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| Detail of one of the murals... Amazing. |
Salon had an article on what the Detroit Art Museum could sell, if it had to, to raise money and what it must keep, a subjective list of course. But one thing it talked about were the Diego Rivera murals. They are fresco painted into the walls and I had never seen pictures of them before. They are gorgeous.
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Salon also had this tidbit, which I found fascinating....
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The mural caused a big brouhaha when it was launched. Local leaders called it un-Christian. Come the 1950s and McCarthyism, Rivera’s Marxism nearly led to the murals’ destruction. The only thing that saved them was a sign by their entrance:
“Rivera’s politics and his publicity seeking are detestable. But let’s get the record straight on what he did here. He came from Mexico to Detroit, thought our mass production industries and our technology wonderful and very exciting, painted them as one of the great achievements of the twentieth century. This came after the debunking twenties when our artists and writers found nothing worthwhile in America and worst of all in America was the Middle West. Rivera saw and painted the significance of Detroit as a world city. If we are proud of this city’s achievements, we should be proud of these paintings and not lose our heads over what Rivera is doing in Mexico today.”
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| The Murals in context. It actually makes we want to go to Detroit someday... |