DETROIT INDUSTRY MURALS - DIEGO RIVERA - CONTROVERSIAL TO EPIC

Detroit Industry Murals - Diego Rivera - from Controversial to Epic
One of the most amazing artistic treasures in Detroit - thanks to Diego Rivera - is the are the awe inspiring fresco murals known as Detroit Industry Murals at the Detroit Institute of Arts.
The year was 1932, America was in a deep depression and yet this came about due four men - William Valentiner, Edsel Ford and Diego Riversa - the world famous Mexican Muralist.
Rivera receives a commission to create a mural in the RCA Building in Rockefeller Center, New York. He journeys to New York from Detroit.Rivera has a brief affair with the American artist Louise Nevelson.By May the mural in the RCA Building is partially complete. The architects discover that the mural includes a portrait of Vladimir Lenin. They stop his work and remove his scaffolding. General Motors withdraw the commission they had given Rivera to paint a mural at the World's Fair in Chicago. Rivera returns to Mexico. 1932: Rivera receives commissions by the Institute of Art in Detroit, Michigan to create murals. He journeys there and creates a mural based upon the Ford Motor Company's Rouge River Automobile plant, the largest plant in the world at that time. Diego Rivera, detail from one of the frescoesEdsel Ford commissioned murals by Diego Rivera for DIA in 1932.[44][45] Composed in fresco style, the five sets of massive murals are known collectively as Detroit Industry, or Man and Machine.[46] The murals were added to a large central courtyard; it was roofed over when the work was executed. The Diego Rivera murals are widely regarded as great works of art and a unique feature of the museum.[47] Architect Henry Sheply, a close friend of Cret's would write: "These [murals] are harsh in color, scale and composition. They were designed without the slightest thought given to the delicate architecture and ornament. They are quite simply a travesty in the name of art."[48] Their politically charged themes of proletariat struggle caused lasting friction between admirers and detractors.[49] During the McCarthy era, the murals survived only by means of a prominent sign which identified them as legitimate art; the sign further asserted unambiguously that the political motivations of the artist were "detestable".[45] Today the murals are celebrated as one of the DIA's finest assets, and even "one of America's most significant monuments".[50]DetroitWilliam Reihold ValentierFrom 1924-1945 he was appointed first advisor and then Director of the Detroit Museum of Art which later became the Detroit Institute of Arts. Under his leadership the museum developed into one of the leading art institutions in the country. His acquisitions and exhibitions in Detroit were products of his wide-ranging scholarship. He was a friend of Edsel Ford and conducted private seminars on the history of art for Ford's family. He was responsible for the series of murals painted by Diego Rivera, having met Rivera in California, and convinced Ford to under wright the cost of the murals. Titled Detroit Industry they were revolutionary for Detroit at the time and created considerable local controversy. His activities at the Detroit Institute of Arts included building an expert staff of curators, a vision of an encyclopedic collection and the creation of a resource for the local population. the state, and the Midwest. --------------During the Depression, they helped to pay the salaries of the professional staff of the Detroit Institute of Arts to avoid a shutdown.When William Valentiner, long-time director of the DIA, conceived the project of having artist Diego Rivera transform the DIA's inner court with fresco murals, Edsel Ford underwrote the costs. Edsel and Rivera formed a curious patron-artist relationship, with the communist Mexican artist finding a genuine admiration for Edsel's commitment to esthetics and design in his automotive industry. Rivera not only immortalized Edsel as patron in the murals, but his canvas portrait of Edsel shows him, then president of Ford Motor Company, before a triptych of the long blackboards used in the automotive design process. Upon these blackboards appears a sketch of the current design project, reminiscent of a 1932 Ford Coupe, which seems to spring from Edsel's mind. According to Valentiner's biographer, Rivera came to feel that Edsel, as a car designer, was fully qualified to be considered an artist in his own right.
The Detroit Industry fresco cycle was conceived by Mexican muralist Diego Rivera (1886-1957) as a tribute to the city's manufacturing base and labor force of the 1930s. Rivera completed the twenty-seven panel work in eleven months, from April 1932 to March 1933. It is considered the finest example of Mexican mural art in the United States, and the artist thought it the best work of his career.
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Please watch: "Driving Woodward Ave - Detroit's Main Street - south to Downtown"
• Driving Woodward Ave -...
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[@TravelsWithLobo]

My favorite "Detroit" vlog ...hope you enjoy it.

[@barbaraschuster6909]

Awesome work of art! Great memory of Mexico. Let’s go back!!

[@samformosa5811]

Going back is very nice .. historical... educational ... ECT . The time is now for Detroit to keep improving to keep pushing forward and to keep riding this tremendous wave of positivity and momentum . God bless Detroit .. Thanks

[@samformosa5811]

Another great video

[@slclubec]

Thank you. Great work to accompany the poetry of Philip Levine, also a Detroit native. "They Feed They Lion" is one of his best known poems.

[@72643066]

Where did Rivera stay during this time? I haven’t found any information as to where that might have been.

[@eaglemarine9144]

Great video love it!

[@TravelsWithLobo]

Thanks for viewing and your comments. The video didn't get much of a response but it is one of my favorite videos and a great story to boot.

[@eaglemarine9144]

@@TravelsWithLobo is not about the views, is about what you have accomplish. Like the music too...

[@TravelsWithLobo]

@@eaglemarine9144 Thanks for the encouragement ...I must keep that in mind.

[@AgionOros]

Great paintings my friend nice info at 6:10 , like the photos from the trip to Mexico.

[@karlopleh2905]

whats with music from action movie?

[@blanca3358]

Maravilloso video, gracias por compartir, excelente trabajo realizado por el Muralista Mexicano Diego Rivera, considerado como uno de los mejores en su género al igual que lo fueron David Alfaro Siqueiros, José Clemente Orozco. Quienes fueron nombrados el grupo de los tres, por ser considerados los 3 mejores exponentes del muralismo en México.

[@TravelsWithLobo]

Gracias Bianca por tus amables palabras. Este video sobre Diego Rivera es mi favorito debido a lo que hizo no solo en México sino también aquí en Detroit. La primera vez que vi este mural me impresionó su belleza y magnificencia. Es probablemente la cosa más magnífica de Detroit. Usted ha aumentado mi conocimiento limitado sobre el arte mexicano al presentarme a - el grupo de los tres - nunca he oído hablar de los otros dos ... así que es hora de investigar un poco y tal vez encontrar nuevos la próxima vez que vaya a Méjico. Gracias

[@blanca3358]

@@TravelsWithLobo Muchas gracias a usted por tomar tiempo para leer mi comentario y por hacer mención de mi persona, como Mexicana me siento muy orgullosa de que se conozca y reconozca el talento de personas como Diego Rivera. Muchas gracias. (Podría también ser de su interés el trabajo de Rufino Tamayo)

[@maunster3414]

5:32 In this part of the mural is Henry Ford. Left side, middle, man in white hat, black suit and glasses is Henry Ford. This info was told to me when I visited the DIA.

[@TravelsWithLobo]

ah yes - interesting - so that is Henry Ford - makes sense...the only person not bent down and working - thanks for the info.

[@maunster3414]

In addition to the one in the panel that you mentioned, of course.

[@NickKoshy]

It's actually plant manager Mead Bricker. He's infamous for his treatment of the workers. He'd carry a gun to break up striking workers and would speed the lines without warning. Rivera made the manager teaching the workers in one of the scenes on the predella look like Henry Ford though he denies it (big controversy).

[@TravelsWithLobo]

@@NickKoshy Thanks for the new insights on this matter.

[@larryshears7064]

This was terrible