DETROIT, MICH.- A landmark exhibition dedicated to Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo opened at the Detroit Institute of Arts on March 15, exploring for the first time the pivotal and highly productive period the Mexican artists spent in Detroit in the early 1930s. Centered on Rivera’s monumental Detroit Industry murals—widely regarded as the artist’s most accomplished cycle and commissioned by the DIA in 1932—Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo in Detroit brings together some 65 works by the two artists created immediately before, during, and after their stay in Detroit, including a series of Rivera’s full-scale preparatory drawings for Detroit Industry, which are on view for the first time in nearly 30 years. Together, these works reflect the critical and enduring impact of Detroit’s industrial life, people, and workers on Rivera and Kahlo’s relationship and each one’s artistic development amid the harsh economic conditions of the Great Depression. The DIA is the sole venue for the exhibition, which will be on view through July 12, 2015, and marks the museum’s first major exhibition as an independent institution.

Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo in Detroit is accompanied by a wide range of public programs presented in partnership with organizations across the city to celebrate Detroit’s rich history as a creative epicenter. Reflecting the DIA’s long-standing and reinvigorated commitment to Detroit’s community and cultural life, these programs include events with such partners as the Michigan Opera Theatre, Detroit Historical Museum, The Henry Ford, Lorenzo Cultural Center at Macomb Community College, The N’Namdi Center for Contemporary Art, Baldwin Public Library, and the Michigan Science Center, among others.

“Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo in Detroit comes at a transformative moment in the DIA’s history, and is a remarkable opportunity for our visitors,” said DIA director Graham W. J. Beal. “We are thrilled to usher in our next chapter as an independent organization with this singular exhibition, which sheds new light on the extraordinary lives of two of the world’s most interesting artists, and builds on the DIA’s legacy as an invaluable cultural destination. We are delighted to engage our city with this extraordinary exhibition that will only be seen in Detroit and that speaks to our city’s rich industrial and cultural history.”

Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo in Detroit juxtaposes works created by both artists before, during, and after their crucial year in Detroit between April 1932 and March 1933, providing a comprehensive context for the immense impact of Detroit on Rivera’s and Kahlo’s creative development—both together and apart. Set against the tumultuous political and economic backdrop of the Great Depression, Rivera and Kahlo’s year in Detroit marked a turning point in the evolution of their artistic careers and personal relationship. Prior to their arrival, the couple’s work primarily focused on Mexican politics, society, and communal identity—Rivera on the dynamics between farmers, laborers, and indigenous peoples; Kahlo on folk art motifs and culture as the purest expression of Mexican heritage. By the early 1930s, Rivera was widely celebrated as a pioneering muralist while Kahlo remained unknown. As Rivera developed the 27 panels of Detroit Industry on the walls of the interior garden courtyard of the newly established DIA, Kahlo, who was unhappy in Detroit, experimented with the deeply personal subject matter that launched her now-famous artistic identity.

Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo in Detroit is anchored by the Detroit Industry murals and their rarely seen drawings. The exhibition also features exceptional works from the DIA’s collection, as well as loans from important public and private collections across the United States and internationally. Notable works from the exhibition include:

 A series of 8 preparatory drawings for Rivera’s Detroit Industry murals (1932), which will be on public view for the first time in nearly 30 years. These true-to-scale cartoons reflect Rivera’s overarching vision for the series as a synthesis between Mexico’s spiritual and political values and the United States’ industrial might. The sketches also reveal Rivera’s fluid and imaginative ability to work on paper, and some of his drawings later evolved into stand-alone works.

 Kahlo’s Henry Ford Hospital (1932), a dramatic oil painting depicting the artist’s physical and emotional trauma following the devastating loss of her pregnancy in Detroit. The work illustrates Kahlo lying in her hospital bed surrounded by surreal, unsettling images of her unborn child and other objects that represent her experience. Kahlo’s preparatory drawing for this work will also be on view.

 Kahlo’s Self-Portrait on the Borderline between Mexico and the United States (1932), a painting in which the artist straddles the two countries’ borders, with references to Mexico’s ancient cultural tradition on her left and symbols of U.S. industry on her right. While there are similarities to the imagery of Detroit Industry, Kahlo, unlike Rivera, portrays the two countries as distinctly separate—and clearly favors Mexico.

 Rivera’s Emiliano Zapata (1929), a lithograph of the artist’s subsequent fresco Agrarian Leader Zapata (1931), depicts the champion of Mexican agrarian reform and protagonist of the Mexican Revolution leading a band of rebels. Rivera immortalizes Zapata as a sympathetic hero, and portrays the victory of the Revolution as a symbol of just vengeance. This work is a prime example of Rivera’s dedication to his art as a means of fostering Mexican national pride.

 Rivera’s Man Loading Donkey with Firewood (1938), painted after the artists returned home to Mexico. The work reflects Rivera’s continued interest in portraying everyday life and indigenous Mexican heritage, further building on the technique he refined in Detroit.

 Kahlo’s Self Portrait with Monkey (1945), a prime example of the artist’s signature portraiture and most prolific period, in which she appears with one of her pet monkeys clinging to her as a source of comfort—building on the highly emotional style developed in Detroit. Additionally, Kahlo used the muted color palette here in later paintings such as The Wounded Deer (1946) and Portrait of My Father (1951).

Detroit Industry and the DIA
The Detroit Industry murals, designated a National Historic Landmark in 2014, are widely regarded as Rivera’s most ambitious and accomplished series. Together, the 27 panels depict the intricate interplay of natural resources, manufacturing processes, and the workers of the Ford Motor Company River Rouge plant, as well as Detroit’s other major industries. Rivera, who had a long-standing interest in industrial design, spent months sketching the Ford plant as he deliberated the subject of his series. Fascinated by Ford’s state-of-the art factory, he conceived of the murals as promoting greater awareness of the working class and American engineering genius. Rivera also incorporated elements of ancient Mexican cultural beliefs and their relationship to the modern world throughout the murals to illustrate the interconnectedness of the earth’s resources and modern technology.

The exhibition explores the impetus behind the Detroit Industry commission as a key part of then-director William R. Valentiner’s formative vision for the museum as a leading center for cutting-edge contemporary art. Valentiner’s passion and determination to secure the commission despite severe opposition—and ultimately obtaining the necessary funds from Henry Ford’s son, Edsel Ford—helped fulfill his vision of engaging the people of Detroit with preeminent living artists and establishing the museum as a cultural arbiter.

“Rivera considered Detroit Industry to be his finest mural cycle, distilling on walls of our museum the height of his career,” said Mark Rosenthal, the exhibition organizer and adjunct curator of contemporary art at the Detroit Institute of Arts. “Although the lives of these two painters have been exhaustively examined, the location of their sojourn to the city of Detroit has not yet been given significant focus as representing a turning point in their evolutions—this exhibition changes that.”