DIEGO RIVERA: DETROIT INDUSTRY

A beautifully illustrated in-depth study of the most important North American work by the best-known Mexican muralist, Diego Rivera.

Early in the Depression, Diego Rivera was commissioned by Edsel Ford to create a series of murals in the gallery of the Detroit Institute of Arts, giant frescos whose theme would be America’s industrial might. This volume studies the astonishing results and gives us a remarkably close look at Diego and his wife, Frida Kahlo.

Rivera’s Detroit Industry murals are one of this country’s greatest treasures. In addition to providing full coverage and analysis of the murals, the book includes chapters on the murals’ planning and antecedents, Rivera’s working methods (which can be read as a primer on frescos), Diego and Frida’s lives for their nine months in Detroit, and the public’s dramatic response to the strong socialist/communist themes in the works.

Linda Bank Downs is executive director of the College Art Association. She formerly served as curator of education at the Detroit Institute of Arts and head of education at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC.