Mariana Medina - Diego Rivera: Mexican Muralist

Published in 2016 by Enslow Publishing, LLC

101 W. 23rd Street, Suite 240, New York, NY 10011

Copyright 2016 by Laura Baskes Litwin

Enslow Publishing materials copyright 2016 by Enslow Publishing, LLC

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced by any means without the written permission of the publisher.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Medina, Mariana, author.

Diego Rivera : Mexican muralist / Mariana Medina and Laura Baskes Litwin.

pages cm. (Influential Latinos)

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Summary: Discusses the life and work of Diego Rivera--Provided by publisher.

ISBN 978-0-7660-6991-6

1. Rivera, Diego, 1886-1957Juvenile literature. 2. MuralistsMexicoBiographyJuvenile literature. 3. PaintersMexicoBiographyJuvenile literature. I. Litwin, Laura Baskes, author. II. Title.

ND259.R5M38 2015

759.972dc23

[B]

2015012777

Printed in the United States of America

To Our Readers: We have done our best to make sure all Web site addresses in this book were active and appropriate when we went to press. However, the author and the publisher have no control over and assume no liability for the material available on those Web sites or on any Web sites they may link to. Any comments or suggestions can be sent by e-mail to .

Portions of this book originally appeared in the book Diego Rivera: Legendary Mexican Painter.

Photo Credits: 2015 Banco de Mxico Diego Rivera Frida Kahlo Museums Trust, Mexico, D.F. / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York, pp..

Cover Credits: Ed Clark/The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images (Diego Rivera).

Contents

A Controversial Mural

Diego Riveras Early Years

Leaving Mexico for Europe

Embracing Cubism

Riveras First Murals

Diego and Frida

American Commissions

A Return to Mexico

Later Works

Diego Riveras Legacy

Chronology

Chapter Notes

Glossary

Further Reading

Index

Mexican painter Diego Riveras murals promoted social change in Mexico and around the world.

Chapter 1

A CONTROVERSIAL MURAL

L ate one night in mid-April 1933, a hulking man perched on a wooden platform thirty feet in the air. The man was Mexican artist Diego Rivera, and he had a deadline fast approaching. Rivera had promised one of the richest and most powerful men in the United States that he would finish this painting in two weeks time.

The painting in question was a large mural on the wall of the entrance lobby of the new RCA Building in New York City. Though the country was in the midst of the worst economic depression in its history, this seventy-story skyscraper had just been built by the Rockefellers, the family that founded Standard Oil Company and made billions of dollars.

The Rockefeller Family Fortune

John D. Rockefeller owned the most famous business empire of the late nineteenth century. The Standard Oil Company was founded shortly after the Civil War. It soon became so successful and powerful in the oil industry that it put all its rivals out of business. The company became a monopoly, a business with total control over a market or product. Rockefeller was targeted as a symbol of capitalist greed and cutthroat competition. To counter the strong public criticism, the Rockefeller family began supporting the arts and giving away large amounts of money to charity.

Rockefeller Commissions Rivera

At that time, Diego Rivera was the most famous muralist in the world. His work could be seen on the walls of all the most important buildings in his native Mexico. He had recently painted the San Francisco Stock Exchange and had just returned from Detroit, Michigan, where he had painted twenty-seven murals for the Ford Motor Company.

Now Rivera had been hired by Nelson Rockefeller, the grandson of the oil tycoon. Rockefeller wanted Rivera to paint a mural called Man at the Crossroads Looking with Hope and High Vision to the Choosing of a New and Better Future.

After six weeks of work, the mural was progressing to Riveras satisfaction. He had painted a number of overlapping scenes representing the fields of science, politics, and entertainment. As usual, Riveras colors were very intense and his figures included everyday workers standing alongside world leaders.

Nelson A. Rockefeller commissioned Rivera to paint the mural that would be embroiled in controversy.

It was the inclusion of one of these world leaders that was about to get Rivera in trouble. He painted into the mural a portrait of Vladimir Lenin, the leader of the 1917 Communist revolution in Russia. To Rivera, who believed in Communism, Lenin was a hero. To the Rockefellers, who were champions of capitalism, Lenin was a villain.

Lenin had not appeared in Riveras original sketch for the mural, which had been approved by Nelson Rockefeller. Rockefeller first became aware of the change when a reporter from the New York World-Telegram published an article with the headline RIVERA PAINTS SCENES OF COMMUNIST ACTIVITY. Rockefeller immediately asked Rivera to remove the Russian leaders picture from the mural.

A Battle Over Art

Never one to shy away from controversy, Rivera refused to make any changes to his mural. He told Rockefeller that an artist had the right to choose the images represented in his artwork. Riveras assistants working on the mural not only agreed with him, they threatened to walk off the job if he complied with Rockefellers demand.

Nelson Rockefeller was not an opponent to be treated lightly. Overnight, the lobby of the RCA Building became an armed fortress. The entrance was blocked off, with patrolmen on horseback standing guard outside. Police carrying billy clubs were sent inside to surround the mural. Rivera was ordered to stop painting. One of Riveras assistants hid a camera in her coat and quickly took some pictures of the painting. In light of what was soon to happen, these photographs would prove priceless.

The mural was hidden behind a large canvas screen. On May 9, a building manager gave Rivera a check for the balance of his fee and officially told him he was fired. Three days later, Rivera was also fired from another job one he had not even started. Slated to paint a mural for the General Motors Building at the Chicago Worlds Fair, Rivera received a telegram canceling his commission. If the Rockefellers were displeased with his work, no other businessmen would risk hiring him.

In the weeks following, many artists, intellectuals, and other angry citizens staged loud protests outside the RCA Building to show their support for Rivera. Some of these demonstrators argued that Riveras artistic rights were being censored. Other protestors were Communists who agreed with Riveras politics. Rivera pleaded his own case at rallies and in the newspapers.

In July, with the money he had received from the Rockefeller commission, Rivera paid for the materials and assistants needed to paint a series of small murals at a school in New York City. All the time he was working, he fretted over what was going to happen to the mural he had been forced to abandon. Rockefeller had assured the newspapers that while the mural would be kept hidden from public view, it would remain safe.