Diego Rivera
No. 9, Nature Morte Espagnole, 1915
oil on canvas
Gift of Katharine Graham
National Gallery of Art, Washington
© 2004 Banco de México Diego Rivera & Frida Kahlo Museums Trust
An exhibition of important cubist works by renowned Mexican modernist Diego Rivera was on view April 4 through July 25, 2004, at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., The Cubist Paintings of Diego Rivera: Memory, Politics, Place celebrated a significant but little-known Rivera painting of 1915, No. 9, Nature Morte Espagnole (No. 9, Spanish Still Life), a recent gift to the National Gallery from the estate of Washington Post publisher Katharine Graham.
Organized by the National Gallery of Art, Washington, in collaboration with the Museo de Arte Moderno, Mexico City, the exhibition coincided with the Gallery's showing of the Courtly Art of the Ancient Maya. The Rivera exhibition then traveled to the Museo de Arte Moderno in Mexico City, where it was on view from September 22, 2004, through January 16, 2005.
Rivera's work has been studied and shown in depth, yet his cubist period remains a less understood aspect of his career. The Cubist Paintings of Diego Rivera included some 20 works that demonstrate his distinctive approach to synthetic cubism--his use of complex structures of transparent planes, with a particular emphasis on sensory and memory association.
The exhibition explored the intersection of history and the avant-garde at a key moment in the artist's development. The selection emphasizes the years 1914 and 1915, when Rivera was working in France and Spain. These works also illuminate the artist's deep engagement with themes of identity and place during a period that coincided not only with World War I but also with the most active period of the Mexican Revolution.
Many of the works in the exhibition, such as
Zapatista Landscape (1915),
incorporate objects that serve as emblems of Mexican identity: sarapes, petates (straw mats), an equipal (reed chair), and guajes (peasant gourds). The inclusion of Mexican motifs and Rivera's frequent use of the colors of the Mexican flag present a souvenir of his native land from afar, filled with revolutionary sympathy, nostalgia, and longing.
In other key works in the exhibition, Rivera explored evocative links between objects, people, and places. Among them are such works as
Eiffel Tower (1914),
with emotionally charged references to the cities Rivera inhabited, and portraits of figures he associated with these cities, including his
Portrait of Martín Luis Guzmán (1915).
Together these paintings represent Rivera's finest cubist work and offer important meditations on self-identity and nationalism.
CURATORS
The exhibition was organized by Leah Dickerman, associate curator, modern and contemporary art, National Gallery of Art, in consultation with Luis-Martín Lozano, director, Museo de Arte Moderno, Mexico City.
The exhibition was accompanied by a fully illustrated brochure.
Works included in the exhibition:
Diego Rivera
No. 9, Nature morte espagnole (No. 9, Spanish Still Life), 1915
oil on canvas
90.5 x 110.5 cm (35 5/8 x 43 1/2); framed: 94.3 x 114.8 x 1.9 cm (37 1/8 x 45 3/16 x 3/4)
National Gallery of Art, Washington, gift of Katharine Graham
© 2004 Banco de México
Diego Rivera & Frida Kahlo Museums Trust
210-001 210-001.jpg
Diego Rivera
Naturaleza muerta con tetera (Still Life with Teapot), 1913
Pencil on paper
24.5 x 32 cm (9 5/8 x 12 5/8)
Collection Museo Casa
Diego Rivera, CONACULTA, INBA; Instituto Estatal de la Cultura de
Guanajuato
210-002
Diego Rivera
Still Life with Balalaika, 1913
oil on canvas
61 x 37 cm (24 x 14 9/16)
Bergen Kunstmuseum
© 2004 Banco de México
Diego Rivera & Frida Kahlo Museums Trust
210-003 210-003.jpg
Diego Rivera
Jacques Lipchitz (Portrait of a Young Man), 1914
oil on canvas
65.1 x 54.9 cm (25 5/8 x 21 5/8)
The Museum of Modern Art, New York, gift of T. Catesby Jones
© 2004 Banco de México
Diego Rivera & Frida Kahlo Museums Trust
210-006 210-006.jpg
Diego Rivera
Tour Eiffel (Eiffel Tower), 1914
oil on canvas
115 x 92 cm (45 1/4 x 36 1/4)
Private collection, courtesy of Mary-Anne Martin/Fine Art, New York
© 2004 Banco de México
Diego Rivera & Frida Kahlo Museums Trust
210-007 210-007.jpg
Diego Rivera
Naturaleza muerta con botella (Still Life with Carafe), 1914
pencil, gouache, collage
35.5 x 19 cm (14 x 7 1/2)
Government of Veracruz
210-008
Diego Rivera
Paisaje Zapatista (Zapatista Landscape), 1915
oil on canvas
144 x 123 cm (56 11/16 x 48 7/16)
Museo Nacional de Arte, CONACULTA, INBA, Mexico City
210-009
Diego Rivera
La terrasse du café (The Café Terrace), 1915
oil on canvas
60.5 x 49.5 cm (23 13/16 x 19 1/2); 68.6 x 57.8 x 6.7 cm (27 x 22 3/4 x 2 5/8)
Lent by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Alfred Stieglitz Collection
210-010
Diego Rivera
Portrait of Martín Luis Guzmán, 1915
oil on canvas
72.3 x 59.3 cm (28 7/16 x 23 3/8); 91.5 x 79.5 cm (36 x 31 5/16)
Fundación Televisa A.C., Santa Fe
210-011
Diego Rivera
Still Life with Gray Bowl, 1915
oil on canvas
79.4 x 63.8 cm (31 1/4 x 25 1/8); 98.4 x 82.6 x 5.7 cm (38 3/4 x 32 1/2 x 2 1/4)
Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum, Austin, Texas, gift from His Excellency
Gustavo Díaz Ordaz, President of the United Mexican States
© 2004 Banco de México
Diego Rivera & Frida Kahlo Museums Trust
210-012 210-012.jpg
Diego Rivera
Still Life (Mallorca), 1915
oil on canvas
96.5 x 63.2 cm (38 x 24 7/8)
Columbus Museum of Art, Ohio, gift of Ferdinand Howald
© 2004 Banco de México
Diego Rivera & Frida Kahlo Museums Trust
210-015 210-015.jpg
Diego Rivera
The Architect (Jesús T. Acevedo), 1915
oil on canvas
144 x 113.5 cm (56 11/16 x 44 11/16)
Museo de Arte Carillo Gil, CONACULTA, INBA, Mexico City
210-016
Diego Rivera
Still Life with Bread Knife, 1915
oil on canvas
49.9 x 59.7 cm (19 5/8 x 23 1/2)
Columbus Museum of Art, Ohio, gift of Ferdinand Howald
© 2004 Banco de México
Diego Rivera & Frida Kahlo Museums Trust
210-018 210-018.jpg
Diego Rivera
Le sucrier et les bougies (The Sugar Bowl and Candles), 1915
oil on canvas
64.8 x 62.2 cm (25 1/2 x 24 1/2); 76.5 x 65.7 cm (30 1/8 x 25 7/8)
Fisk University, The Alfred Stieglitz Collection, Nashville
210-019
Diego Rivera
El Rastro, 1915
oil on canvas
26.4 x 37.5 cm (10 3/8 x 14 3/4)
Museo Dolores Olmedo Patiño, Xochimilco
210-020
Diego Rivera
Marino almorzando (Sailor at Lunch), 1914
oil on canvas
114 x 70 cm (44 7/8 x 27 9/16)
Museo Casa
Diego Rivera, CONACULTA, INBA; Instituto Estatal de la Cultura de Guanajuato
210-021
Diego Rivera
Naturaleza muerta española (Spanish Still Life), 1914
pencil on paper
41.8 x 25 cm (16 7/16 x 9 13/16)
Collection Museo Casa
Diego Rivera, CONACULTA, INBA; Instituto Estatal de la Cultura De
Guanajuato
210-022
Diego Rivera
La mujer del pozo (The Woman at the Well), 1913
oil on canvas
Museo Nacional de Arte, CONACULTA, INBA, Mexico City
210-023
Diego Rivera
Retrato de Adolfo Best Maugard (Portrait of Adolfo Best Maugard), 1913
oil on canvas
226.8 x 161.6 cm (89 5/16 x 63 5/8)
Museo Nacional de Arte, CONACULTA, INBA, Mexico City
210-024
Diego Rivera
La grande reconstruction (The Great Rebuilding), 1915
oil on canvas
25.7 x 32.1 cm (10 1/8 x 12 5/8)
Private collection
210-027
Diego Rivera
En la fuente de Toledo (At the Fountain of Toledo), 1913
oil on canvas
166 x 204 cm (65 3/8 x 80 5/16)
Museo Dolores Olmedo Patiño, Xochimilco
210-028
