Diego Rivera (1886-1957)

Interior de Cuernavaca

Details

Diego Rivera (1886-1957)
Interior de Cuernavaca
signed, dated and inscribed, 'para Carmita Ignarra de Reachi Diego Rivera 1954' lower right
oil on canvas
67½ x 79in. (177.5 x 200cm.)
Painted in 1954

Provenance

Santiago Reachi, Cuernavaca
George Gastine and Mr. Eddie LeBaron
Dalzell Hatfield Galleries, Los Angeles
Mr. and Mrs. Roy G. Woods, Oklahoma City
Estate of Alta Woods Voss, Oklahoma City
Anon. sale, Sotheby's New York, Important Latin American
Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture, Nov. 23, 1986, lot 6 (illustrated in color)
Anon. sale, Christie's New York, Important Latin American Paintings, Nov. 21, 1995, lot 69 (illustrated in color)
Anon. sale, Christie's New York, Important Latin American Paintings, June 2, 2000, lot 50 (illustrated in color)

Literature

Consejo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes, Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes, Diego Rivera: Catálogo General de Obra de Caballete, México, 1989, p. 268, n. 2066 (illustrated)

Lot Essay

Interior de Cuernavaca was painted in 1954, the year of Frida Kahlo's death. This painting is a portrait of Carmita Ignarra, a renowned radio star of the 1940's who moved to Mexico in the 1950's to make several films. Rivera portrays Ignarra and her dog in the lush tropical vegetation of Cuernavaca. Their image is reflected behind them, a technique Rivera uses in other portraits, for example Retrato de Lupe Martin. Another technique used by Rivera in his portraits is an inexactness of figural proportions, here the right arm is slightly longer than the left. This adapted form of mannerism is inspired by the paintings of the French portraitist Ingres.

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