Diego Rivera, Mexican Muralism, Art and FDR’s New Deal
I was fascinated to read Heather Cox Richardson’s Letters from an American December 8, 2023, essay on the power of art to restore the economy and economic confidence. She takes us back to Roosevelt’s New Deal as a way to infuse vitality into the economy after the 1929 stock market crash by investing in public […]
Ringing the Bells: San Miguel Arcangel Church, San Miguel del Valle, Oaxaca
San Miguel del Valle, Oaxaca, calls to me. Perhaps because it is hidden — escondido — beyond Santa Ana del Valle and Diaz Ordaz, tucked into the fold of the foothills leading to the Sierra Juarez on the way to the eco-tourism center of Cuajilomoyas. There are dazzling, artful aprons there that talented women embroider […]
Pablo O’Higgins and Mexican Muralism: A Weekend in Mexico City
Mexico City is Number One on the New York Times recommended travel destinations. CDMX has it all, they say, and I agree. This is probably the tenth time I’ve been here in the last two years for the art history study tour I organize, Looking for Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera. New Dates: June 30-July 3, […]
Diego Rivera Murals at Secretariat of Public Education (SEP), Mexico City
Diego Rivera, Mexico’s famed muralist, returned there from Europe in 1921 at the invitation of Jose Vasconcelos, Mexico’s Secretary of Public Education, to paint three floors of murals in the national headquarters that was once a Franciscan convent. From 1923 to 1928, Rivera worked in the building with assistants to create 125 panels that would […]
Frida Kahlo Mania: See Her in the USA
Our iconic Frida Kahlo, her life, art, clothing, jewelry, pain, sorrow, tragedies, affairs and everything else worth examining about her is featured in 2015 exhibitions around the United States of America. Frida Kahlo: Art, Garden, Life is an exhibition at the New York Botanical Garden featuring the plants that Frida loved to wear and had in […]
Diego Rivera Murals in San Francisco: Critical Guide for Visiting
There are three Diego Rivera frescoes in San Francisco, California. To get in to see them all is not easy, but it is well worth the effort. It was an incredible treat to be able to see these frescoes up close and personal. A word of advice: it’s very important to plan and confirm your visits […]
Looking for Frida Kahlo + Diego Rivera: Art History Tour 2015
Come to Mexico City for an art history tour to explore the lives of Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera through their art. 2015 Schedule April 9 – 13, 2015 We will have a long weekend — 4 nights and 5 days, to learn about Diego Rivera‘s stunning Mexico City murals, visit Casa Azul where Diego and Frida […]
P.S. Looking for Diego Rivera in San Francisco, California, USA
Just in from my sister Barbara who lives in the Bay Area. USA Today publishes How to Visit Diego Rivera Murals in San Francisco. Here is the complete list, open hours, and specific locations. Enjoy!
In Mexico City: Looking for Diego Rivera
Frida Kahlo, iconic painter, called him The Frog and married him twice. They count her as his third and fourth wife. We know Diego Rivera as a communist, socialist, painter, bad boy of 1930’s Mexico who snubbed Nelson Rockefeller by refusing to eliminate Lenin’s portrait from the infamous Rockefeller Center mural. Fired and his mural […]
In Mexico City: Lunch at Mercado Abelardo L. Rodriguez
Down the street from Santo Domingo Plaza and the museum of the Inquisition in New Spain is Mercado Abelardo L. Rodriguez, a historic neighborhood market filled with lunch stalls, fruit and vegetable stands, and puestos selling cooking staples.. It is known for housing extraordinary murals by students of Diego Rivera, though most visitors to Mexico […]