Diego Rivera & the Rockefeller CenterIn 1933, the Mexican artist Diego Rivera was commissioned to paint a fresco for John D. Rockefeller's new Rockefeller Center in Manhattan. The famed capitalist was not entirely pleased with the result.
"Rivera decided to use the mural, Mankind at the Crossroads, to make a strong political statement," David Rockefeller recalled. "It was filled with contrasting images drawn from the Marxist canon: class conflict, oppression, and war as the theme on the Capitalist side of the fresco; peace, cooperation, and solidarity on the Communist side... When the mural was almost finished, he added a prominent and quite unmistakable portrait of Lenin joining hands with workers from around the world. This idyllic and somewhat fanciful grouping was balanced by a deftly done scene on the Capitalist side of well-dressed men and women dancing, playing cards and drinking martinis, all positioned under a microscope examining a slide filled with bacteria of social diseases. The backdrop for this was a scene of policemen beating workers while Catholic priests and Protestant ministers looked on approvingly.
"It was wonderfully executed but not appropriate for the lobby of the RCA building. Nelson tried to persuade Rivera to eliminate, at the very least, the portrait of Lenin. But the artist refused to change anything, saying that rather than mutilate his great work he would have the whole mural destroyed! Nelson pointed out that he had not been commissioned to paint Communist propaganda and that, based on the original, much less provocative sketch, there was no reason to accept the work as executed. In the end, Rivera was paid in ful and dismissed. An attempt was made to remove and preserve the fresco, but it proved impossible, and this work of art had to be destroyed."
[Rivera later reproduced the mural - complete with John D. Rockefeller drinking a martini with a group of painted ladies - in the Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City.]
Rivera, Diego (1886-1957) Mexican artist [noted for his murals (in a style derived from Mexican folk art) exalting Mexican workers, and for his relationship with Frida Kahlo]
[Sources: David Rockefeller Memoirs, quoted in Vanity Fair, Oct. 2002, p. 356]More Diego Rivera anecdotesRelated Anecdote Keywords:
Awkward Moments Social Activism Art Paintings Painting Surprises Murals Communism Socialism Commissions Irony Disappointments
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