Diego Revera, an artist originally from Mexico, was one of the first people to have his art displayed in the Museum of Modern Art. He painted several large-scale murals for the museum in the 1930’s, and were later scattered to several locations, both in the United States and Mexico. Now, five of the murals are being gathered and displayed in the MoMA once again.
What strikes me as the most interesting about Revera’s work is how relevant they seem to our time, especially considering the Occupy Wall Street movements. For example, his piece “Frozen Assets” depicts the contrast between the rich and the poor in 1931. The top panel shows the New York skyline, the middle panel depicts the Municipal Pier on East 23rd Street, where the homeless were sheltered, while the bottom panel shows the wealthy counting their assets.
This contrast between the rich and the poor was the number one issue in America during the Great Depression. It is paramount on people’s minds now, too, with Occupy Wall Street Protestors claiming that 1% of the population controls 99% of the country’s wealth. If this claim is correct, it seems that we are not far off from facing problems of the same magnitude of the Great Depression.
You can see the New York Times article about the returning murals here.
This will make an interesting contrast with DeKooning and Occupy Wall street. It should be worth a few minutes to go view this exhibition while we are there to see the DeKooning.
Diego Rivera is famous for his critics of society in his art. Rivera commonly represents the plight of the common man in his art as is apparent here. These murals are meant to wake up the population to the injustices that are going on in his time. Art is famous for showing the problem of his time. Like Ayala’s post on art in war time Fernando Goya’s Third of May painting, is famous for showing the problem of the time. Art has typically been known to be the forerunner for social ills because it is a socially acceptable venue to assert frustrations. In terms of Occupy Wall Street today, many of their complaints can be seen in Rivera’s works. It is not a new problem that the lower classes are frustrated with the system. Maybe eventually we will learn how to deal with social issues instead of constantly having history repeat itself.