"I Paint What I See"

A pivotal scene in front of one of Diego Rivera’s Detroit Industry frescos at the Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA) in HBO’s Hung got me to snooping through old newspaper files. One 1933 article claims that Diego Rivera, a large man, lost a hundred pounds during his Detroit year (mostly 1932), after studying Ford’s River Rouge plant, roaming around with Frida Kahlo and creating masterpieces.

My favorite pertinent news piece so far is “DETROIT IN FUROR OVER RIVERA ART: Murals Symbolizing the City’s Industrial History Threatened With Destruction” (New York Times, March 22, 1933):

“I am in a curious position,” explained Rivera. “The official Communist party of this country has expelled me from membership; and now the conservative element attacks me. However, my public is made up of the workers – the manual and intellectual workers. The religious are attacking me because I am religious: I paint what I see. Some society ladies have told me that they found the murals cold and hard. I answer that their subject is steel, and steel is both cold and hard. . .” The paintings are finished, he concluded, and he does not intend to alter them.

He did not alter anything. The DIA showcased them. Rivera and Kahlo have long since died, but the murals remain in Detroit for all to experience.


Frida Kahlo staring weirdly at Rivera while he apparently dozes off, Belle Island, Detroit, 1932. . . 

Today's Rune: Wholeness.