Diego Rivera: The Moscow Sketchbook
Mexican muralist bears witness to the revolution
In 1927, the renowned Mexican muralist Diego Rivera (1886-1957) visited Moscow as a representative of the Mexican Communist Party, coinciding with the grand celebrations of the 10th Anniversary of the Russian Revolution. Rivera sketched the scenes he witnessed, capturing the essence of this political and cultural event.
His pencil and watercolor drawings showcase a range of subjects, from domestic scenes depicting a Soviet family’s preparations for May Day festivities to the vibrant spectacle of parade floats, marching soldiers, and enthusiastic spectators waving their red flags and banners. Rivera also sketched some of the city’s famous iconic landmarks, including Lenin’s Tomb and St. Basil’s Cathedral in Red Square.
These sketches would serve as reference for a mural commission received from the first Soviet People’s Commissioner of Enlightenment, for a reception room in the Red Army’s high command. He decided to stay in Moscow for eight months.
Rivera achieved unexpected celebrity status, beginning with his arrival being announced in the Communist Party’s national daily newspaper, Pravda. The article highlighted the “extraordinary frescoes” he painted in Mexico City, hailing them as “the world’s first Communist murals.” The bond between the Soviet Union and Mexico, both shaped by revolutions, led Mexican artists and intellectuals to look to the new Soviet state for relevant models to connect with their own ongoing cultural revolution. Rivera was dedicated to muralism as a politically potent form of art. By rejecting easel painting, he sought to create works intended for public display and mass audiences. Rivera soon found himself embroiled in debates surrounding the ideological aims of Soviet art.
Rivera’s Moscow sketchbook captures the monumentality of the public demonstrations he witnessed. His principal interest lay in depicting the crowd, encompassing men, women, children, the elderly, soldiers, and civilians as they moved en masse through the city streets. But it also contains some intimate portrayals of family life.
During his stay, Rivera had a chance meeting with Alfred H. Barr Jr., the future director of New York’s Museum of Modern Art. Their unlikely friendship led to Rivera’s successful one-person show at MoMA during the winter of 1931-32, ultimately launching his career in America. Abby Aldrich Rockefeller, a founding trustee of the Museum, even purchased Rivera’s sketchbook for $2500, effectively contributing to offsetting his expenses in New York.
Diego Rivera's watercolor drawings offer a compelling visual narrative with a touch of human empathy…remarkable in that they bear witness to a significant global event while preserving an authentic human perspective. Regardless of whether his Moscow Sketchbook serves as a journalistic record of a significant event, a personal travel journal, or simply as reference material for a commissioned mural, it remains a beautiful testament to a particular human experience, observed by an artist deeply committed to making the world a better place.
More to Know:
View all of Diego Rivera’s Moscow sketches here.
After Diego Rivera refused to remove the images of Lenin and a Soviet May Day parade in the 'Man at the Crossroads' mural he painted in the RCA Building in New York; Nelson Rockefeller, director of the Rockefeller Center ordered it be chiseled off and plastered over.
Art: brilliant. Politics: questionable but looked like a worthwhile experiment at the time.
Marxism was something different before Marxism-Leninism, and worse yet Stalinism and now Putinism. Descent into authoritarianism and thuggery.
There is something touching about Rivera's documenting of the private activities of individuals with the public parades featuring so many faceless people. Another example of history on the run.
I agree with you: it is "a beautiful testament to a particular human experience." It would have really liked to have seen those notebook pages at the MoMA exhibit. Thanks for sharing them here!