He was born on the 8th of December in 1886 in Guanajuato, Mexico.
1886 - 1957
An outstanding Mexican painter, muralist, as well as a left-wing politician. Born in Guanajuato (northwest of Mexico), in a notable and well-to-do Spanish family. His mother was a Jew from among the conversion (converted to Catholicism). His twin Diego died at the age of two. The boy started drawing when he was three years old; his parents actively encouraged him. The significant periods of his career were in France and the United States. He was the most influential Mexican artist of the 20th century. His art served as the basis for the concept of public art in America, becoming a significant part of the Federal Program for the Development of National Art in the 1930s and 1940s. D. Rivera is widely known in the world as a monumental artist and as the husband of artist Frida Kahlo. Although his main legacy, no doubt, are murals there was a fairly long and noticeable cubist period in his creative career, when about 200 canvases were created.
Too obvious “left” predilections of the artist served as an excuse for the destruction of his fresco “Man at the Crossroads”, commissioned for the Rockefeller Center in New York. The author refused to replace Lenin’s image with “the image of an unknown person”, as the customer wanted. Nelson Rockefeller did not pay the fee in connection with the conflict, but the stubborn Rivera recreated this monumental painting in Mexico City, depicting his friend L. Trotsky instead of Lenin, in the Palais des Beaux-Arts, and calling the fresco more categorically – “Man ruling the Universe”.
In Mexico, the museum of the artist was opened. His grandiose in scale and designs frescoes decorate the public buildings of his native country and cities of America. Moreover, his paintings are included in the collections of many museums around the world.
Key Ideas:
– Before meeting Cubists, Diego worked in a traditional style, close to French Classicism. Rivera was carried away by Cubism on arrival in Paris: accepting its main principles enthusiastically, an exceptionally talented Mexican painter created original Сubist paintings in various genres – landscapes, portraits, plot compositions and still lifes.
– A flat surface became the starting point for the reassessment of the basic techniques of painting. The artist divided the objects into segments in his own way and composed them to form the whole, using both bright and dark colors. Usually, the background was dark; the elements of the composition looked exceptionally sculptural on it.
– The artist himself characterized Cubism as a “revolutionary movement”; in canvas “Zapatist Landscape”, one can see a gun, a bandolier, and the collage-like style points to a synthetic, not analytic, phase of Cubism. The author considered this work, created at the height of the Mexican revolution, “the most faithful expression of the Mexican mood.”
– After 1917, being inspired by the paintings of Cezanne and quarreling with the Cubists, Rivera moved to Post-impressionism with simple large forms of compositions and bright colors.
– The frescos that Rivera performed in his homeland, concerned the life of society – the events of the historical past and the revolution of 1910.
– Rivera-muralist developed his own style, based on large, simplified figures and bold colors. The influence of political views combined with the art and traditions of the Aztecs in these works is obvious. Thus, the fresco “Fertile Land” at the agricultural university depicts the revolutionary struggle of peasant farmers and workers. Over the bodies of the fallen heroes of the uprising, a woman with corn in her hands is depicted. She is associated with the Aztec goddess.
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1957
He was born on the 8th of December in 1886 in Guanajuato, Mexico.
He began to learn how to paint, first in school at the Academy of Arts of San Carlos in Mexico, then in the Academy itself. He was awarded a scholarship to receive education in Europe for outstanding achievements.
For some time he studied in Spain, in the Madrid Academy of Arts, studied ancient murals. The manner of the painting of this period is close to classical French Realism.
He visited Paris and Belgium, got acquainted with the newest trends in painting. He married Russian artist Angelina Belova, who worked in a Cubist manner (the marriage broke up in 1921).
Was offered his first exhibition at the Academy of San Carlos. Return to the homeland coincided with the beginning of the Mexican revolution. Despite the political turmoil, the exhibition was a great success, and the money received from the sale allowed him to return to Europe. Settled down and worked in Paris, was carried away first by Cubism, then – by Post-impressionism. He was closely acquainted with P. Picasso, H. Gris, was friends with Modigliani, Soutine, Jacob, many writers. His art dealer was Modigliani L. Zborowski. The model and lover of Rivera was Marevna, with which he had a daughter. After the quarrel with the Cubists in 1918, the artist rejected Cubism as a method.
He settled down in Italy, where he lived for a while, studying fresco painting of this country. He also visited the Netherlands and Great Britain during his stay in Europe. He worked in a style close to Post-impressionism.
Returning to his homeland joined the Mexican Communist Party; the second time he married Guadalupe Marin, a writer and a model of rare beauty. Marin gave birth to two daughters, but soon the marriage broke up.
Painted the murals at the premises of the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Health in Mexico City until 1929. Visited the USSR, where he became a founding member of the “October association” and was on the rostrum of the Mausoleum during the parade in honor of the 10th anniversary of the revolution in Moscow. The paintings of these events were presented at the exhibition of Rivera’s works at the New York Museum of Modern Art. He left the Communist Party, because he adhered to Trotskyite views and gave Trotsky shelter in his home in Mexico.
He married his art student F. Kalo, worked in America, creating, in particular, a large mural in the Rockefeller Center (New York), which was destroyed in 1934, since the author depicted Lenin and did not want to modify the shape. The work is shown in several films that were created later (the latter one is “Frida”, directed by G. Taymor, 2002). Created paintings at the Art Institute of Detroit.
Started working in America, performed grandiose murals in the premises of the Olympic Stadium in Mexico City. Working on the design of the theater “Insurgentes”, he used the technique of relief and mosaic. In the mid-1950s he visited the USSR again.
The artist died on the 24th of November in 1957 in Mexico City.
flow
Classicism
Cubism
friends
Amedeo Modigliani
Jeanne Hebuterne
Chaim Soutine
Moses Kisling
Marevna
artists
Eduardo Chicharro
El Greco
Diego Velazquez
Francisco Goya
Pablo Picasso
Juan Gris
Jacques Lipschitz
George Braque
Giacomo Balla
Gino Severini
Paul Cezanne
Mark Shagal
Robert Delone
flow
Muralism
friends
Jose David Alfaro Siqueiros
Angelina Belova
Frida Kahlo
Fernando Botero
Rufino Tamayo
Shan Ben
Saturnino Herran
Roberto Montenegro
Jose Clemente Orozco
Mikhail Boychuk
artists
Pedro Coronel
Vlady
Thomas Garth Benton