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Lot Essay
Diego Rivera is the Mexican artist who best achieved international acclaim during the first half of the twentieth century. A recognized académicienne during his earliest days, he soon garnered recognition abroad. Following his European sojourn, Rivera had his first solo exhibition in Mexico during the celebrations for the Centenary of Mexican Independence. Yet, despite his early success, he never imagined what lay ahead, and that someday his work would become the quintessence of what was understood as “Mexican” modern art.
He returned to Paris in 1911 and soon afterwards became a leading exponent of the vanguard. By 1918, he had become a distinguished member of the Parisian School, although he yearned to find a style of his own. That opportunity would only arise in Mexico, when the new Minister of Education, José Vasconcelos, invited him to join the cultural and education project he had conceived for the newly installed post-revolutionary government of President Álvaro Obregón. Thus, Rivera’s participation as a painter of murals adorning the walls of Mexico’s public buildings began in the early 1920s. This moment coincided with Rivera’s own search for an artistic ideology that would provide a compelling social and cultural transformation for a nation, newly emerged from a cruel armed conflict, yet still mired in an abysmal state of social injustices and a lack of opportunities for its people. Not only did the restless young artist join Vasconcelos’ enterprise, but he bolstered the burgeoning mural movement and helped propel mural painting internationally, endowing it with legitimacy through a revolutionary discourse and as a new strategy for activism in modern art. Consequently, Rivera became Mexico’s most distinguished artistic figure, and his work became intrinsically linked to what would become known as the Mexican Renaissance.
It should be noted that Rivera was barely acquainted with Mexico geographically before leaving for Europe and even less informed about the social conditions under which most Mexicans lived prior to his return in 1921. José Vasconcelos played a decisive role in helping the painter understand the challenges of establishing national unity and of forging a national identity in post-revolutionary Mexico. To that end, he sent the artist on artistic missions to learn about other regions in Mexico, about its cultural diversity and the changing national dynamics. In November 1921, Rivera embarked on his first trip to southeast Mexico, where he encountered a reality his eyes had never witnessed—Mexico’s culture and historical richness revealed through its landscapes, the vestiges of its ancient civilizations, and the traditions of the people from the Yucatan peninsula and the Isthmus region of Oaxaca.
Tehuantepec captured Rivera’s imagination, and it was to that lost Mexican paradise, he returned to on multiple occasions. His keen observations of its great primeval beauty led him to sketch innumerable drawings au natural many done in small notebooks (see sketch for Dos Tehuanas) that allow us to analyze his great fascination for the Isthmus, the exuberance of its subtropical landscape and the customs of its people, particularly the women from Juchitan as well as Tehuantepec. The so-called “Tehuanas” had captured the attention of artists and travelers since the 19th century, perhaps a reflection of an Orientalist view now transferred onto the people of Mexico. However, they became a symbol of national identity in the twentieth century that caught the attention of various painters, even before the cultural renewal project of the post-revolution (see L.-M. Lozano, “La mujer Istmeña: fenómeno de identidad cultural” in Del Istmo y sus mujeres, México, Museo Nacional de Arte-INBA, 1992). Nevertheless, for Rivera, the women of Tehuantepec were not merely exotic symbols meant to satisfy the Western gaze. But rather, the Tehuanas represented a social order and the cultural survival of an indigenous community who had resisted a colonial system during Mexico’s conquest, and even up to the earliest days of the twentieth century, held steadfast to their customs, language, dignity and way of dress. This painting from 1934 reaffirms Rivera’s aesthetic convictions, initially embraced during the 1920s and his ongoing commitment to Mexico’s cultural project stemming from the Revolution of 1910. Many years later, in one of his biographies, Rivera recalled: “Those Tehuanas were truly classic. Elegant and proud they carried xicalpextle (gourds) and baskets filled with fruits. Their walk and gestures were rhythmic and nimble; their graceful limbs were like polished bronze…it was a marvelous world, almost entirely unknown.”
Professor Luis-Martín Lozano
He returned to Paris in 1911 and soon afterwards became a leading exponent of the vanguard. By 1918, he had become a distinguished member of the Parisian School, although he yearned to find a style of his own. That opportunity would only arise in Mexico, when the new Minister of Education, José Vasconcelos, invited him to join the cultural and education project he had conceived for the newly installed post-revolutionary government of President Álvaro Obregón. Thus, Rivera’s participation as a painter of murals adorning the walls of Mexico’s public buildings began in the early 1920s. This moment coincided with Rivera’s own search for an artistic ideology that would provide a compelling social and cultural transformation for a nation, newly emerged from a cruel armed conflict, yet still mired in an abysmal state of social injustices and a lack of opportunities for its people. Not only did the restless young artist join Vasconcelos’ enterprise, but he bolstered the burgeoning mural movement and helped propel mural painting internationally, endowing it with legitimacy through a revolutionary discourse and as a new strategy for activism in modern art. Consequently, Rivera became Mexico’s most distinguished artistic figure, and his work became intrinsically linked to what would become known as the Mexican Renaissance.
It should be noted that Rivera was barely acquainted with Mexico geographically before leaving for Europe and even less informed about the social conditions under which most Mexicans lived prior to his return in 1921. José Vasconcelos played a decisive role in helping the painter understand the challenges of establishing national unity and of forging a national identity in post-revolutionary Mexico. To that end, he sent the artist on artistic missions to learn about other regions in Mexico, about its cultural diversity and the changing national dynamics. In November 1921, Rivera embarked on his first trip to southeast Mexico, where he encountered a reality his eyes had never witnessed—Mexico’s culture and historical richness revealed through its landscapes, the vestiges of its ancient civilizations, and the traditions of the people from the Yucatan peninsula and the Isthmus region of Oaxaca.
Tehuantepec captured Rivera’s imagination, and it was to that lost Mexican paradise, he returned to on multiple occasions. His keen observations of its great primeval beauty led him to sketch innumerable drawings au natural many done in small notebooks (see sketch for Dos Tehuanas) that allow us to analyze his great fascination for the Isthmus, the exuberance of its subtropical landscape and the customs of its people, particularly the women from Juchitan as well as Tehuantepec. The so-called “Tehuanas” had captured the attention of artists and travelers since the 19th century, perhaps a reflection of an Orientalist view now transferred onto the people of Mexico. However, they became a symbol of national identity in the twentieth century that caught the attention of various painters, even before the cultural renewal project of the post-revolution (see L.-M. Lozano, “La mujer Istmeña: fenómeno de identidad cultural” in Del Istmo y sus mujeres, México, Museo Nacional de Arte-INBA, 1992). Nevertheless, for Rivera, the women of Tehuantepec were not merely exotic symbols meant to satisfy the Western gaze. But rather, the Tehuanas represented a social order and the cultural survival of an indigenous community who had resisted a colonial system during Mexico’s conquest, and even up to the earliest days of the twentieth century, held steadfast to their customs, language, dignity and way of dress. This painting from 1934 reaffirms Rivera’s aesthetic convictions, initially embraced during the 1920s and his ongoing commitment to Mexico’s cultural project stemming from the Revolution of 1910. Many years later, in one of his biographies, Rivera recalled: “Those Tehuanas were truly classic. Elegant and proud they carried xicalpextle (gourds) and baskets filled with fruits. Their walk and gestures were rhythmic and nimble; their graceful limbs were like polished bronze…it was a marvelous world, almost entirely unknown.”
Professor Luis-Martín Lozano