Detroit Industry (North Wall) 1932-33
The Detroit Industry mural cycle in the Detroit Institute of Arts is the finest example of Mexican muralist work in the United States, and Diego Rivera considered it the most successful work of his career. The murals are a tribute to Detroit industry in the 1930s. It is one of the few major modern works to successfully incorporate representations of functional machines. Rivera transformed their physical power and practical design into dynamic images and sensual forms.
In 1932, when Diego Rivera was well known in the United States as one of the leaders of the Mexican muralist movement, he was commissioned to decorate the walls of what was then called the Garden Court of the Detroit Institute of Arts. Although he was originally asked to paint just two of the largest panels, Rivera was so captivated by Detroit and the Ford Motor Company's River Rouge industrial complex that he soon suggested painting murals on all four walls. The project took eight months to complete.
The only stipulation of the project agreement was that the theme of the murals should relate to the history of Detroit and the development of its industry. Major sections are based on Rivera's study of the Rouge; other sections are devoted to different industries active in Detroit at that time. The complete cycle combines the artist's love of industrial design and admiration for North American engineering with his philosophical opinions about industry's positive and negative contributions to society.
The north and south walls are devoted to three themes: 1) the representation of the races that shape North American culture and make up its work force, 2) the automobile industry, and 3) other industries of Detroit (medical, pharmaceutical, and chemical). Figures representing four races hold raw materials that Rivera saw as analogous to each. Between each pair of figures, gigantic hands grasp materials used in the production of steel, symbolizing both mining in particular and the aggressive drive to capture the riches of the earth in general. At the very bottom of the north and south walls are small panels that depict scenes of a day in the life of the workers.
The largest panel of the north wall represents important operations in the manufacture of the engine and transmission of the 1932 Ford V8.
The process begins in the top center of the panel where a blast furnace is being tapped. A large ladle beneath the blast furnace pours molten steel into the open-hearth furnace. The steel-making processes continue in the small predella panels below the main section.
Other sections of the large panel are devoted to the foundry operations, shown in the sequence in which they occur. In the upper left, molds for the engine block are constructed and loaded onto a conveyer. On the right side of the panel the molds are filled with molten steel. In the center of the panel, flanked by two rows of giant spindles, is the assembly of the finished engine.
The workers in the automotive panel represent the multiracial work force of the Rouge, and some in the foreground are actually portraits of Rivera's assistants and Detroit acquaintances.
This project was paid for and commissioned by the director of the Detroit Institute of Arts, William R. Valentiner and son of Henry Ford, Edsel Ford who made it his duty to pursue and promote the advanced industrial design of the Rouge Ford Plant. Which for the time was sheer industrial genius.
"Edsel Ford was the only person in Detroit industry who had any interest in modern art. ... Diegeo Rivera and Edsel Ford understood each other very well ... Diego confessed to me that Edsel had none of the characteristics of an exploiting capitalist, that he had the simplicity and directness of a workman in his own factories and was like one of the best of them."
North Wall |
East Wall |
West Wall |
South Walll |
Rivera in Progress with North Wall Courtesy of http://www.diamondial.org/rivera/ Court Panels Courtesy of http://www.dia.org/rivera/infoidx.htm Plant and commision information brought to us by http://info.detnews.com/history/story/index.cfm?id=189&category=business |