The murals of Rivera had created in me a visual memory of the history of Mexico and have helped me to understand and respect my nationality. For me, the history of Mexico is full of living images...full of Diego Rivera. Besides images, my memories are accompanied by feelings of grief, honor, pride and magic that come straight from the emotions represented in the murals. Thanks to the muralist Diego Rivera I can easily relive the history of Mexico.
Rivera was commissioned to recreate the past to remind us of our Mexican roots. His life, however, has not been remembered in the same way. There are biographies written of him and one or two portraits of him. But the life of Diego Rivera was not made of words but of images.
Diego Rivera is considered the father of Mexican mural art in Mexico along with politician Guadalupe Posada. Posada started to break the barrier between government and people doing political satire in his drawings. Diego reinterpreted the history from a nationalistic revolutionary point of view.
More than any other artist, Diego Rivera offered models to incorporate cultural past and ethnic identity in a more modern alternative ways to promote a merger responsible for the social and the aesthetic. Diego was a very important part in the artistic world of the twentieth century and his ideas were well respected in the artistic community. Rivera was an innovative artist because he united the art with his political views creating a social message.
I love Diego Rivera -- his murals and the Basilica de Nuestra Virgen de Guadalupe were my favorite parts of my trip to Mexico in high
ReplyDeleteschool. I don't know anything about Posada, but I'm going to look him up as part of my end-of-the-semester procrastination. I could look at Rivera's calla lillies all day, and the image with which you pair your post is an especially compelling one, with the woman bent under the weight of so much beauty. My sister told me once that callas are one of the flowers that symbolize death. I'm not sure if that's true or not, but I like how the beauty/death/burden links work in this picture.
The opening line and second paragraph of this post seem especially strong to me. The shift from the present to the past works well, and
your explanation of the links between Rivera's work and your conception of your own history and identity are interesting. I like the way you describe the personal effects of this type of public art.
If you decide to develop this posting for your portfolio, consider including more images and telling your reader a little bit about how
each helped or helps to shape your identity.