Diego Rivera in America

Enjoy this selection from the museum's Peter A. Juley and Son Collection.

Mexican muralist Diego Rivera had many exhibitions and commissions in the United States during his lifetime, most notably in the early 1930s. During one of his visits to this country, Rivera's photograph was taken by the Peter A. Juley and Son studio, whose archive of artist portraits resides at the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

Diego Rivera's memorable commissions in Mexico—such as the Ministry of Education (Mexico City), Cortes Palace (Cuernavaca, Morelos), and the Agriculture School of Chapingo (Mexico City)—are both historical and allegorical. In the United States, his murals at The Detroit Institute of Arts are also noteworthy.

Although some of his work is currently labeled propagandistic because it reflects his embrace of Communism, he is still considered one of Latin America's leading artists.

Source: Joan Stahl. American Artists in Photographic Portraits from the Peter A. Juley & Son Collection (Washington, D.C. and Mineola, New York: National Museum of American Art and Dover Publications, Inc., 1995).

Pictured: Photograph of Diego Rivera, 1886–1957, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Peter A. Juley & Son Collection.