Querido Diego: Te Abrazo Quierla:

The life and works of Diego Rivera

Diego Rivera is the Mexican artist best known for his expansive and politically-charged murals and for his relationship with artist Frida Kahlo, whose work I reviewed in recent columns.

One of his initial purposes in painting murals was to make Mexican history and pre-Hispanic culture accessible to the illiterate. He sought to raise public awareness through art about the history of Mexico and to stir up political fervour in response.

Rivera touted his socialist politics and promoted his vision of Mexico as a land emerging from its pre-Columbian and Spanish roots through his art. The murals around the courtyard of the Palacio Nacional depict Rivera's version of Mexican history from the arrival of the Quetzalcóatl (the Aztec plumed serpent god) up until the 1910 revolution.

Creation 1923

The Great City of Tenochtitlan 1945

The legend of Quetzalcoatl, (plumed serpent god), is highly significant, since it may hold the key to the success of the Spanish conquest of Latin America.

The indigenous people of Mexico and North Central America (Olmecs, Mixtecs, Toltecs, Aztecs, Mayas) traditionally worshipped a feathered snake god with blue eyes, a blonde beard and a long flowing robe. Connected to the planet Venus and its transit, Quetzalcoatl was supposed to return again, having once been vanquished by his enemies to a foreign land.

It is possible that Hernan Cortes, the Spanish conquistador was mistaken for Quetzalcoatl. As a European, he was fairer than the indigenous people, who were short and dark. Apparently Cortes' ship had a serpent's head at the helm and the conbination of these two 'signs' made the people reluctant to resist the invasion.

Quetzalcoatl was expected to return in the same year and same fashion as Cortés, who arrived from over the ocean to the east, where Quetzalcóatl once retreated in exile. The Spaniard's swift and decisive conquest secured his status as a god and as he vowed to replace the indigenous peoples' great monuments with Christian temples, he commanded the people to turn to Christianity.

Rivera had studied painting in Mexico before going to overseas in 1907. His work was initially inspired by Pablo Picasso, George Braque and later by Paul Cezanne, when he shifted to Post Impressionism with simple forms and large patches of vivid colour.

While in Europe he took up cubism and had exhibitions in Paris and Madrid in 1913. He subsequently had had a show in New York City in 1916 but returned to Mexico, where he undertook government-sponsored murals that reflected his communist politics in historical contexts. The next section will examine some of Rivera's best known paintings and murals.

Creation

José Vasconcelos was a philosopher in charge of the Ministry of Education. He had very innovative ideas on how to change the educational system in Mexico. One of these ideas was the creation of murals on public buildings so that art could be shared with the masses.

The themes of the murals would try to portray Mexican identity. Vasconcelos sent a couple of important artists, Diego Rivera among them, to travel around the country to collect sketches of the daily life of peasants and indigenous people.

For "Creation," The Minister of Education wanted a composition that would symbolize the potential fusion of native indigenous tradition with the moral imperatives of the Judeo-Christian religion and the intellectual standards of Hellenic civilization. To fulfill this idea, Diego tried to combine indigenous figures with his Italian studies.

Diego did not like "Creation" because, in his view, it did not portray the Mexican character very well as it was based too much on classic European style.

The symbolism of the mural represents the emergence of man (at the center) who has his arms open to represent sacrifice and offering; the standing figures represent the theological virtues: Charity, Hope and Faith. The rest of the figures are knowledge, erotic poetry, tradition, tragedy, justice and strength. The mestizo couple represent the fusion of racial strains.

The Great City of Tenochtitlán

This fresco symbolizes the indigenous origins and the revolutionary tradition of Mexico. One of the panels shows the Pre-colonial life of the Aztecs with images of their main social activities, such as dance, agriculture and religious ceremonies.

On another wall Diego represented "Mexico today and tomorrow" where he used images of peasants, workers and Marxist unions to show foreign Capitalism as the root of social evil. In the nine frescoes he narrates the cultural and agricultural Mexican achievements that have benefited the world.

Totonac Civilization 1950

The images alone portray his revolutionary thoughts, which at the time were very influenced by his trips to the United States (i.e. Capitalism as an evil force). These images unify Diego Rivera's different styles in what would become his personal style of painting.

The Aztecs built their capital city, called Tenochtitlan, in the center of enormous Lake Texcoco. The city of continued to grow, having an estimated population of 200,000. The city grew to a point where there was no more room for expansion on the island and they were forced to move out into the lake areas.

The agricultural portion of this expansion was successful because of the invention of the chinampas or floating gardens. The floating gardens were constructed by bunching twigs together then stacking mud on top of the twigs.

The Aztecs connected the island to the mainland by three causeways that ran next to dikes that were built to keep the fresh water of Lake Texcoco separate from other salty lakes of the area. The dikes also protected the agricultural chinampas.

Canals ran between the chinampas and they were used to convey traffic through the city, including to and from the market of Tlatelolco. The city flourished until the year 1519 when Hernandez Cortes and his Spanish army arrived.

According to some historical accounts, they had to overcome an army to invade and capture the city. Cortes destroyed most of the buildings that they had built and constructed a new Spanish city on top of the ruins, even using many of the original Aztec building materials in the new construction.

He built his home on top of Montezuma's palace and his cathedral on top of the Aztec temple. After a battle in 1692 the Spanish destroyed most of the art of the Aztecs in the name of Christianity.

The Totonac Civilization

The Totanac culture was a rival city state to the Aztecs. They ruled most of what is now Veracruz on the East coast of Mexico before the Aztecs conquered them about 25 years before Cortes landed there in 1516. The capital city of the Totanac culture was at Zempoala and at the time of the Spanish conquest, they numbered around 100,000. They were made up of three groups of people:

The Olmecs. This people were renowned for their sculpting skills and distinctive motifs. Pyramidal mounds have been found in many of the Olmec settlements. It is believed that the Olmec economy centered around agricultural production on the fertile floodplains, and was supplemented by fishing and shell fishing. However, by 300 B.C., the Olmec culture was eclipsed by other emerging civilizations in Mesoamerica.

The Totonac Indians. By the time the Spaniards arrived on the Gulf Coast of Mexico in 1519, the Totonac Indians occupied a province known as Totonacapan, which stretched through the central part of Veracruz and the Zacatlan district of the present-day state of Puebla. Occupying some fifty towns and boating a population of a quarter million people, the Totonacs spoke four primary dialects.

Their capital, Cempoala, located five miles inland from the present city of Veracruz, had a population of about 25,000. After their conquest by the Mexica ruler Axayácatl in 1480, the Totonacs were incorporated into the Aztec provinces of Cempoallan, Misantla and Xalapa.

These areas, with an abundance of water and fertile land, were richly endowed with a wide array of vegetation and crops, including cedars, fruits, cotton, cacao, maize, beans, and squashes. In pre-Hispanic times, cotton was a very significant crop, which the Totonacs used to make cotton armor.

As tribute to their Aztec masters, the Totonacs sent cloth, clothing, maize, foodstuffs, honey and wax to Tenochtitlán. The Mexica Indians. During the Fifteenth Century and the early years of the Sixteenth Century, the mighty Aztec Empire, ruled by the Mexica Indians from their capital city Tenochtitlán, began a concerted effort to subdue and incorporate the rich coastal areas into their domain.

Eventually, Veracruz, along with portions of the neighboring states, would make up the Aztec provinces of Tochtepec, Cuetlaxtlan, Cempoallan, Quauhtochco, Jalapa, Misantla, and Tlatlauhquitepec.

The Day of the Dead

Day of the Dead 1924

Rivera captures in full-color the Day of the Dead - a traditional Mexican celebration in which citizens honor their departed. In a tapestry of color, a community gathers together to eat, drink, and play music - life and death together in a town square. Not surprisingly, a mural exists within this piece of art - skeleton guitar players as a backdrop to the celebration.

The Day of the Dead celebrations in Mexico can be traced back to the indigenous cultures. Rituals celebrating the deaths of ancestors have been observed by these civilizations perhaps for as long as 2,500-3,000 years.

In the pre-Hispanic era, it was common to keep skulls as trophies and display them during the rituals to symbolize death and rebirth. Today shops sell sweet skulls and crossbones and families eat these together in memory of their departed loved ones. The festival that became the modern Day of the Dead fell in the ninth month of the Aztec calendar, about the beginning of August, and was celebrated for an entire month.

The festivities were dedicated to the god known as the "Lady of the Dead," corresponding to the modern Catrina. In most regions of Mexico, the 1st of November honors children and infants. This is referred to as "Día de los Inocentes" (Day of the Innocents) or "Día de los Angelitos" (Day of the Little Angels). Deceased adults are honored on 2nd November and referred to as "Día de los Muertos" (Day of the Dead).

Other very famous murals painted by Diego Rivera include Pan American Unity, the Epic of the Mexican, The Flower Carrier, Detroit Industry and A Dream of a Sunday Afternoon in Alameda Park. However, the four murals which I have chosen are an ideal platform for the exploration of pre-Hispanic culture and explain the vestiges which remain in modern Mexican society.