Table of contents:
Video: Diego Rivera's "Fire Crusader of the Brush"
2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55
In 1933 of the last century, a monumental fresco created by the famous Mexican muralist painter Diego Rivera for the Rockefeller Center in New York, caused a huge scandal. And the resonant article in the New York World-Telegram newspaper about this wall work of the artist, with the defiant headline "Rivera paints communist scenes, and John Rockefeller Jr. pays the bill" - in those years was tantamount to an atomic bomb explosion. Discussions around this event have not faded away for more than eighty years.
Diego Rivera (1886-1957) - Mexican painter, monumentalist, leftist politician, husband of the famous artist Frida Kahlo, was at the origin of a new trend in Mexican monumental art: the mural.
From the age of three, little Diego painted not only all the albums, but also the walls of the rooms. And from the age of ten, he began to study painting thoroughly, striking teachers with a serious attitude to creativity and an outstanding talent. Then he studied at the Art Academy in Mexico City, and studied in Europe, where he lived for about fifteen years, moving from country to country.
The revolution, which began in 1910 in Mexico, was firmly established by 1917. The country adopted a constitution, and part of the land was distributed to the peasants. In the early 20s, returning to Mexico, Rivera was completely fascinated by the new system in his country, in which dramatic changes began: a progressive constitution gave the people the right to education, schools were opened, libraries.
In those years, the art of a new direction appeared in Mexico - Mexican muralism, which was understandable and close to the common people. Diego Rivera was also involved in this direction. According to the state art program, he, together with other artists inspired by the idea of the revolution, began to paint public buildings with frescoes that reflected the country's achievements.
During this time, Diego developed his own unique style in monumental painting: generalized realism. In this style, he performs a series of frescoes at the National Palace in Mexico City. These wall paintings reflect the centuries-old history of the country, in which the fates of long-disappeared and now living peoples are intertwined. The master brought together the reality of being and fantasy, archaeological and ethnographic details, folk tales, people and divine creatures.
Mural "Industry of Detroit"
By the beginning of the 30s, Diego Rivera had become the most famous muralist painter in Mexico, who with all his work openly declared his belonging to the fighters for the rights of the proletariat.
But despite Rivera's political views, he was invited to the United States by industrial magnate Henry Ford for monumental murals in Detroit. With his mural "Industry of Detroit", and in particular its fragment - "Vaccination", the muralist provoked a storm of protest from the press and churches. Since he touched upon allusions to the traditional iconography of the Nativity of Christ. The scandal fueled the interest of the public and on the first day of the opening, about ten thousand people came to see it. As a result, this high-profile event brought Detroit considerable fame.
A fresco that was not destined to exist
Diego Rivera's next major order in the United States is the painting of the main lobby of the central building of the Rockefeller Complex in New York. His competitors for the development of this project were Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso. But the sketch of Rivera's monumental composition entitled “A Man at a Crossroads, Looking with Hope at Choosing a New and Better Future” aroused greater interest from the customer. According to the artist's idea, the central figure was to be a person who controlled all the elements.
But in the process of work Diego turned his mural into a system of world order oversaturated with images, where …
A week before the grand opening, scheduled for May 1, 1933, a scandalous article appeared in the press under the heading: "Rivera Paints Communist Scenes, and John Rockefeller Jr.pays the Bill," stirring up the New York public. In response to the accusations of the press, Diego transforms one of the figures of the composition into the image of V. I. Lenin. After which the conflict reached its climax: the image of the leader of the Russian revolution in the center of the capitalist world was something unimaginable.
All negotiations between Rivera and the customer came to nothing. Then Nelson Rockefeller ordered to forcibly remove the artist from work, to pay him part of the fee in the amount of 14 thousand dollars, and to close the fresco itself with a protective screen, the fate of which was decided for almost a year. And in February 1934, the fresco was destroyed: ground to powder. But it was at that moment that this creation of an outstanding muralist acquired symbolic immortality.
Lucien Bloch, one of Rivera's assistants, contrived to photograph the fresco in the state in which it was left in May 1933. These are the shots by which today you can evaluate her composition, plot and content. At this, Diego Rivera's career in the United States ended.
In the same 1934, Rivera signed an agreement with the Mexican government to create a fresco at the Palace of Fine Arts in Mexico City, where the artist recreated the New York work, only adding images of Marx, Engels, Trotsky, Loveston.
The conflicts that arose around Rivera's works were for the most part provoked and managed by the scandalous artist himself. , - said the artist. The irrepressible energy and efficiency of Rivera aroused admiration. He found the strength and time for the implementation of grandiose creative projects, and for social activities, and for pedagogical work, and for a stormy personal life …
About dramatic love story the expressive artist Frida Kahlo and the eccentric monumentalist Diego Rivera are still legendary.
Recommended:
Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera: "I am unhappy with you, but there will be no happiness without you"
The love story of the expressive artist Frida Kahlo and the eccentric monumentalist Diego Rivera is as dramatic as it is full of genuine sincere feelings. The story of their love is an incredible example of how a loving person, even suffering from physical pain, knows how to prioritize not his own experiences, but feelings for another person
How a Belgian Crusader became the first ruler of the Kingdom of Jerusalem
When Belgium became independent, she urgently needed a reason for national pride. Best suited for this was a hero, a knight about whom legends were made. The search began. But, unfortunately, all the great warriors of the Middle Ages turned out to be, according to their "passport", either French or Germans. In the end, historians found a suitable character - Gottfried of Bouillon. He was born in the valley of the Meuse River, just in the territory that belonged to Belgium. Knight who became the first ruler of Jerusalem
12 scandalous paintings by Diego Rivera, around which controversy continues to this day
Diego Rivera is one of the pioneers of Mexican muralism, famous for his realistic frescoes and vivid paintings. He was passionate about painting since childhood and began his art studies at the Mexican Academy of San Carlos when he was only ten years old. He migrated to Europe in 1907 and Theodore A. Dehesa Mendes, Governor of the Mexican state of Veracruz, sponsored his research there
The Loving Mexican Nicknamed "The Cannibal": Wives and Lovers of the Famous Muralist Diego Rivera
The outstanding Mexican artist Diego Rivera was famous not only for his brilliant talent as a muralist, for his political views, but also for his stormy love affairs, which are still legendary. Enveloping women with his extraordinary charm, Diego literally absorbed them with his stormy passion. Many of his "victims" were talented socialites who achieved success with their talents, and had fairly well-known names
Diego Rivera is a great mural painter who went down in history as a macho and Frida's husband
It is difficult to imagine the most colorful and opposing couple in the history of art of the last century than the Mexicans Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera. Frida, who during her lifetime did not have even a tenth of her husband's popularity, unexpectedly became a world famous artist, whose surreal self-portraits are now recognized by everyone. But the once unattainable master got the role of a "companion character" from her biography - a kind of loving macho with a very colorful appearance. And not all