By 1930, Mexican muralist Diego Rivera has gained international favour for his passionate murals. Inspired by an intense devotion to his cultural heritage, Rivera creates boldly hued masterpieces of public art that adorn the municipal buildings of Mexico City. His outgoing personality puts him at the centre of a circle of left-wing painters and poets, and his talent attracts wealthy patrons, including Abby Aldrich Rockefeller. In 1932, she convinces her husband, John D. Rockefeller, Jr., to commission a Rivera mural for the lobby of the soon-to-be-completed Rockefeller Centre in New York City. Rivera proposes a 63-foot-long portrait of workers facing symbolic crossroads. Once finished, the Centre’s building managers order Rivera to remove the offending image. As he refuses to do it, the mural is first covered and then demolished. Rivera never works in the United States again.
Now, look at the mural and try to guess why the company’s directors as well as Rockefeller himself were so hungry and decided to destroy it.
To give you some help, try to find these faces in the mural, some of them appear, others not.
Leon Trotsky
Charles Darwin
Pancho Villa - Mexican revolutionary leader
Abraham Lincoln
Vladimir Lenin
Frida Khalo
After making out which faces appeared, surely you are able to tell the reason why this work of art was destroyed, aren’t you? Please, write a brief response to the painting expressing if you like it or not and whether the image means something to you. What would you have done if you had been in Rivera’s place? Would you have been loyal to your ideals or to the people who entrusted you a mural? Don’t hate me; use the energy to express it in only a hundred and fifty words.
1 comentario:
Meli, this is a wonderful activity. I really liked it especially because it reminded me of my childhood when I enjoyed looking for Wally in "Where is Wally?"
First of all, I can be wrong but I think that he was against that society's policies and ideals and the fact of introducing Lenin's picture may have been like a shock for that society. Probably, Rivera was in favour of him.
Besides, workers are facing symbolic crossroads which may mean following what is imposed on them or their ideals and the man is holding something as if it were hope for the future.
For the directors as well as for Rockefeller this mural may have been seen as an offence, a revolutionary manifestation of beliefs which contradicted theirs. That's why, they probably wanted to destroy it.
The mural is really nice not only because of the lights and shadows and the use of colours employed but also because of what it expresses or represents.
Although many times we have to go against what we belief because we don't have another choice, I consider important to defend what we think and thus, fight for our ideals.
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