Biography and Creativity of Diego Rivera - Term Paper Example

Diego Rivera, Sueño de una tarde dominical en la Alameda Central (Dream of a Sunday Afternoon in Alameda Central Park) Mini-Research Paper 1 Diego Rivera, widely recognized as the most influential Mexican artist of the 20th century was born in 1886, December in Guanajuato, Mexico (Patrick 13). He has a twin who died two years after their birth and in 1891, as a sister to Rivera was born. Both of River’s were teaching in schools. At the tender age of two years, Rivera had started drawing; thus his father set him up a studio before he even knew how to read. At the age of ten, Rivera wanted to be a professional artist and by the time he was eleven years old he started attending drawing courses at National School of Art, in Mexico City. Rivera enrolled in the Military College at his father’s request but lasted only two weeks. Thereafter, he joined the college as a full-time student. Some of his teachers in the San Carlos were the famous nineteenth-century Mexican artists. However, the teacher who was the most influential in Rivera’s passion for the art of his country was Jose Posada. He had a small printing shop that was near the academy; hence Rivera would often stop to watch as Jose work on his drawings and prints. Rivera left San Carlo academy in 1902 after being there for six years (Patrick, 14). At the age of sixteen, Rivera ventured into the Mexican art where he painted streets, houses, Indians, churches, volcanoes, which were all part of the Mexico unique beauty. Although he was getting fame for his works of painting the Mexican landscape, Rivera felt unsatisfied as he knew that there was more to the art he had already mastered. He was now focusing on the broader range of artwork where he identified Europe as having great painters. He wanted to learn from Europe painter and the legend masters from who he would learn and master their arts. In 1907, when Rivera left Mexico and went to Spain in order to study with Chicharro, a Spanish painter he was twenty years of age (David 37). He was regarded as the younger generation leader of the Spanish painters. During the two years that Rivera mastered his art with Chicharro, he was able to produce quite a number of paintings, which he would send home to Mexico while some he sent to Governor Dehesa directly in order to justify the scholarship had been awarded. Regardless of how Rivera artistic skills had developed, he felt that in his artworks, there was something that was missing. Something he had experienced and seen, back in the shop of Posada and in the powerful artworks of Aztec, which seemed to be eluding him. He then left Spain for quite a long tour to France, Holland, Belgium and England in the hope of solving the problem he could not really define (Diego and March 114). He admired the great works of Hogarth, Breughel, and Goya during those times. His main focus at this point was to create works that would provoke the intense feelings to the view when they look at his work just like he was feeling to the works of these great artists. Rivera began deepening his understanding of the ancient masterpieces and folk art of his native land. Rivera devoted himself completely in the cubism art in 1913 to 1918, and found himself caught up by his search for new truths (Ruiz, 199). Rivera developed major themes in his paintings and murals that were appropriate to the scale of the art form he had chosen that included; social inequality, industry, technology, the relationship of nature and the Mexican history (Chadwick & Courtivron 120). One of Rivera’s artwork that depicted his devotion to finding new truths are in the painting; “Dream of a Sunday Afternoon in Alameda Central Park” of 1947. The painting is 15.6 by 4.17 meters in length and height respectively. Originally, the painting was in Hotel Del Prado’s vestibule, which is across the street from where the painting is now located. The painting was moved from the hotel after the 1985 earthquake that saw the hotel suffer irreparable damage (Patrick 17). Rivera takes the view on an imaginary park walk through his childhood memories, but at the same time, Rivera develops a summary of the Mexican History as it is represented the Mexico’s most emblematic protagonists. The painting depicts the Alameda Park history since Rivera remembers it in his childhood also he mentions many historic references to it. It takes the viewer in a Sunday walk via Alameda Park, which was the first city part of Mexico City that was built on an ancient Aztec marketplace ground. The painting presents three Mexican History principal eras, which are The Porfiriato Dictatorship, The Conquest, and the 1910 Revolution. In a chronological order, the mural allows the viewer to meet numerous prominent figures throughout the Mexican History (Diego and March 127). In the Mural, the viewer can see the self-portrait of Rivera as a child while he strolls through the park as he holds the hand of a Catrina depicting death. It also depicts how Rivera is dreaming of Perfect love in his life since Frida Kahlo stands behind him. She is in a Mexican dress, and she holds the Yin-Yang symbol in her left hand that depicts duality and was taken from Chinese philosophy. It also exhibits the duality from pre-Columbian mythology. The right hand of Kahlo is resting maternally on young Rivera’s shoulder, which depicts that Rivera is set out on his walk through his life and the world under Kahlo’s protection. The mother-child aspect that is presented in the mural of the couple’s relationship is also brought forward by Kahlo in one of her articles; “Portrait of Diego” that was published to honor the artist in 1949. In the mural, there is Jose Marti tipping his hat, who was the Father of Cuban Independence (Diego and March 129). Jose Marti stayed in Mexico for almost a year and was well known among the literate as a poet. Marti died in 1895 in combat in Cuba. Therefore, the more reason that Rivera had to put him in this painting since he also depicts the struggle for justice and independence in Mexico. Since he is a historical figure of his native nation, Rivera painted him in this painting. The “Catrina” which is depicting a dead figure in the form of a skeleton is developed on the mural to immortalize the painter Jose Posadas, who is standing to the right. Calavera Catrina is depicting the urban bourgeoisie at the turn of the 19th century. In the mural, one can take it as an allusion to the Earth Mother, Coatlicue, of Aztec (Mark 240). She was a frequently symbolized with a skull. She is wearing a Boa of feathers and on her neck there is a shape like a snake, pre-Hispanic symbol of the crested serpent, symbolic of her son Quetzalcoatl. Coatlicue has a belt-buckle that depicts the astrological sign of Ollin, which symbolize perpetual motion. Posadas stands on the right of Catrina and chivalrously offers her his arm. Rivera highly respected Posadas because he had claimed him as the one who luminaries his artistic skills and a teacher to him. It means that Posada’s narrative style was a great influential model to mural painting of Rivera. The person who stands behind Posadas is Magon Ricardo. He was a liberal writer who was strongly against the dictatorship of Porfirio Diaz. Magon was exiled out of the country by Diaz, but he continued to write against his Tyranny; however he was persecuted in the U.S, where in the States, he died in prison. The reason for Rivera to put Magon in the painting was a way to depict how patriotic he was in seeing a democratic country. Even though he had be forced out of Mexico for his writing for justice and equal rights, Magon continued to write about the dictatorship that was being carried out in his country (Diego and March 132). Therefore, Rivera sees him as a historical figure in his country’s history and is an influence in fighting for freedom and democracy. In the mural, one of the many figures that Rivera added was Ignacio Ramirez. In 1836, Ignacio had said that God does not exist during a certain Conference at his Academy. The phrase, “God does not exist,” was painted by Rivera in the mural, which was to enrage the Catholic populace. However, when the moral was at the hotel a priest went and scratched that phrase out but Rivera repainted it in. Later Rivera came and removed the phrase because of its controversy. In the mural, there are more than hundred historical figures and Rivera loved bright color in his artworks. Each of Rivera’s character is portrayed with gestures, attire and attitudes that assist in their identification. In addition, the mural is depicting the fruit pickers’ exploitation in Central America, however because of that Rockefeller had it destroyed and since he had paid for it, it is obvious that he could have done with it as he wished (Mark 241). However, Rivera recreated the mural in Mexico City. Mini-Research Paper 2 In this part of the research paper, the image is placed in the location in which it appears the life experiences of the artist during that time, and that time affected its production. The discussion will be based on social-political events and the religious atmosphere around the time in which the mural was created. With the use of Diego Rivera mural, Sueño de una tarde dominical en la Alameda Central (“Dream of a Sunday Afternoon in Alameda Central Park”), the Mexican historical content will be depicted. How the mural’s context has impacted the message construction and transmission to the Mexican people will be examined. The mural is a condensed representation of the Mexican history with its central point background being that of the Alameda Park (Ruiz 203). It is a favorite agenda for the Sunday walk of the city dwellers that seek to rest and recreate in the Park. It depicts various prominent Historical Mexican figures in a continuous row. Therefore, the Mexican Mural movement was characterized by its indigenous character, socialistic ideologies and post-revolutionary. It was characterized with the creation of pictorial artworks of monumental proportions that was done in Fresco style, which is usually done over the public building walls given by the government to the painters (Carlos 285). During the time the mural was developed, it was depicting the Mexican reality of the time for social struggles and several aspects of the Mexican history. Since the painting is made up of three suctions, which from the left it is showing the scenes of conquest, colonialism and the significant events of the nineteenth century. These include; the Independence, the eleven presidential periods of the European interventionism and General Santa Anna and the North American invasion (Kathleen, 87). The figure in the mural represents the Mexican culture with the fights that were being carried out against exploitation of the poor, the class unfairness with respect to having arms in the revolution. In the mural, Rivera honors and glorifies the Mexican traditions and customs (Ruiz, 198). It depicts the indigenous and working class world, which is intended to depict and leave the mark of a utopia in the History of Mexico. The social and political issue that the Mexicans were experiencing while the mural was created was that Mexico had just come out of a dictatorship regime of Porfirio Diaz. The Mexican people revolted and expelled him under the leadership of Madero Francisco. However, for another ten year, the civil war continued. It was important for a revolution since the workers were being exploited in their workplace by the big fish and peasants were being fed with the favoritism that was being depicted to the upper-class citizens. Some figures like Emilio Zapata, who is also in the Rivera’s mural, was a militant radical and used violence as a means of reaching his goals (Diego and March 132). Emilio fought for basic land reforms whereby he wanted the land not to be under political power. The Mexican revolution was also fighting for their way of expressing them using artwork, thus the formation of mural renaissance. The Mexican muralists, with Rivera, include transformed the Mexican art by making it more reachable and accessible to the public. The primary concern of the Mexican muralists was how the public could access visual dialog with the people of Mexico. Through the Mexican national revolution, muralist played a primary role in the society and the social problems. The revolution is discerned as the first major social, political and Cultural Revolution of the twentieth century. During the painting of the mural, the Mexican people were recovering from the human dislocation that had occurred because of the civil war. The Revolution had been facilitated by the basic belief by the Mexican that the few wealthy landowners were not able to continue with the old ways of the colonial ruler, the Spanish (Kathleen 87). The system was a feudal-like system and needed to be replaced since the country was now adopting the modern ways of governance whereby those that were working in the land were to extract its wealth via their labor. Francisco Villa and Emiliano Zapata were the two great figures that led the revolution. Until today, the two great figures remain the key historical and cultural symbols in the Mexican fight for social reform. The land reform supporters led by Zapata’s ideals were summarized in their mottos “Land and Freedom” (“Tierra y Libertad”) and “the land is for the ones who work on it” (“La tierra es para el que la trabaja”). The slogans even today have not ceased to rapport in the Mexican society. The part in the mural that depicts fruit pickers’ exploitation in Central America is used to show that people were being oppressed during the revolution. Rivera wanted to fight for the right of the common people whereby he wanted the fruit pickers to be given what theirs was. They were to be offered equal wage and have fruits of their labor. The mural depicted that there was a time when people were being exploited by the rich as he would see when he walked in the Alameda Park. Therefore, it is true for one to argue that Rivera had represented the figures in their historical context. Most of the figures were fighting for democracy for the Mexicans. The Mexican Revolution started in 1910, when intellectuals and liberals started challenging the regime of Diaz, who for thirty years he ruled Mexico. He had violated the principles and ideals of the constitution that had been established in 1857. During this period, there were major assassinations and overthrowing of governments while the Americans supported the revolutionaries. However, in 1917, after the war had ended, the Mexican intellectual leaders developed a far-reaching constitution (Ruiz 209). For an instant, it gave direction on that expectant mother were to be given six weeks paid maternity leave before and after they had delivered. The constitution included that there should be equal pay work for both male and female and insisted that the company profit should be shared equally among the workers and the stakeholders. Before, peasants were not allowed to have land; therefore, calling on the agrarian land reforms. It was the start of true equality and prosperity for all Mexicans. The political state of Mexico in 1940s was a tense one whereby during elections, parties were afraid that the other would provoke armed rebellion. For an instant, in 1940, many of the Mexicans were afraid that Cardenas would support General Francisco Mugica (Mark 237). However, after realizing that Mugica may provoke an armed rebellion among the followers of Almazan, he chose Manuel Avila as his successor. Avila won in an election that was disputed causing Almazan to run to Cuba when he made accusations of fraud. These political struggles among the leaders caused Rivera to put the most important people in the Mexican history to show the people that they need to emulate their good deeds and courage. With the accession of Avila, he consolidated the phase of the revolution was over; therefore, Rivera the created the mural depicting Kahlo holding the young Rivera’s hand as a sign of love. In terms of religion as depicted in the mural, with the phrase that Rivera had put on it that says that God does not exist meant that there was religious fanaticism. During the formation of the constitution after revolution had ended, the Constitutionalists believed that the Catholic Church was not to be trusted as they were responsible for what may be seen as Mexico’s backwardness (Diego and March 132). Therefore, they advocated for the Catholic Church special privileges to be eliminated. During that time, there were several incidents between the Catholic Church and the Constitutionalists. Thereafter, the church property was seized by Constitutionalists and mistreated the members. Sometimes the church was forced to donate pesos to relieve the conditions of the poor. Regardless the fact that the constitution generally allowed civil liberties, during the time there was a notable exception regarding the Catholics privileges. These privileges were regarded as important in preventing the formation of a grand democratic majority. The government had forbidden the Catholic from holding public manifestations such as dissolved monastic orders and vows, processions of Catholic religious feast days and banned Catholic education (Mark 237). They had prohibited the religion communities of priests, nuns, and brotherhood. The phrase also depicted the hostile approach towards the church that Rivera had written on his mural. It meant that the people had no faith in religion and neither was the government. Mini-Research Paper 3 In this part of the research paper, the mural discussed in part one, Diego Rivera, Sueño de una tarde dominical en la Alameda Central, will be interpreted using the Marxism theory. The Marxism theory explains about how the society we live in works, telling us how and why history has developed over time (Mark, 231). It helps in describing what goes on in the world and in the understanding of the problems and the direction our society is taking today. The theory and the mural in part one have mutual interest as they both describe the history that has developed. Therefore, using the Marxism theory it will be easier to see how the Mexican society worked during its creation and how and why the history of Mexico has unfolded. The theory talks about the account of the capitalism within societies and how well to get rid of it, just like there was capitalism in Mexico during the painting of the mural. Scholars define the revolution as unfulfilled or an aborted proletarian revolution and the middle-class victory and development of capitalism in Mexico. However, explaining from the Marxism perspective, one can look at the revolution as covering many revolutions that happened at the same time in different parts of the country. It is clear by how Rivera puts different figures from various regions of Mexico to depict the diversity. The mural has focused on different aspects, which include individuals, class, gender, race and geographic areas (Carlos 113). The Marxism theory focuses on the economics and class struggle in the Mexican Revolution and after the revolution, which is the same as Rivera’s mural. However, Rivera’s mural in not particularly focused only on economics and struggle for class, but also the Mexican history. The theory brings to light solutions to most of the historiographic problems that the Mexican experienced. It has facilitated the development of class relations, radical movement, socio-political and economic changes that took place and shaped the Mexican history. Nevertheless, it means that it is through Marxism theory can one interpret and narrate the Mexican History. In regard to the Mexican economic structure during the time of painting the mural, it had come from corrupting because of the war. According to Marxism theory, the type of the productive system within a society is the most significant determinant of the various aspects of the society (Mark 231). The aspects include social institutions such as morality and educational, and system of law. These institutions were being developed during the painting of the mural, with the government supporting the Mexican artist by affording places that they could paint their works. Marx argued that dominant ideas cause material or economic conditions; thus his strong oppositions to reformers who believed that simple change in ideas would change the society (Ruiz 197). The types of societies brought up by Marx are primitive, feudal, and capitalist and slave societies. In the mural, Rivera can be seen to depict his country was based on capitalists. This whereby the capitalists in his country owned and controlled the productive resources. The workers were only entitled to their labor, were working for the capitalists, because they owned the item, and later sold it at a profit, thus oppressing the workers (Carlos 246). It is depicted in the painting where Rivera introduces fruit pickers being exploited in North America. In the painting, Rivera depicted that even with the differences between some of the figures he has put in the mural, it was necessary to build up a national identity. Rivera has put the elite who fought for Mexico and the rulers who were dictators to show that the generation of this time can build a better tomorrow for the Mexican people (David 235). However, he could also be showing that the many different figures in the mural depicted that the revolution was unfocused and scattered. There was no formula in the rebelling against the dictatorships of Diaz. Through Diego Rivera murals such as the one discussed in part one, it inspired people to not lose hope and influence uniting among the people. It is because the mural was uniting the complex histories of the people of Mexico. Therefore, just like the Marxism theory, the mural served a social purpose, unrestricted dialog and to establish a public to the Mexican people. The reason for Rivera to show himself as a young boy is because he had grown in the dictatorship of Diaz and was depicting the injustices that were being done such as the exploitation of farmers. Rivera had grown with a highly economically and socially stratified society (Pete 33). Therefore, he needed to develop such a mural to show the development of information that fought against the inequalities in Mexico. Through his murals, Rivera was encouraging bourgeoisie that seeks to tie the exploiters to the exploited, intoxicate the viewers with believe that there is going to be a progressive and patriotic (Carlos 113). In the masses such as business people, politicians, and armed forces can unite with the ordinary people and slave in the country. Rivera was encouraging class collaboration with the hope that it was possible to solve social differences. However, through his mural, Rivera depicts that it may be impossible to bring together the working class and the oppressed while they struggle in reforming capitalism. However, he also brings hope with the way he brings out Kahlo holding the young him depicting that there is still hope. The young Rivera who is age ten years lived in an era when the oppressed could not collaborate with the exploiters. Therefore, the younger Rivera is representing the oppressed while Kahlo is representing the present time; that is when the mural was painted. They had a powerful bond because of their reverence for one another’s art; thus the hope of uniting the exploited with their exploiters. In addition, the fact that Rivera introduced Kahlo in the mural is a way to present feminism power in Mexico. With how we have come to know that Kahlo can defend the artwork of Rivera passionately against all detractors is how the women can defend these oppressions. In addition, it can mean that Rivera introduction of his wife Kahlo in the mural was to represent her as a political figure. For an instant, in Rivera’s 1928 Insurrection, he painted her as an eager political activist; dressed in a red-work shirt emblazoned with a redder star (Chadwick and Courtivron 128). Therefore, in the mural one can argue that Kahlo is acting as a fighter for the women rights on the basis of social, political and economic equality to the male gender. The introduction of Coatlicue, Mother of Earth, in the mural depicts the power of the women in the society. It shows that there is a need to establish equal opportunities in Mexico for women in various institutions. In conclusion, it is clear that Diego Rivera was a very influential man both in art and politics who transformed the art world. Most of the themes in Rivera’s painting of his murals were influenced by the Mexican culture and history. He is an example of a socially committed artist who used his paintings to transform the Mexican society by giving them hope, encouraging togetherness and preaching against oppression (Patrick 134). Through his murals, more specifically the one discussed in part one of this research paper, he represented the Mexican Revolution and the great figures of the Mexican history. His painting of the mural expresses his outspoken dedication to left-wing political causes, which depicts such objects as the American workers, Mexican peasantry and revolutionary figure such as Lenin and Emiliano Zapata. At the time, his uncompromising, outspoken leftist politics jarred with the wishes of the working class (the wealthy patrons) and awoke significant arguments that emanated both in the inside and outside art world. The major influence of Rivera into painting captivating and emotional painting was his teacher Jose Posada. It is because of his frequent visit at Jose’s shop when he was still in the academy. He thought that Jose’s artwork especially his drawings were full of life and energy in a manner that they may jump off the drawing page any moment. Works Cited Chadwick, W. & Courtivron, I. Significant Others. Creativity & Intimate Partnership. London: Thames & Hudson, 1993, pp. 119-134. Hamill, Pete. Diego Rivera. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1999. Halliwell, Sarah (ed.). Who and When, The 20th Century: Pre-1945, Artists, Writers, and Composers. Austin, Texas: Raintree Steck –Vaughn Publishers, 1998. pp. 32-39 Krull, Kathleen. Lives of the Artists: Masterpieces, Messages (and What the Neighbors Thought). San Diego: Harcourt Brace and Company, 1995, pp. 84-89. Luis F. Ruiz. Where Have All the Marxists Gone? Marxism and the Historiography of the Mexican Revolution, Journal on Social History and Literature in Latin America: Vol. 5, No. 2, Winter 2008, 196-219 Marnham, Patrick. Dreaming with His Eyes Open: A Life of Diego Rivera. New York: Knopf, 1998. Print Pellicer, Carlos. Mural Painting and the Mexican Revolution. Mexico City: Impresora Formal, 1995. Print Rivera, Diego, and Gladys March. My Art, My Life; an Autobiography. New York: Citadel Press, 1960. Reprint, New York: Dover Publications, 1991. Print Wasserman, Mark. “The Mexican Revolution: Region and Theory, Signifying Nothing?” Latin American Research Review, 25, 1 (1990): 231-242. Wolfe, Bertram David. The Fabulous Life of Diego Rivera. New York: Stein and Day, 1963. Reprint, New York: Cooper Square Press, 2000. Print Read More