As I recall, here at the Great Orange Satan we value diaries that emerge from our own personal experience. "Write what you know" stuff. Even better, "write what you've learned." No, I was completely unaware that Diego Rivera had even BEEN in Detroit, let alone that he painted a mural in the focal point of one of Detroit's major cultural institutions and that he thought that this was absolutely his best work in the United States. Even after I was told about it, I wasn't really prepared for it.
This is what I saw
and this is what I'm going to explain in this diary, only using images from other sources (which are a LOT better than what I took with my phone), below the Great Orange collection plate.
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As you remember, I was in Detroit for four days last week. I was attending the annual conference of the Center for the Study of Citizenship at Wayne State University. It's an unusual conference for several reasons. First, it's tremendously interdisciplinary: the director of the Center is a historian (and one of my roommates for most of my undergraduate years) but the participants come from all of the social sciences and some of the humanities: literature, philosophy, theater, art. Second, the attendees, with the exception of some of the Wayne State participants, are all the people who are presenting, which means a lot of interdisciplinary conversations.
Every year, the conference also acquaints us with an aspect of Detroit we might not have known about or seen. This year, dinner Friday night was at the Detroit Institute of Art, one of the great museums of this country. I would have given you a lot of images of the collection only the battery on my phone ran low. HOWEVER, the focal point of the Museum is a courtyard in the center of the second floor. I'll let the DIA website explain:
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.
The patron? Edsel Ford, who funded the project after it was commissioned by William Valentiner, the Director of the Detroit Institute of Arts. The
DIA page about Rivera Court has terrific images, but they're flash based which means un-embeddable.
Why was Rivera in Detroit at all? The commission, of course, but Ford had built a state-of-the art factory in Dearborn, on the River Rouge. The plant had already been photographed by Charles Sheeler for an advertising campaign designed by N. W. Ayer and Son
and it gave Rivera a lot to work with. Originally, he was just going to paint the North and South walls, but he decided to do all four walls of the courtyard, and he finished in eight months.
So to the murals:
This is the East Wall of the courtyard, where the mural cycle begins (it 's present on all four walls of the courtyard). From the DIA website:
The mural cycle begins on the east wall, where Rivera uses the image of a baby growing in the bulb of a plant to remind us that all human endeavor is rooted in the earth. The women on each side are fertility figures holding fruits, vegetables, and grains grown in Michigan.
Here's the baby:
This is the North Wall:
This part depicts the construction of the 1932 Ford V-8. Lots of action here. The top two panels demonstrate two of the four "races" Rivera saw at the plant. The "red" race symbolizes both the indigenous people of North America and the red iron ore whose processing is the first step in automobile construction, and the "black" race symbolizes the use of coal in the forging of steel.
The two panels on either side display disturbing images. On the left, we have figures involved in the development of poisonous gas
below which we see cells suffocated by poisonous gas, disturbing in and of itself, and on the right, we have vaccination and a healthy embryo. You can probably guess what the problem was here.
Edsel Ford and the citizens of Detroit were able to quiet the critics.
Rivera's self portrait is in this panel too. He's the guy in the bowler hat.
Now, the West Wall. A sort of Last Judgment.
The Woodward Avenue entrance to the museum is beyond the wall.
Finally, the South Wall. This shows the production of the exterior of the car and its final assembly.
Above this, we have white" race, associated with lime, and the "yellow" race, associated with sand.
As lagniappe, Rivera also painted a portrait of Edsel Ford. Edsel and his father Henry are in the frescoes somewhere but I couldn't find them, and it's getting close to 6 PM anyway.
Absolutely something to see during NN 14! I'll be happy to go with anyone who has a car.
And now for the stuff that makes this Top Comments:
TOP COMMENTS, March 26, 2014: Thanks to tonight's Top Comments contributors! Let us hear from YOU when you find that proficient comment.
From Youffraita:
Polly Syllabic has a great one in Milly Watt's Daily Bucket: Seeking Snow diary. I howled.
From your diarist,
Dave in Northridge:
Vita Brevis*provides an excellent piece of doggerel in *ericlewis0's diary about the IRS Chief lambasting Darrell Issa's Oversight Committee.
TOP MOJO, March 25, 2014 (excluding Tip Jars and first comments):
1) What did Clarence Thomas ask? by Istillhope — 124
2) There are no words by lmcclatchie — 117
3) It's all a big misunderstanding by DisNoir36 — 103
4) Letting the police investigate themselves by Horace Boothroyd III — 99
5) A local paper has this editorial by Spud1 — 85
6) Keep on truckin' Markos. by HoundDog — 85
7) Recced for "Peppridge Farm Remembers" by Matt Z — 82
8) I haven't been by SilverWillow — 82
9) Like one cop said last week in another case by DrTerwilliker — 77
10) Look at what the inner cities used to be by bobinson — 75
11) Not to excuse them, at all. by Horace Boothroyd III — 75
12) Bottom line: the police murdered him. by varii — 74
13) Good reporting, good diary. by varii — 72
14) Even funnier would be by Armando — 70
15) This decision would go beyond by Cali Scribe — 68
16) For some time now Rumsfeld has by Remediator — 67
17) I have a message from Horsefeathers....and a by The Marti — 64
18) Apologies for the potty mouth, btw by MinistryOfTruth — 63
19) The whole "culture of poverty" by Denise Oliver Velez — 62
20) Well, said. by HoundDog — 62
21) The whole idea that corporations by TomP — 60
22) I really hate that construct: "Makers and Takers". by CwV — 58
23) It needs "and to withhold CANDY money" by ericlewis0 — 56
24) Thanks for the summary by CenPhx — 54
25) An enduring shame on this country by Mindful Nature — 53
26) Our Bigger, Better Tent = Team (Rox + Sux) - Pox by Brecht — 53
27) This "Para Military" style of outfitting the ... by LamontCranston — 51
28) I think this cuts to the chase: by funningforrest — 50
29) Limbaugh is starting to circle the bowl. by elwior — 50
30) One of officers involved had been fired already by dawgflyer13 — 49
31) It is ironic that the proponents of efficiency and by hannah — 49
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