Every Day Is Special: Rivera

Showing posts with label Rivera. Show all posts

July 17 – Luis Muñoz Rivera's Birthday

(Third Monday in July)

Posted on July 17, 2016

Luis Muñoz Rivera is one of Puerto Rico's heroes. This poet and journalist cared about political autonomy for his land - and he agitated for self-government and independence from the Spanish Empire.

Muñoz Rivera became a politician, first becoming a delegate in the Autonomist Party and later becoming Chief of the Cabinet of the government.

Born on this date in 1859, Muñoz Rivera lived long enough to see Puerto Rico transferred from Spain to the United States (which happened in 1898). Under the U.S., a military government was formed - and Muñoz Rivera resigned his position and stayed out of politics for about a decade.

In 1909 Muñoz Rivera was elected Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico. Later, his son became involved in politics, and it was that son that became the first democratically elected Governor of Puerto Rico.

Puerto Rico is one of the many territories in the world that is part of the United States - kind of. Puerto Rico is an "unincorporated territory" of the U.S.; the people of Puerto Rico are natural-born citizens of the U.S. and can move freely between the island and any of the 50 states. But Puerto Rico is not a state, so it doesn't have any votes in Congress, and the citizens of Puerto Rico are disenfranchised at the federal level. (That means that they cannot vote for the president or vice-president.)

Many Puerto Ricans are pretty happy with this sorta-kinda membership in the U.S. Just last month another election occurred, the fifth asking Puerto Ricans whether or not they should change their political status, and if so, to what new political status. This election, unlike all the others, had an enormous majority agreeing - a whopping 97% said that they wanted statehood.

BUT only 23% of Puerto Ricans voted this time - there is usually around 80% participation - and most people agree that the ballot questions were worded so unfairly that most people decided to sit the election out.

As recently as 2012, only a very small percentage of Puerto Ricans wanted full independence, by the way.

Check out some of the beautiful things you can see in Puerto Rico:

The photo above is of Vieques, which is a small island
off the coast of Puerto Rico island!

Also on this date:

Scopes Festival

Yellow Pig Day

Gion Matsuri in Japan

Wrong-Way Corrigan Day

Anniversary of an ancient solar eclipse

Disneyland's birthday

World Emoji Day

Plan ahead:

Check out my Pinterest boards for:

And here are my Pinterest boards for:

December 8 – Happy Birthday, Diego Rivera

Posted on December 8, 2015

He may be the most famous Mexican artist of all time.

He was married to another one of the most famous Mexican artists of all time. (Twice!)

Self-portrait of Frida Kahlo, who married
Diego Rivera two times.

I was struck by something said in this short bio – that Rivera influences how we see Mexico, and how Mexico sees itself! That's...pretty amazing, if you think about it!

Born in 1886 in Guanajuato, Mexico, Diego Rivera had Jewish ancestry, but his ancestors had been forced to convert to Catholicism; it is, perhaps, not very surprising that Rivera was a nonbeliever. He began drawing on the walls of his house at age three. Instead of punishing him, his parents installed chalkboards and canvas on the walls.

With that kind of support for his wall art, Rivera grew up to do this:

Diego Rivera grew up to make a lot of money
for drawing and painting on walls!

Diego Rivera studied painting at age 10 in Mexico City, and in Madrid, Spain, and Paris, France, as a young adult. After a decade in Paris, he traveled through Italy studying art. One thing he was interested in was Renaissance frescoes. (Frescoes are murals painted on freshly-laid, wet lime plaster. The pigments in the paint merge with the plaster and, by the time the plaster fully sets, is fully a part of the wall rather than being painted “on” the wall.)

In 1921, Rivera returned to Mexico and began painting murals in the fresco style.

Rivera's art is generally LARGE.

It tells stories.

It is influenced by Azteca and Maya art.

Above, Rivera's portrayal of Native Mexican people.
Below, Aztec portrayal of themselves.

It is political and often controversial.

His murals are not all in Mexico; there is one in San Francisco, one in Detroit, and one in New York City.

This mural appears in the San Francisco Art Institute.

Okay, I found this interesting: Rivera's most controversial painting was begun in 1933 for the Rockefeller Center in New York City. Rivera included a portrait of communist Russian leader Vladimir Lenin in the mural. Rockefeller was upset and demanded that Rivera paint over that part of the mural. Rivera refused.

This photo shows a recreation of the controversial mural.

So Rockefeller kicked him off the project.

One of Rivera's assistants managed to take a few photos of the mural. The mural itself was supposed to be destroyed, but there are rumors that it was just covered over.

Rivera was paid in full for the mural, although a commission to paint a mural at the Chicago World's Fair was canceled because of the controversy. Rivera was able to use the photos to duplicate the mural elsewhere, and he recreated the mural in Mexico City. What I found particularly interesting was that he released a statement that he would use the money he was paid for the mural to repaint the same mural for free anywhere and everywhere he was asked to do so!

Diego Rivera

This controversy has been written about in articles and poems, and it has been portrayed in movies. The dispute became part of the discussion of important issues about artistic freedom versus the rights of art patrons to see their visions carried out by the artists they hire...

Check out Artsy's Diego Rivera page!

Also on this date: