gallery was part of Olvera Street, the site of the original mission from which Los Angeles had grown. In 1926 a wealthy reformer, Christina Sterling, had discovered the derelict state of the area's historic buildings and undertook its revival as a commercial center and tourist attraction. Since opening in 1930 the area had been a great success. But, despite Sterling's good intentions, she was committed to the "tradition of romanticizing the past of Old California and filling it with dashing Spanish caballeros and pretty Indian maidens and happy docile Mexicans," a general notion of past and present that was hardly congenial to Siqueiros (Booth).
Ferencz was a sympathizer of American communist John Reed and "probably had a good idea from the outset of the general politic
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