Diego Rivera: A Retrospective [Hardcover]

Cynthia Newman Helms (Editor), Linda Banks Downs (Introduction)

Book Description

Publication Date: 1998

A celebration of a renowned artist and political activist.

In a career that spanned sixty years, Diego Rivera produced some of the most distinctive and socially powerful works in modern art. Rivera was, in a real sense, a twentieth-century renaissance man. He was a painter, printmaker, sculptor, book illustrator, one of the first collectors of pre-Columbian art, and a political activist. In both the United States and Mexico, Rivera's monumental frescos gave life to revolutionary themes, often offending critics as well as the public. In New York's Rockefeller Center, for instance, his murals were destroyed because of public outrage over their strongly pro-communist content. Throughout his mature works, on this continent and abroad, Rivera was a champion of the oppressed. This volume celebrates the 100th anniversary of the artist's birth. Its 200 color plates and 325 black-and-white photographs illustrate Rivera's life and work from his early years at the Mexican Academy of San Carlos and studies in Spain, his subsequent eleven-year sojourn in Paris and brief involvement with Cubism in the first part of this century, to his efforts to establish a truly Mexican style in the murals for which he is most famous. Accompanying Rivera's work are essays by noted scholars reevaluating his place in the history of modern art. This book was originally published to coincide with the first major North American retrospective ever mounted of the artist, at the Detroit Institute of the Arts, where Rivera's finest works in the United States—the Detroit Industry Frescos—remain as vivid today as when they were completed fifty years ago. 200 color plates and 325 b/w photographs

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Rivera portrayed himself in his memoirs as a revolutionary firebrand and visionary artist who repudiated his ties to European art in favor of a new style of mural painting. Yet the essays in this catalogue prove that the Mexican artist fused Cubist space with Futurist movement in epic murals molded from his study of Italian Renaissance frescoes and pre-Colombian sculpture. The first major retrospective of Rivera's works, mounted at the Detroit Institute of Arts, shows that there was much more to Rivera than his murals. Penetrating portraits, soul-baring self-portraits, sensitive nudes and cityscapes, and studies of Indian women are among the pictures reproduced here in 200 color and 325 black-and-white plates. Rivera's travels in the U.S. inspired paintings and drawings which drew on Aztec cosmology to explain industrial society in terms of universal order. Rivera's reputation has declined over the years, his art dismissed by some as leftist propaganda. But the essays in this outstanding album establish that his mural style is miles apart from socialist realism, and the contributors question the superficial distinction between "high" and "folk" art.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

This masterful work is the catalog of a jointly sponsored retrospective at the Instituo Nacional de Bellas Artes and the Detroit Institute of Arts. Helms intertwines Mexico's history with Rivera's evolution as an artist, incorporating family photographs and material from many biographical sources. Rivera, one of Mexico's leading artistic and intellectual figures, is given his due in the many supplementary essays by recognized experts. The placement of the prints and drawings, beautifully reproduced in color and tone, enhances the book's value immensely. Highly recommended. Roderic A. Camp, Latin American Studies Dept., Central Coll., Pella, Ia.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 372 pages
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company; 2nd edition (1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393046095
• ISBN-13: 978-0393046090
• Product Dimensions: 11.2 x 10.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,371,635 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

35 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Diego, April 20, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Diego Rivera: A Retrospective (Hardcover)

Long out of print, this book has never been surpassed as "the complete Rivera." This volume illustrates Diego Rivera's life and work, from his early years at the Mexican Academy of San Carlos and studies in Spain; his subsequent eleven-year sojourn in Paris in the first part of this century; to his efforts to establish a truly national Mexican style in the murals for which he is most famous. Illustrations of Rivera's work are accompanied by essays by noted scholars who reevaluate his place in the history of modern art.

5.0 out of 5 stars A must-have for Rivera admirers, May 26, 2011

By 

Karl Janssen (Olathe, KS United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Diego Rivera: A Retrospective (Hardcover)

This book is the most comprehensive examination of Diego Rivera's art that I have ever seen. It truly is a retrospective, covering all aspects of his career. The book has been compiled and designed to be the perfect synthesis of coffee-table portfolio and scholarly study in which the text and images unite to create a fitting tribute worthy of this master artist. The book contains over 400 images of Diego Rivera's art, most of which are reproduced in color. The text begins with a detailed chronology of Rivera's life and career, illustrated with over 250 images. This is followed by ten essays by various authors, all generously illustrated, on diverse subjects such as the political and historical dimensions of Rivera's work, the influence of cubism and pre-Columbian art on his work, Rivera's influence on American art of the 1950s, and specific categories of his oeuvre such as murals, portraits, self-portraits and drawings. In all cases the authors provide valuable context and insight into Rivera's work, in prose that is neither overloaded with inaccessible theory nor dumbed down for the general reader. The book ends with the 98-page "Mural Census", an invaluable resource which provides detail on the history and content of every mural Rivera ever painted, including the obscure and nonextant. This section not only provides photographs, but also detailed, enumerated diagrams that explain the architectural layout of the buildings in which the murals were housed and the historic personages and Pre-Columbian subject matter depicted within them. Last but not least, there's an extensive bibliography on Rivera as well.

This is the ultimate one-volume reference on Rivera. No true fan of his art should be without it.

1 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars not upfront, February 18, 2010

By 

anonymous - See all my reviews

This review is from: Diego Rivera: A Retrospective (Hardcover)

Ordered this as a last minute gift. Advertised as new- then after the date it was supposed to have been shipped, got an email from the seller that it was actually used. I asked for a price adjustment based on the changed information but then sent a second email telling them to just send it as it was needed quickly. The seller never altered the price and actually charged more for shipping than what was stamped on the sent package. The book was fine and made a good gift for a Diego Rivera lover, but I felt the seller was not customer friendly therefore I will not be buying from them again.