Research Week 1 part 2

Research April 5, 2014

Brief timeline of Diego Rivera's life:

• 1886 Born on December 8 in silver-mining town, Guanajuato
• 1896 Began study of art, Academia de San Carlos,Mexico City
• 1902 Joined student strikes; left academy because he disagreed with system of photographic realism introduced by new director

• 1907 Awarded grant to study art in Spain
• 1908-09 Traveled in Europe; exhibited with Indépendants in Paris
• 1910 Returned to Mexico; experienced beginning of
• Mexican Revolution
• 1911-21 Spent time in France, Spain, and Italy, learning from modernists and old masters
• 1922 First murals in Mexico; worked with Orozco and Siqueiros; joined Mexican Communist party
• 1929 Married artist Frida Kahlo, his third wife
• 1933 Worked on Rockefeller Plaza mural, which was destroyed because he included Lenin’s portrait
• 1936-40 Worked exclusively on easel painting: landscapes, portraits
• 1940-57 Numerous wall murals in Mexico and United States
• 1957 Died in Mexico City

Emerging questions:

-Who taught Rivera during 1911-21 in France, Spain and Italy? Who were the modernists and old masters party? How is their influence manifested in Rivera's future works such as his first murals?

Quote in article that caught my attention:

"He (Rivera) knew that in Europe there were great painters and the work of the old masters from whom he could learn. Rivera thought that perhaps he could raise money for his passage by selling his paintings but he knew he would still need money to support himself." (Norwood)

reference link:

http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/1999/2/99.02.06.x.html

Further research:

 "In 1907, the governor of Veracruz granted the young painter money to travel to Europe, in order to further his artistic education, and in January 1908, Rivera left for Spain. While in Europe, Rivera experimented with a great variety of styles and techniques, emulating the old masters like El Greco and the painters of the Italian and Northern Renaissances, experimenting with Classicism and Impressionism, dabbling in the contemporary movements of Cubism and Post-Impressionism and finally settling on the simple, straightforward Realist style that would characterize most of his later work."  (Mataev)

Research link:

http://www.abcgallery.com/R/rivera/riverabio.html