The Detroit Institute of Arts is planning a unique exhibition that highlights the year Mexican artists Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo spent in the city.
Between April 1932 and March 1933, Rivera created the famed Detroit Industry murals on the walls of a courtyard at the Detroit museum.
Here’a video of the murals being made at the DIA:
http://youtu.be/JsGL9kifCDM
Sherri Welch reports for Crain’s Detroit Business that other museums and private collectors will help the DIA with the exhibition:
"When Rivera was here, he was regarded as one of the most important artists in the world of western art at that time," [DIA Director Graham] Beal said. Edsel Ford paid for the murals, which wound up costing just less than $21,000 at the time, according to the DIA. Rivera, seen as one of the greatest muralists of his time, was a very important influence on the artists who became abstract expressionists, Beal said. And Kahlo's development as an artist took place when she was here in Detroit. Renowned as not only a portrait artist but as a symbol of feminist strength, Kahlo's works range in style from folk art to surrealist.
In its press release, the DIA says most of the works Kahlo created in Detroit will be shown for the first time in the city.
The show is scheduled to run from March 15, 2015, to July 12, 2015.
In all, 80 artworks will be featured in the exhibition, including Rivera's preparatory drawings for the Detroit Industry murals.
