The Detroit Institute of Arts is getting ready to launch an exhibit featuring two well-noted artists of the 20th century, Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo, who spent time in Detroit.
The exhibit, which runs from March 15 to July 12, explores the tumultuous and highly productive year that Mexican artists Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo spent in Detroit, the museum said in a press release.
The DIA says in the release:
This is the first exhibition to focus on their time in Detroit, a period during which each artist made significant career breakthroughs and where Rivera painted his groundbreaking Detroit Industry murals.
“Rivera considered Detroit Industry, recently designated a national historical landmark, as his finest mural cycle,” said Graham W. J. Beal, DIA director in a statement. “It shows the artist at the height of his powers. For Frida Kahlo, on the other hand, the works she produced while in Detroit can be seen as the beginning of her development as a mature artist with her own distinct—and distinctive—style.”
Between April 1932 and March 1933, Rivera created the famous mural, Detroit Industry,on the walls of what was then a garden courtyard at the recently opened new museum building, the DIA said.
The museums say:
At the same time and largely unnoticed, Kahlo developed her now-celebrated artistic identity. By including works before, during and after their time in Detroit, the exhibition provides a context for the impact Detroit had on each one’s career.
WWJ has done a video on the exhibit.
