All Photos By Gail

Man on Fire (1969–70), an early— and unmistakably iconic —sculpture by the late American artist  Luis Jiménez, is a work of art that embodies raw power, cultural memory, and the turbulent politics of its time . Standing nearly seven-and-a-half feet tall and cast in brilliantly painted fiberglass, this blazing figure demands your attention.

Jiménez created Man on Fire at the dawn of the 1970s, when he was shaping the bold, Pop-infused visual language that would define his career. He favored fiberglass not just for its glossy finish but for its associations with car culture, commercial signage, and the working-class Southwest where he grew up. The material lends the sculpture an industrial sheen that feels both heroic and dangerous — perfect for a figure literally engulfed in flames.

The burning body references multiple histories, and that tension is what gives the work its staying power. Jiménez drew inspiration from Cuauhtémoc, the last Aztec emperor, who according to legend was tortured by fire following the Spanish conquest. Stories Jiménez heard in childhood cast Cuauhtémoc as a mythic hero whose endurance bordered on the supernatural. At the same time, Man on Fire resonates with imagery that was seared into the American psyche during the 1960s: the self-immolation of Buddhist monks protesting the Vietnam War. Seen through the lens of the Chicano civil rights movement, the sculpture becomes a powerful symbol of resistance, sacrifice, and cultural survival.

This convergence of Indigenous history, political protest, and Pop-era aesthetics makes Man on Fire one of Jiménez’s most compelling works — an early sign of the bold, unflinching voice he would bring to public art across the country.

Photographed in the Whitney Museum as Part of the Exhibit, Sixties Surreal.