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RE: American and Russian Artists Call On to Protect the Earth! #GRAFFITI OF MY CITY
I remember those last days of the cold war when there was encouragement for Russian and Western youth to become friends.
I am an admirer of Diego Rivera, and in fact, he is my favorite Mexican artist. His wife, Frieda Kahlo, gets all the attention, but Rivera was the genius.
I have travelled to places JUST to see a Diego Rivera mural. The best one, in my opinion, are the collection in Detroit. Unfortunately, they are in peril due to the extreme economic devastation effecting that region.
As always, images never live up to reality, but they are online: Detroit Murals
I checked the link - incredible art.
Factory scenes are beautiful but depressing. Anti-utopian. All these people crowded among machines ... So much energy in them, that I can smell the hunger and humiliation they had experienced in their lives. Guys in gas masks... A tough time.
...And romantic feelings that couple had towards Bolsheviks... who created "industry" of the destruction of millions of people :( I must read a book or something once to make all this clear to myself.
peril
I hope the commercial price of this art will keep it safe from dereliction and destruction.
There is a lot of symbolism in the Diego Rivera's paintings. The hope was the exploitation of the factories would end when the workers would seize control of the means of production. The ideal is that the factory workers would have control over the product of their labour and be able to re-invest that labour and product into a better more just society.
That was the plan, anyway.
One of the most interesting things about these murals is that they were commissioned by Edsel Ford.
In Mexico City, there is Rivera's "Man at the Crossroads", which depicts the possibilities the 'New Man' can achieve is he is no longer alienated from the fruits of his labour.
This fresco is safe at the Palacio de Bellas Artes museum.
By <a href="//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Gumr51" title="User:Gumr51">Gumr51</a> - <span class="int-own-work" lang="en">Own work</span>, CC BY-SA 3.0, Link
A person of great fantasy. Beautiful.
Well, I do think it is safe to say that there was no 'New Man', no matter how much it was hoped for.