Diego Rivera

DIEGO RIVERA (Mexico, 1886- 1957).
"Portrait of Elna Lubischz", 1918.
Pencil on paper.
Signed, dedicated and dated.
Presents some roughness on the paper and restoration in the upper left area.
Measurements: 45 x 30 cm; 73,5 x 58 cm (frame).
Female portrait, made in pencil in which the artist places the main character in the center of the composition. Showing interest in her face, since it is the portrait of the bust.
Born in Huanajuato in 1886, Diego Rivera was from a Creole family but his maternal grandmother was Indian. From a young age he stood out for his attitudes with drawing, this made that with 10-11 years old he was already in the academy, he attended night classes. His father did not like it, he wanted him to be a military man but he wanted to be an artist. At the age of 12 he entered the San Carlos Academy in Mexico, where he received a traditional education at the end of the 19th century. Antonio Fabrés was one of his teachers, but he considers Jose María Velasco, a landscape painter, to be his master. In 1907, Rivera, encouraged by Dr. Atl and thanks to a scholarship given to him by the governor of Veracruz, in addition to obtaining money by selling his works in an exhibition promoted by Atl so that the students could sell their works, he left for Europe, arriving in Madrid, where he stayed for two years, 1907-1909. Recommended by Atl, he enters the workshop of the artist Eduardo Chicharro, portraitist and symbolist. During those years Rivera made many copies of works from the Prado Museum. He returns to Mexico in the spring of 1921. Vasconcelos hires him to paint murals. He returns alone, apparently because there was no money for more than a ticket, but it seems that the marriage was broken up. As a result of this trip, Rivera will never return to Paris. In addition, Rivera left another lover and a daughter in Paris. Rivera was appointed director of the Academy of Fine Arts of San Carlos. There he undertook a radical reform, turning the academy into a workshop, creating a rhythm of work that had much more to do with the Renaissance workshops, as the muralists did. Another thing is that the students themselves were self-managed, making it a right for the students to choose their teachers, the staff of the center and the method of work. There was strong opposition from conservative sectors such as teachers, artists and students, and he had to resign as director of the academy. In these years he was also expelled from the communist party. So from 1930 he began to look to North America where he already had a reputation. Rivera makes a first incursion in 1930 to North America, with a series of commissions. He is called again by the minister to finish with projects he had half finished and in 1932 he returns to America where he consolidates his artistic career.