Watercolor and crayon on graph paper from a disbound sketchbook
Not on view
The sketchbook Rivera made during his 1927-28 trip to Moscow reflects both the thrilling pageantry of the mass celebrations staged for the tenth anniversary of the Russian Revolution and more quotidian details of Soviet life. Beginning with a series of domestic scenes, Rivera's drawings follow a family as it prepares for the day's festivities. Outside the home, they focus on the spectacle of the events—colorful banners, posters, and floats—and capture the city's famous landmarks, including Lenin's tomb and St. Basil's Cathedral in Red Square. Rivera's principal interest, though, was the crowd: men and women, children and the elderly, and soldiers and civilians move through the street en masse. Abby Aldrich Rockefeller later bought Rivera's sketchbook for an impressive $2,500, helping to fund his trip to New York in November 1931 for his exhibition at MoMA. She donated it to the Museum in 1935.
Diego Rivera: Murals for The Museum of Modern Art, November 13, 2011-May 14, 2012.
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Diego Rivera
Mexican, 1886–1957 92 works onlineAt the height of his career, Diego Rivera was an international art celebrity. Trained at the Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes in Mexico City, he spent more than a decade in Europe, becoming a leading figure in Paris’s vibrant international community of avant-garde artists.
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Watercolor
Paints composed of pigments ground to an extremely fine texture in an aqueous solution of gum Arabic or gum tragacanth.
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