Following Diego Rivera...
Sep 18 '08
The Bottom Line Take a couple weeks and let Mexico's greatest modern artist lead you to art nirvana!
Diego Rivera was a mighty big man in the world of modern art. Not just physically, but metaphysically, and he left some mighty big footprints for the intrepid arts traveller to track.
Rivera is the greatest artist to ever come out of Mexico --- a prolific painter whose works fill many museums --- but an astounding master of the biggest canvas of them all, the mural.
Although he's best known for some of the stunning epic mural series that he painted in public buildings in Mexico City, Rivera painted some stunning murals in the United States as well. The most famous was the huge mural he did at Rockefeller Center in New York City, which triggered outrage from that ignorant philistine, Nelson Rockefeller, who responded to Rivera's work by paying his commission and then ripping down the wall in what ranks as one of the most atrocious acts of artistic vandalism ever committed.
Rockefeller proved to the world that when you're rich, you can be an unsophisticated, culturally illiterate boob.
In the end, all Rockefeller accomplished was giving Rivera a whole lot of free publicity and the sympathetic eye of the world's art world, because Rivera still had all his sketches and drawings, and the Mexican government gave him a new huge canvas on which to re-create the work: a wall in the Palacio de Bellas Artes. Needless to say, the mural, Man, Controller of the Universe, is often regarded as one of Rivera's finest. It's definitely very high up on the "must see" list of Rivera mural destinations in Mexico City....but before you jump the next plane down to Mexico City International Airport, consider seeing a couple of his big works here in the U.S. first.
In fact, it might be fun to do a 5-stop whirlwind tour of Diego Rivera's great murals. Here's the itinerary...
San Francisco, Here I Come!!
San Francisco is a beautiful city and a joy to visit for many reasons. It's also home to Rivera's pole-to-pole vision of the Americas, titled Pan American Unity. The work covers the walls of the Diego Rivera Theatre building on the campus of City College of San Francisco. It's on Ocean Avenue and the building is open to the public most days.
Don't Forget the Motor City!
Detroit is home to one of the most startling Diego Rivera visions you can see. Most Rivera murals deal with issues of Mexican identity or weighty themes like class struggle, but in the 27-panel series of murals he painted in the Rivera Courtyard of the Detroit Institute of the Arts, he depicts his vision of the people of Detroit in general, and the River Rouge Plant of Ford Motor Company in particular. The stylized industrial depictions of the manufacture of a Ford V8 engine are phenomenal! Who would've known great art could be so freakin' COOL?!?!
Now Hop the Plane to MEX...
Mexico City is a spectacular city for arts lovers! There's dozens of galleries and studios and more than 100 museums within the city itself, including four that stand out as el primo spots for some strolls in the footprints of Diego Rivera. There's tons of his spectacular murals in public buildings throughout the city, but it's worth noting the museums too, where you can see some of his traditional works: like paintings, sculptures, sketches, and drawings. These four are:
* Museo Dolores Olmedo Patiño - located near Xochimilco, this museum is a spectacular stroll through some of the the world's best examples of early 20th century modern art. It also houses the largest Diego Rivera collection in the world.
* Museo Estudio Diego Rivera - located in Colonia San Angel, this was Diego's studio where he crafted and composed many of the works you see in museums and some of the big murals throughout the world. The studio was designed by another famous muralist: Juan O'Gorman. While there are rotating exhibits of Rivera's masterpieces, the museum is actually more about the man himself and his life.
* Museo Anahuacalli - located in Colonia San Pedro Tepetapa, the Museo Anahuacalli was designed by Rivera himself especially to showcase his own works. Although Rivera works obviously feature prominently here, the core of the museum is its collection of over 50,000 pre-Colombian artworks (the largest mesoamerican art collection in Mexico).
* Casa Azul - located in Coyoacan, this is the home where Diego Rivera lived with his wife, Frida Kahlo, whom some arts afficianados may be aware, dabbled in the arts herself from time to time.
It will probably take at least a couple days to explore those four museums, so I hope you booked at least a week in Mexico City since Rivera left a LOT of footprints in the capital city! The real power of Rivera's accomplishments hits home when you see all the fabulous murals he did. Here's where to go to see some of his best...
* Palacio Nacional - Aside from being the nation's Capitol building, the Palacio Nacional houses several Rivera masterpieces and epic series. Almost all the murals in this building center on Mexico's history. There are murals depicting the life of Mexico's indigenous civilizations, like the Huastec or the Totonac Civilizations (both painted in 1950). The story of the Aztec is told in Epic of the Mexica People (painted between 1934-35) and The Great City of Tenochtitlan (painted in 1945).
* Secretaria de Educacion (Ministry of Education) - Rivera had an incredible eye for interpreting cultural traditions, and he's at his best with murals in this building like Day of the Dead and Burning of the Judases (1924)
* Museo Mural Diego Rivera - In a small, unassuming building at one end of the Alameda (the park that's right in front of the Palacio de Bellas Artes) is Rivera's famous mural, Sunday in the Alameda. Go see it --- you're in and out in 10 minutes, then go see...
* Palacio de Bellas Artes - There's a wonderful collection of works from many of Mexico's great 20th century muralists, including Jose Clemente Orozco, Juan O'Gorman, Dr. Atl, and Rufino Tamayo (among others). The Rivera mural is perhaps his most famous --- Man at the Crossroads --- the stunning masterpiece that thuggish, ignorant, stupid, retarded, moronic, sub-proletariat, slime-sucking maggot philistine Nelson Rockefeller tried to stamp out. And no, I have no strong opinions about this matter.
* Universidad Autonoma Chapingo - In the university's Capilla Riverana you can see Rivera's 1926 masterpiece, The Agitator.
* Anfiteatro Simon Bolivar - See the 1922 work, Creation.
* Hotel Reforma - Home of Rivera's 1936 mural, Bandit Hero.
And if you STILL have energy for more Rivera murals, take a long weekend and catch a bus out to Mexico's beautiful garden city, Cuernavaca.
Onwards to the Palacio de Cortes
Cuernavaca is a beautiful city with perpetual spring-like weather. Cortez loved it. So did Emperor Maximilian. So do a million chilangos who come for the spas, the history, the gardens, the fine dining. A few might even come to see the series of fabulous Diego Rivera murals depecting the story of the Mexican Revolution. (And yeah, the palace --- built in 1530 --- really WAS the home of Hernan Cortez, infamous conquistador of the New World.)
Bottom Line...
If you're serious about art, you could slice and dice a dozen great Mexican vacations. My favorite though would be to travel in the footsteps of Diego Rivera....that big man left one HUGE footprint in Mexico's art world.
Buen viaje, amigos!
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