Abstract This paper examines Primitivist and Modernist elements in three paintings by Diego Rivera namely, "Allegory of California," "Flower Day," and "Still Life of Bread and Fruit." It also offers a definition of modernism.
From the Paper "It is probably true that all of us believe that we are modern Ramses, Socrates and Helen of Troy no doubt considered themselves modern in their time. This is no doubt one of the reasons that it can be so difficult to define exactly what Modernism is in art ..."
Abstract This paper explains why Diego Rivera holds a unique and intriguing position within the history of art. It shows that because his nationality and his education, his cultural inheritance and his intellectual development, these place him on a perch between two widely differing paradigms of aesthetics and representation. The paper focuses on Diego Rivera's 1917 composition, "Still Life with Bread and Fruit".
From the Paper "Rivera's background and professional artistic training certainly place him in a Western European tradition that stretches from the Renaissance through the period of high modernism. Rivera came of age at a time when modernism itself was in full swing, and it certainly exacted a profound and direct influence on his work. In his early life, Rivera attended a painting school in Spain, traveled significantly throughout Europe, and briefly lived in Paris, where "he was influenced by post-impressionism, mainly by Paul C"zanne's art? (?Diego Rivera (1886?1957)?). Indeed, his palette was deeply affected by modernist works of the day, and he heavily employed many modernist techniques and methods during this apprenticeship period as he continued to develop his own style. Before he ultimately returned to Mexico, he even went to Italy to study renaissance painting more formally. His work during this period reflects representative modernist trends and "shows study and analysis of neoimpressionism, C"zannism, Fauvism and Cubism? ("Biography: Diego Rivera"). While most people are most familiar with Diego Rivera's mature corpus of works in which he experimented with mural forms that depicted scenes of Mexican peasantry and other traditional scenes, his early work is much more in the European modernist tradition of post-impressionism and cubism. We will briefly examine one such representative work."
Tags: aesthetics, representation, mexico, still, life
Abstract The paper discusses how Diego Rivera lived a highly political and artistic life in his murals. The paper explains that his greatest achievements in art are reflected through the Communism he so dearly believed in. The paper portrays how by painting scenes of historical value for the common working people, Rivera was a man who believed that greed and excess were an international problem. The paper stresses how in this manner, Diego Rivera lived a life of politics through artistic integrity and the genius of the mural medium.
From the Paper "This study will examine the life and artistic achievements of the Mexican muralist Diego Rivera. By understanding the foundations of Rivera's political life, one can realize the power of his murals to relate a strong cultural relativism of communistic philosophy in his mural works. By creating murals for the working people of Mexico, Rivera exemplified the artistic vision of a Mexican Communist Nationalism that has endured into the 21st century. This was the life Diego Rivera both politically and artistically defined through the medium he created for walls and large-scale mural painting. His early life reflected the middle class atmosphere of his rural home: "Diego Rivera was born December 8, 1886, in Guanajuato in Mexico, to Diego and Maria Barrientos Rivera.""
Abstract This work discusses how public space planning can be used as a politically motivated and concerted effort on the part of those in power to reshape society by planning and reshaping its public spaces. The paper then presents a biographical and political discussion about Diego Rivera, exploring his life, his work and his mind as a public contributor to political and social thought through his art.
Outline:
Introduction
Politics of Public Planning
Diego Rivera the Politician
From the Paper "In an article discussing the connections between the famous muralist, and political activist Diego Rivera there is a statement about art that demonstrates both the depth of Rivera's involvement in the political and the controversies that surrounded him and his allies. The Mexican art movement of the 1920s-30s was a foundational backdrop to Rivera's political leanings, described later in this work by a contextual biographer of Rivera. It would seem contrary to say that if Rivera had not been so adamant a proponent of public art, many of his ideas and works would have been lost to the walls of private homes and indoor museums, but his activism was in fact rooted in his idea of public art as a tool of political and social revolution and therefore in his mind to be displayed for the world to see and the community to build from."
Abstract This environmental paper examines the San Diego-Tijuana water epidemic. The author presents the history and current factors involved in the problem: contamination and draught. It highlights the political issues involved in environmental city management for these Mexican and American border cities.
From the Paper "In recent decades the world has come to realize that the earth's resources are not comprised of a bottomless pit. It has been acknowledged that there are resources that are threatening to run out or contaminate so that they can no longer be useful to mankind. One of the most important resources the world has is the water supply. "
Tags: environment, earth?s, resources, water, supply, contamination, mexico, usa, united, states, america, contamination, political, draught, environmental, city, management
Abstract A summary of Diego Rivera's work and style, followed by an interview with the artist himself. The painter answers questions regarding his shifts in style, mural art in Mexican history, his atheism and his inspirations. It is apparent how his paintings emphasize the power of art as a medium to bring about social reforms.
From the Paper "Diego Rivera was one of the leading artists of the 20th century. He was born in 1886 in Leon, Guanajuato. He had an inherent talent for painting (arts), which was evident when he started to draw even as he was just 3 years old. He went on to become one of Mexico's leading painters. In the early part of his career he was a traditional artist but later on, he was influenced by Cezanne and the Cubist approach to paintings. This is clearly reflected in his works such Zapatista Landscape, Woman at the well, etc. However it was Picasso who made a great influence upon him and Diego produced many of his works predominantly reflecting Cubical style, which gives more freedom for the artist. His artwork "Sailor at lunch" is typical of Cubism."
Abstract This paper explains that Diego Velazquez's "Toilet of Venus", popularly known as "The Rokeby Venus", created a great deal of controversy in the early 20th century. The author points out that, while the artist himself was inspired to create this artwork based on socially acceptable views of women at the time and while it could be featured today in any reputable museum without causing so much as a blink by even the most conservative audience, these perceptions tend to change over time. The paper relates that the gender construction developed by this work of art was deemed sufficiently exploitative that military female activists, known as suffragettes, targeted it for destruction because of its lurid portrayal of the nude female form and its suggestive qualities. The paper includes a picture of the painting and several long quotations, many of which are embedded in the text.
Table of Contents
Review and Discussion
Background and Overview.
Historical Setting and Social Transitions.
Treatment of Gender Construction in Valezquez's "The Rokeby Venus."
Figure 1. Velazquez, "The Rokeby Venus".
Conclusion
From the Paper "According to Bartley (2003), the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) was founded by Emmeline Pankhurst, her daughters and some friends to campaign for votes for women. ... The suffragettes as the WSPU members were called, engaged in a wide range of activities that targeted existing gender disparities, including chaining themselves to railings, writing "Votes for Women" with acid on golf courses that were all-male, disrupted the postal service, verbally and physically attacked members of parliament, put graffiti on government buildings and even church walls and broke windows as well as attacking specific works of art in public galleries and burnt down buildings."
A look at the characteristics of Mayan civilization prior to the Spanish conquest, according to Diego de Landa's account "Yucatan Before and After the Conquest".
Abstract This paper describes Mayan civilization prior to the Spanish conquest, basing its description on Diego de Landa's book "Yucatan Before and After the Conquest" where he details much of what we know about the Mayan culture today. The paper focuses on Diego de Landa's depiction of probably the two most important traits of the Mayan civilization; their art and architecture. The paper also looks at the Mayan civilization's hieroglyphs, as well as their intellectual tools such as calendars and astronomy.
From the Paper "The translator of the book, William Gates, points out in his introduction that de Landa "burned ninety-nine times as much knowledge of Maya history and sciences as he has given us in his book." Therefore, it is wise to read the text with the author's background in mind. Nevertheless, this work remains a fascinating account of Native American life at the time of the Spanish conquest. The primary characteristics of the Maya culture were undoubtedly captured by De Landa, who in his book, describes the flora and fauna-such as his account of the manatees-as well as clothing, culinary arts, and musical instruments. His description of the gradual "Europeanization" of the younger Indian generations is fascinating and helpful in understanding the further course of history in those regions. Finally, he depicts what are probably the two most important traits of the Maya civilization, their art and architecture."
This paper discusses the lives and works of Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse and Diego Rivera, all masters but from different backgrounds and different training, who may have been influenced by one another.
Abstract This paper explains that Spaniard Pablo Picasso was basically a painter who extended his art to sculptures in ceramic and bronze; in the early 1900s, he created the visual style of Cubism, which concentrated on the two dimensional surface of pictures and did not honor the old techniques of perspective, foreshortening, modeling and chiaroscuro. The author points out that Frenchman Henri Matisse's "Large Red Interior" (1948), a painting of his studio, is a dynamic painting with an excellent relationship between line and color and probably his last statement on his life as an easel painter. The paper relates that the art of Mexican muralist Diego Rivera reflects the Mexican Civil War and the struggles of World War I; in France for 14 years, Rivera studied the works of Matisse, Paul Gauguin and Paul Cezanne and similar artists.
From the Paper "Now let us look at the education of the three masters, and Picasso attended many art schools during his childhood as his father taught there. He did not finish his course at any college and left his course in less than a year from the Royal Academy of San Fernando in Madrid. Whereas Picasso was a Spaniard, Henri Matisse was born in France in 1869 at Cateau-Cambresis. His father was a seed merchant and Matisse did not get in touch with art in his early years. He decided to study law and gave up only when he was sick and took up arts as he had started painting during the period of his sickness. After changing colleges he finally enrolled at Ecole des Beaux. Even there he could not complete his course due to differences with the teachers."
Abstract This paper explains that the relationship between laissez-faire city building and professional city planning is a complex one to examine because city planning is influenced by a combination of sporadic growth and the meticulous planning of professional developers, political leaders and outside forces. The author points out that the most obvious causes of laissez-faire urban growth are sudden bursts of economic culture and political posturing; however, even these cities, experiencing random growth, have been carefully planned or they would not have been able to accommodate the population bursts associated with the history of cities. The paper relates that San Diego is an example of an urban area, which was developed over time without the sporadic growth of industrial centers to conflict with its overall planning; although it is eight times its size since the 1900s, because the development of the city has been slow, urban planners and architects have been able to design it to be the optimum example of modern city growth.
From the Paper "The growth of ancient cities into modern ones entails many chance and random coincidences. The fact that London and Paris has stood as such cultural and economic powerhouses is due in a large part to their status as capitols of major countries, whereas other cities such as Sussex have fallen into relative minority status even though they were once also giants of industrial growth. The concept of city growth is in line with a familiar concept of economic change, therefore when cities suddenly experience an influx of immigration due to industrial growth, city planners are more concerned with accommodating the new residents with space rather than thinking of the future convenience of roads and congestion. Thus in many of these ancient cities that have been modernized in the current era, living conditions are poor and traffic congestion has become an enormous problem".
Abstract This paper discusses the story of Our Lady of Guadalupe. It begins by discussing the history of the story, dating back to 1531 in Mexico-Tenochtitlan (what is today Mexico City) when the Virgin Mary appeared four times to the Christianized Indian, Juan Diego. The paper also discusses how the Guadalupe event has been studied and interpreted by historians.
From the Paper "Even in the Latino territory of southeast Los Angeles, images of the Virgin of Guadalupe are prominently displayed (Vergara). Our Lady of Guadalupe stands above the clouds on a crescent moon, her hands folded in prayer, her head slightly titled, rays of light emanating from her to form an aureloa: a celestial apparition based on the familiar idea of the Immaculate Conception (Vergara). The people who display her, especially shopkeepers, regard her as a powerful protector (Vergara). Mexicans believe Our Lady of Guadalupe helps people who have a problem and people who are sick. They believe that if you have faith in her, and put a candle by her image, you will be healed (Vergara). For the people of Mexico, the Virgin of Guadalupe is their historic banner, the symbol of so many popular causes (Coleman). In 1895, Pope Leo XII proclaimed Our Lady of Guadalupe as the queen of the Mexican people (Edwards). The Virgin has reflected multiple expressions of power. For example, She is a symbol of a revolutionary movement, a figure called on to express collective and individual identities (Boehm)."
Abstract The paper describes and analyzes two portraits from different eras and movements; Diego Rodriguez de Silva y Velazquez's "Juan de Pareja" from 1650 and Mary Cassatt's "Lady at the Tea Table" from 1885. The paper identifies how these artists have utilized the same factors of artificial symmetry and contrast and gaze of the subject in order to reach different goals.
From the Paper "The first painting to be studied is Velazquez's Juan de Pareja. The first thing that is striking upon viewing this portrait is its two-dimensional composition. The figure, Pareja, is composed in the space asymmetrically. The man is aligned to the left side of the portrait, his head and body filling the space to the left of center. Yet, his chest/torso, cloak, and arm fill the right side of the space rather well. While Velazquez does not exhibit symmetry in his two-dimensional composition by doing this, he achieves what this writer feels is a rather nice effect. The proudly displayed chest and body of Pareja give a sense of regality and pride to the portrait."
Abstract This paper relates that childhood obesity is reaching epidemic proportions all over the United States. The paper then explains that obesity can be controlled by the individual who experiences it and that, although some individuals might be unable to control obesity caused by physical factors, they might be able to reduce other factors that cause obesity. The paper then discusses how, for that reason, the city of San Diego has instituted some measures that may reduce the incidence of childhood obesity in the area. This paper then focuses on some of the causes of childhood obesity and suggests some ways for families to address the issue.
Outline:
Childhood Obesity Overview
Causes of Obesity
Prevention and Treatment of Obesity
Conclusion
From the Paper "Berry et al. (2004) explains that diet and exercise, as well as nutritional education, have all been proven to have an influence both on weight loss and on preventing obesity. Restricting calorie intake is proven to create the negative energy balance required to lose weight, while increased activity both enhances the speed of the weight loss and increases the probability that weight will remain off (Berry et al., 2004). One weight loss diet mentioned in the article is the "traffic light diet," also known as the glycemic index diet. This diet color codes dietary components by the number of fat grams that they contain. This diet, according to the authors, has been shown to produce a "significant short-term decrease in obesity," while it encourages improved eating patterns (Berry et al., 2004, p. 432). "
Abstract This paper explains that, by the early 1920s, Mexican Secretary of Education Vasconcelos ensured the creation of an artistic renaissance in which Mexican artists reinterpreted Mexican history in accord with revolutionary principles, locating major works of arts on the walls of public buildings and, thus, making them accessible to the most humble and unlettered of Mexicans. The author points out that Mexico became a destination of choice for Americans and Europeans with a wide variety of leftist views, ranging from liberalism to communism. The paper explores the work of Diego Rivera, unmistakably a major light in the Mexican Muralist Movement, and his wife Frida Kahlo, who was not a muralist, but who retained some of the essential characteristics that defined the Mexican Muralist Movement.
Table of Contents
Background
Spiritual Revolution
Cross-Pollination via Admiration
A Different Sort of Revolution, a Different Sort of Art
Foundations of the New Art
Diego Rivera
Frida Kahlo
From the Paper "Others besides Delpar regard this as "the most fascinating phase of the whole revolutionary movement".the attempt to readjust the spiritual and cultural background of an entire nation in accordance with the revolutionary changes that the machine age had produced.? Vasconcelos expanded cultural activities widely, including archaeology, ancient history of Mexico, religion, literature, music and the visual arts. Until then, none had ever been developed as integrated parts of the nation's cultural heritage. The most vital and strongest to emerge, and one that has been uniquely identified with Mexico, is mural painting."
