When Mexican artist Diego Rivera was commissioned in 1932 to do a mural in the middle of Manhattan's Rockefeller Center, some might have wondered whether industrialist tycoon John D. Rockefeller Jr. knew what he was getting into.
In 1934, the legendary artist's work was chiseled off the wall. (Click on graphic to enlarge.)
"Man at the Crossroads: Diego Rivera's Mural at Rockefeller Center," is a whodunit tale that also illustrates the tensions between art and politics. Exhibition co-curator Susana Pliego told NPR the Rockefeller family was aware of Rivera's leftist politics when it commissioned the work.
"They tried to have pieces of the best artists at the time," Pliego says. "That was why [they wanted it], because of the artistic and commercial value of his work."
Pliego says Rivera got a three-page contract laying out exactly what management wanted.
Rivera was asked to show a man at the crossroads, looking with uncertainty but with hope and high vision to the choosing of a course leading to a new and better future.
"The theme of Rockefeller Center was 'New Frontiers,' so that was a very spiritual way of looking at development and art," Pliego says. She wonders what made the Rockefellers think that Rivera's vision would be the same as theirs.
(As an example, Rivera depicted John D. Rockefeller cavorting with prostitutes in the graphic at right while workers marched for food and were beaten by mounted police.)
"It was a bad decision for everyone, but it's about politics," co-curator Pablo Ortiz Monasterio says. "When you have to take a position, there is no other way out."Monasterio says the show illustrates the conflict between the rich, powerful family that hired Rivera and the artist's strong political point of view.
Pliego says the original sketch for the mural – and what Rivera agreed to paint – included three men clasping hands in the middle: a soldier, a worker and peasant. "A spiritual union of all the three elements that Rivera thought man – humanity – was composed of," she says.
"Unfortunately, what he painted was different from the sketch," David Rockefeller Sr. told the Museum of Modern Art in 2012.
To read the rest of this article, click on link: https://www.npr.org/2014/03/09/287745199/destroyed-by-rockefellers-mural-trespassed-on-political-vision
8 comments:
Another Lazy day for Montoya. Boring shit, bro!
Guess he got paid anyway..
It was easy for Diego Rivera to be Communist, he was born wealthy and was paid hadlndsomely for his work.
Thank you so much for this article!! What a sad event that he got bad rep due to the mural and because at the time he was a member of the communist party. I always enjoy reading about Rivera and Kahlo
Juan aqui en browsville la mayoria de la gente no sabe quien fue Diego Rivera ]...escribi de las raterias de brownsville como el "Pedito"que traen con las ambulancias,la auditoria que hizo Burton Mcuber y Longoria.los comisionados ratas quieren quitar auditorias externas y volver a lo que Cabler hacia auditorias con su jente para seguir escondiendo todas las marranadas que se hacian ojala que este nuevo gerente de la cuidad no se deje intimidar por corruptos comisionados que ahora quieren que regrese Cabler como Mayor para seguir haciendo las componendas para repartir con los comisionados rateros,Sr Neece so le afloje a esta invistigacion, ahi estan metidos Cabler que sabia que no tenian permiso para operar las ambulancias el director ahora asst manager de apedillo rodrigues cuando estaba en health dept se hizo pendejo y dejo que cabler y elizono estuvieran mamando con las ambulancias, Montoya chekate este Pedito en ves de tratar de educar a este pueblo
Most educated people know this. You offering it to the pendejos, maleducados?
You wouldn't think you could get both ends of the spectrum when it comes to Brownsville stereotypes, but this comment thread managed to do it.
First, the imbecile who just had to be heard from who said this was boring. If it's so Goddamn boring, why waste your time to comment on it? Are you that bored that you have to comment on how boring something you dislike is? And God forbid you actually feed your mind with something that doesn't have to do with a fucking Mexican soccer match or the Cowboys winning a game.
Then, another county heard from, the pretentious prick who makes it sound like we all wipe our asses with corn husks saying that the majority of the people in Brownsville don't know who Diego Rivera is. As if they're so fucking cultured drinking gourmet coffee listening to some little hipster shits play Beatles songs at El Hueso de Whatever the Fuck, critiquing paintings at Galeria 409, and eating with the rest of the fucking snobs and fresas at Dodici pretending to know something about wine when the best bottle in their collection comes from a fucking grocery store. Goddamn fresas who spend their whole paycheck on designer handbags and clothes then spend the rest of the week eating Maruchan and rolling pennies because they can't afford the gas in their piece of shit Volkswagen Jetta.
This is why this city can't move forward. To many uneducated oafs and too many people who think they're just too good for Brownsville thinking they live in Mexico City or Monterrey.
Thanks for educating las ormigas and please respect our eco system, history, life, and purpose idiota
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