In his work at the Secretaria, which would occupy him for another four years, and in the chapel at the former Escuela de Agricultura at Chapingo, Rivera brought to full development his classical figure style and his epic approach to historical painting, which focused on subjects that promoted revolutionary ideas and celebrated the indigenous cultural heritage of Mexico.
In the period following World War I, the literary, artistic, and intellectual vitality of post-revolutionary Mexico, in which the mural movement played an integral role, created a cultural "mecca" that drew young artists from the United States, Europe, and Latin America. In the early s, Rivera became one of the most sought-after artists in this country. In addition to numerous commissions for easel paintings, his received commissions for three murals in San Francisco and was given a one-person exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art.
Also, his costume and set designs were used in the ballet H. Rivera's sojourns in the United States were pivotal to his work. For the first time in his career as a muralist, he was separated from the rich cultural history upon which he drew for his subjects and was under no compulsion to confine himself to the themes in promotion of Mexican nationalist ideals.
He was also able, at least temporarily, to escape from the turmoil of his precarious political position in Mexico, where the Mexican Communist Party, of which he had been a member between and , disapproved of his growing ties to Mexico's government. Finally, he was at last able to indulge his deep fascination with technology, which was evident in a highly developed from in the industrial society of the United States.
Rivera's period of work in the United States enabled him to explore an industrial society, to analyze the role of the artist within it, to postulate his link to the universal order by analogy with earlier societies such as that of the Aztecs, and finally to present his own concept of a new society based on science and technology.
The murals in the United States served to clarify his understanding of his native Mexico and expanded his personal philosophy. They were the source of inspiration for many of his later works, including the late murals at the Palacio Nacional and those at the Golden Gate Exposition in San Francisco, the Lerma waterworks, and the Hospital de la Raza. Rivera's activities in the United States were marked by controversy.
In Detroit, he was accused of using sacrilegious and even pornographic subject matter, his politics were questioned, and he was criticized for causing the dreaded industry to invade the museum. The safety of the murals was even threatened until Edsel Ford made a public statement in their defense. Rivera, who believed that Detroit Industry Fresco cycle was his greatest artistic achievement, was dismayed by these attacks.
An even larger and more bitter controversy erupted at Rockefeller Center in New Yor when Rivera included a portrait of Lenin in his representation of the new society. Asked to remove it, Rivera refused and the mural was ultimately destroyed, on the greatest scandals of art history.
When Rivera returned to Mexico in December , he was one of the most highly publicized artists in United States history, hailed by the intellectual left and the art community and scorned by conservatives and the corporate patrons who had once sought him out. Rivera's influence on American artists continued throughout the s through the agency of the mural section of the Federal Art Project of the works Progress Administration.
His mother was a doctor. Diego began drawing when he was only three years old. His father soon built him a studio with canvas-covered walls and art supplies to keep the young artist from drawing on the walls and furniture in the house. As a child, Rivera was interested in trains and machines and was nicknamed "the engineer.
Para showed Rivera Mexican art that was different from the European art that he was used to. Rebull taught him that a good drawing was the basis of a good painting. Velasco taught Rivera how to produce three-dimensional effects. Diego Rivera. Many of Mexico's citizens lived in poverty, and there were no laws to protect the rights of workers.
After Rivera was expelled, he traveled throughout Mexico painting and drawing. Although Rivera continued to work on his art in Mexico, he dreamed of studying in Europe. Finally, Teodora A. Dehesa, the governor of Veracruz, Mexico, who was known for funding artists, heard about Rivera's talent and agreed to pay for his studies in Europe. Then in he moved to Paris, France. In Paris he was influenced by impressionist painters, particularly Pierre-Auguste Renoir — As Rivera continued his travels in Europe, he experimented more with his techniques and styles of painting.
The series of works he produced between and are cubist a type of abstract art usually based on shapes or objects rather than pictures or scenes in style. Some of the pieces have Mexican themes, such as the Guerrillero By he was producing pencil sketches of the highest quality, an example of which is his self-portrait. He continued his studies in Europe, traveling throughout Italy learning techniques of fresco in which paint is applied to wet plaster and mural painting before returning to Mexico in Trained in traditional techniques in perspective, color, and the en plein air method, Rivera also received instruction from Gerardo Murillo, one of the ideological forces behind the Mexican artistic revolution and a staunch defender of indigenous crafts and Mexican culture.
With Murillo's support, Rivera was awarded a travel grant to Europe in In Spain, Rivera studied the work of El Greco, Velazquez, Goya, and the Flemish masters that he saw in the Prado Museum, and which provided him with a strong foundation for his later painting. At the studio of the Spanish realist painter Eduardo Chicharro, Rivera became acquainted with the leading figures of the Madrid avant-garde , including the Dada poet Ramon Gomez de la Serna and the writer Ramon Valle-Inclan.
Rivera's return coincided with the onset of the Mexican Revolution, which lasted until Despite the political upheaval, Rivera's exhibit was a great success, and the money earned from the sale of his work enabled him to return to Europe.
Back in Paris, Rivera became a fervent adherent of Cubism , which he regarded as a truly revolutionary form of painting. However, Rivera's difficult relationships with the other members of the movement came to a tumultuous end following a violent incident with the art critic Pierre Reverdy, resulting in a definitive break with the circle and the termination of his friendships with Picasso , Braque , Juan Gris , Fernand Leger , Gino Severini , and Jacques Lipchitz.
Receiving another grant to travel to Italy to study classical art , Rivera copied Etruscan, Byzantine , and Renaissance artworks, and developed a particular interest in the frescoes of the 14 th and 15 th centuries of the Italian Renaissance.
In , following the appointment of Jose Vasconcelos as the new Mexican Minister of Education, Rivera returned to his home country, leaving behind his partner, Angelina Beloff, as well as Marevna Stebelska, another Russian artist, with whom Rivera had a daughter, Marika, in Rivera returned to Mexico with a reawakened artistic perspective, deeply influenced by his study of Classical and ancient art. There, he was afforded the opportunity to visit and study many pre-Columbian archaeological sites under the auspices of the Ministry of Education's art program.
Yet his first mural painting, produced for the National Preparatory School and entitled Creation , shows a strong influence of Western art. Rivera soon became involved with local politics through his membership in the Revolutionary Union of Technical Workers and his entry into the Mexican Communist Party in During the latter project, he became involved with the Italian photographer Tina Modotti , who had modeled for his murals; the affair prompted him to separate from his wife at the time, Lupe Marin.
In , Rivera visited the Soviet Union to attend the celebrations of the tenth anniversary of the October Revolution, an experience he found extremely inspiring. He spent nine months in Moscow, teaching monumental painting at the School of Fine Arts.
The Rockefellers then had Rivera stop work on the mural. In , Nelson Rockefeller famously ordered the demolition of "Man at the Crossroads.
John D. Rockefeller Jr. It was for this reason primarily that Rockefeller Center decided to destroy it. In the late s, Rivera went through a slow period, in terms of work. He had no major mural commissions around this time so he devoted himself to painting other works. While they always had a stormy relationship, Rivera and Kahlo decided to divorce in But the pair reunited the following year and remarried.
The couple hosted Communist exile Leon Trotsky at their home during this period. By the mids, Rivera's health was in decline. He had traveled abroad for cancer treatment, but doctors were unable to cure him.
0コメント