To love a painting is to feel that this presence is… not an object but a voice.
~ Andre Malraux ~
Detroit Industry
by
Diego Rivera
On my way to Detroit, anticipating seeing Detroit Industry, I started to think a lot about the artist, Diego Rivera, who created what turned out to be a very impressive mural, as expected.
I was first introduced to Mexican muralist, through Jose Clement Orosco when I went to Guadalajara, Mexico, for a month, during my freshmen year in college. His image of Miguel Hidalgo, at the Palacio de Gobierno, will forever be a part of my memory.
As I thought about Diego Rivera, it occurred to me that his wife, Frieda Kahlo has overtaken his fame, in most contemporary circles; a thought I am sure never occurred to either, when they were alive. Because of their chosen mediums, her work can come to you, while you must go to his – it was inevitable perhaps.
When I arrived at the Detroit Institute of Arts, I politely lingered at a few interesting pieces before being overcome with my need to see the mural. As I entered the vestibule that houses “the finest example of Mexican mural art in the United States,” which “the artist thought it the best work of his career,” I was approached by a docent, whose name, I deeply regret, I did not get. After welcoming me, she asked if she could do anything for me, and I said yes: Enlighten me!
The docent generously walked me through the mural, pointing out great details, which I am sure I would have otherwise missed. Then as we stood admiring the work, she told me that the week before she had a group of Mexican students, girls around 15, who had never heard of Diego Rivera, but that when she mentioned his wife, let out a collective sigh of recognition – I could just imagine the moment, and the look Frieda might have cast Diego.
I of course took dozens and dozens of photographs of this work of art, and though the detailed images are remarkable, it is the size – an entire court yard – which truly takes your breath away; thus with all due credit, I am sharing the Detroit Institutes of Arts leaflet with you.
To the left is the east wall, where the mural begins; and includes produce and grains grown in Michigan. To the right is the west wall which focuses on the manpower behind industry, as well as both the positive and negative sides of man’s achievements – a passenger and war airplane.
On top is the north wall, which focuses on the manufacturing of the 1932 Ford V-8; while the south wall deals with the car’s exterior.
This magnificent piece of art was the result of Edsel Ford having seen Rivera’s work in San Francisco. Rivera and Kahlo spent eleven months in Detroit while he researched the city, designed, and implanted the piece. It was truly worth the visit.
Art can never exist without naked beauty displaced.
~ William Blake ~
