LOT Alexander Autographs  /  Fine Selection of Autographs - Session 1  / 

362

RIVERA, DIEGO AND FRIEDA KAHLO

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RIVERA, DIEGO AND FRIEDA KAHLO
(1886 - 1957) Mexican painter and the leader of the Mexican socio-political school of painting. His leftist-oriented works are based on native historical themes and grace the National Palace in Mexico City. An excessively rare and historically important grouping of material regarding Rivera's mural at Rockefeller autrecCenter, commissioned by Nelson and Abby Rockefeller and erected in May, 1933, only to be taken down by Rockefeller less than a year later, and includes scarce autograph material by Rivera and even rarer autograph letters by his wife, FRIDA KAHLO. By 1930, Rivera had achieved international acclaim for his political murals which combined his passionate Communist sympathies with lush landscapes and motifs from his native land of Mexico. In 1932, he painted a series of murals for the Detroit Institute of Art, and a fresco in honor of Detroit industry. Hired by Rockefeller to paint a mural with the theme "Man at the Crossroads looking with hope and high vision to the choosing of a new and better future", he arrived in New York on March 20, 1933 with his wife Frida Kahlo and two assistants to create a huge fresco on the RCA building of the new, super-modern Rockefeller Center. Around the same time, controversy broke out over Rivera's Detroit murals on the grounds that they were too propagandistic and idealizing of Communism. Rivera, who always enjoyed the role of political agitator, decided to mirror his Detroit works' themes and paint a version of communist paradise with a large portrait of Vladimir Lenin at the center. Rivera had never been secretive about his political affiliations, and his blatantly left-wring ideas for the mural expressed in the frank proposal (included in this archive) were approved by the Rockefellers and the commission started. On May 4th, however, Rockefeller sent Rivera a letter praising his efforts, but also requesting that the picture of Lenin be eradicated from the fresco on the grounds that it may offend some people. Rivera refused, stating that Lenin's portrait was not only in the original sketches, but integral to the project. Removing it would distort the meaning of the mural to such a degree that he would prefer to see it destroyed. However, Rivera offered a compromise: to balance Lenin's portrait with a head of Abraham Lincoln. On May 9th, 1933, two letters on behalf of the Rockefellers were sent to Rivera. The first again pleaded with him to eliminate Lenin from the fresco, and the second, which included a check for $14,000, the balance due on the original fee, fired the artist and ordered him to leave the premises. Stunned, Rivera sought action but was repressed by the police, and the three-quarters completed mural immediately covered by a blank canvas and wooden screen. On Feb. 9, 1934, to the amazement of many, the Rockefeller family had the mural completely destroyed with a chisel and the pieces thrown into the trash. Officially, necessary structural repair to be building was cited as the reason for the art's destruction, but ironically, the very day it was torn down shots were also fired into Rivera's house in San Angel, leaving open the question of political pressure. A month later, Rivera undertook a commission to do a smaller version of the destroyed mural for the National Palace of Fine Arts in Mexico City, and his later work continued in the same fervent political vein as before. This archive contains numerous pages of material from the months before Rivera's arrival in New York, including: four fine content A.L.S., three fine content T.L.S., three D.S., one superb T.Ms.S. by Diego Rivera, and two A.L.S. by Frida Kahlo, as well dozens of pages of related materials, including drafts of letters by Nelson Rockefeller's secretary, material related to the transport of Rivera's paintings to America, telegraphs sent by Rivera, and much more. Rivera's letters are all to FRANCES FLYNN PAINE, the art advisor to the Rockefellers, agent to Rivera for his Rockefeller Center commission, and a member of the board of the Mexican Arts Association, a group hatched at the home of John D. Rockefeller, Jr. to promote cultural relations between Mexico and the U.S. Paine was an active supporter of Rivera's work, organizing a retrospective for Rivera at the Museum of Modern Art on Dec. 23, 1931, and honoring him with a succession of parties and receptions. The MOMA show not only earned high critical acclaim, but drew the largest crowd to date to the museum. During the beginning stages of Rivera's Rockefeller Center commission, Paine voiced misgivings over the work's overtly political theme, but was unable to sway Rivera from his convictions. Rivera's letters in this archive date from May 10, 1930 to Nov. 5, 1932, and comprise 10 pages in total, all 4to. except for one penned in pencil on a small lined sheet, largely in Spanish (fully translated), with very good content about his work, his relationship with Kahlo, whose brilliantly eccentric work rivaled his, and other artistic matters, in very small part: "...[May 30, 1930] With respect to the [MOMA] exhibition...I think it would be better that it take place in Oct. or Nov. [1931]...Regarding the mural painting, I will be able to send you specifics as soon as I know the plans, size, etc. of the walls. About the size of the two oil paintings that you proposed to me, I am in agreement...I have in addition a color study of the mural of the 'Millionaires'...I'm sending you 55 photographs...[July 19, 1930]...I thank you for all the attention you have given me in respect to the exhibition...I will send you a sketch that you requested of the fresco I am painting in Cuera Vaca...I am working 12 to 14 hours a day...About Frieda's work, she is in complete agreement with sending you some of [her paintings] as soon as possible...[Aug. 19, 1932]...Frida is inconsolable because as much care as she had, she could not have my child. It is a pity because she wanted it very much, apart from this misfortune and from being bored to death here, what it good are the paintings on laminates [?] that she has recently done, which are precious and twenty times more interesting than everything else she has done up to now. Also she is learning lithography with all its techniques and what he has already achieved is as interesting as the paintings...I continue working a lot but with me hurrying, making and unmaking until I find what I want, so I hope to make this work the most solid...[Oct. 13, 1932]...As we have talked about signing my contract for the fresco of Rockefeller Center, I will receive $5,000.00 according to the cost that I have to make in the execution of the work. I will turn into you $3,000.00 or $4,000.00 given the salary of your commission of 21% over $21,000.00 that I will receive and pay for my paintings, covering your salary...[Nov. 5, 1932]...I'm sending the synopsis of the...murals. I don’t need to tell you that I am anxious to know what they [the Rockefellers] decide...I am also sending one to Nelson [Rockefeller]...I still have not received anything from Radio City...[Nov. 25, 1932]...". Along with a superb content T.Ms.S. in English, 2pp. 4to., his artist's statement describing the proposed fresco at Rockefeller Center, signed in full at conclusion. In very small part: "...My painting will show the culmination of...evolution, human intelligence in possession of the Forces of Nature, expressed by the lightening [sic] striking off the hand of Jupiter and being transformed into useful electricity that helps cure man's ills, unites man through radio and television, and furnishes them with light and motive [sic] power...My panel will show the development of the Technical Power of man...workers arriving at a true understanding of their rights regarding the means of production, which has resulted in the planning of the liquidation of Tyranny, personified by a crumbling state of Caesar...The main plastic function of the central panel is to express the axis of the building, it's [sic] loftiness, and the ascending echelon of its lateral masses...In the centre, the telescope brings to the vision and understanding of man the most distant celestial bodies...In the median line, the cosmic energy received by two antennae is conducted to the machinery by the Worker...The Worker gives his right hand to the Peasant who questions him, and with his left hand takes the hand of the sick and wounded Soldier...On the right...the Mothers, and on the left, the Teachers watch over the development of the New Generation...Above...the Cinematograph shows a group of young women in the enjoyment of health-giving Sports...Above, the Television gives an image of War...On the opposite side...the same television brings the image of a Popular Movement, the result of high aspirations created by Ethical Development but unsuccessful without an accompanying parallel material development...In the centre, Man is expressed in his triple aspect -- the Peasant who develops from the Earth the products which are the origin and base of all the riches of mankind, the Worker of the cities...and the Soldier who, under the Ethical Force that produces Martyrs in religions and wars, represents Sacrifice. Man, represented by these three figures, looks with uncertainty but with hope toward a future...to a more Humane and Logical Order...". Also included are three partly-printed D.S., each tall 4to., Feb. 27, 1930-Nov. 5, 1931, being American Consular Services "Declaration in Connection with Paintings, Etc., and Sculptures" forms, two of which are filled out by Rivera and signed twice, in part: "...Diego Rivera...one oil painting 'Workers Hollyday' [sic] and seven water colours, six landscapes and one head...". Also included are two excessively rare A.L.S., 6pp. 4to. in total, by Diego Rivera's wife, the well-known Mexican artist FRIDA KAHLO, who striking, surrealistic works have in recent years garnered a devoted, cult audience. Kahlo's life was marked by long periods of ill-health and depression which expressed itself in her intense, bizarre self-portraits that gained international acclaim from prominent painters and writers of her time such as Pablo Picasso, Joan Miro, Vasily Kandinsky, and Andre Breton. Indeed, so ferocious are her portraits that Breton described her art as "a ribbon around a bomb". Rivera and Kahlo married in 1929, and led a tumultuous life punctuated by political activity, infidelity on both sides of the relationship, the most notable of which was Kahlo's affair with Leon Trotsky, divorce and later re-marriage. Devastated that she could not bear Rivera's child because of her numerous injuries and health problems, Kahlo turned her frustration into painting, which, for twenty-eight years, intimately chronicled her eccentric and difficult existence. The first A.L.S. "Frieda" 2pp. 4to., Detroit, Mar. 11, 1933, in Spanish to Frances Paine whom she addresses as "Chita", in part: "...I sent the data that Diego has in his books in respect to your commissions. If it is necessary that I send your secretary an official letter, let me know...Jan. 26, 1932 -- $100.00; Feb. 9, 1932 --$650.00...Let me know if this is according to your records...We're very sorry that you could not come with Nelson [Rockefeller]...to see the paintings...Regarding Nelson, Mary and Lady Rockefeller and to Lady Vaili, tell her that this time I'll go more calmly to New York and I'll got whether there is rain, thunder or lightning...". The second A.L.S. "Frieda" 4pp. 4to., Detroit, Nov. 25, 1932, in part: "...Diego wanted me to write to you...regarding the matters to tell you but, materially, he did not have time...I write on his behalf. As you will recall that the penultimate time we were in New York we had dinner with Dr. [Ignacio] Millan, the doctor who cured Diego. I think he spoke personally to you about his ideas...relative to the study of cancer...Today Diego received a letter from him and he tells him that he has great difficulties in continuing working in the Cancer Institute in Welfare Island and wanted Diego to help him...find work...You know well that Diego owes Millan nothing less than his health...and thinks that if he finds work in the Rockefeller Institute for him to develop himself better and for the Institute, he will be appreciative...That is why Diego wants you to talk to Lady Rockefeller...After you know the opinion of the Lady, let me know and forgive me for the trouble that this might cause you...". Just four months earlier, on July 4, 1932, Kahlo suffered the second in what would be a series of heart-rendering miscarriages. To combat depression, she again turned to painting, creating several of her best-known works during this period. Additionally, the archive includes: two original Western Union telegrams sent by Rivera to Frances Paine on April 20, 1930 and Oct. 14, 1932, regarding his work and mentioning her acting as his agent for commissions in the U.S.; dozens of pages of supplemental material from Frances Paine, including letters to her, material regarding the work of the Mexican Arts Association, material from MOMA pursuant of Rivera's exhibit there and concerning the transport of paintings, etc., a copy of a letter to Rivera from MOMA regarding his exhibit, newspaper articles secretarial drafts of letters on behalf of Nelson Rockefeller, and much more, including four contemporary reference works. A most unusual, intriguing, and significant grouping, in overall very good condition, and richly deserving of more research.
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