Karl Janssen - Detroit

Detroit

I only spent 24 hours in Detroit, so I'm no expert on the city. One of the main reasons for my visiting Detroit was to see the murals by Diego Rivera at the Detroit Institute of the Arts. They are incredible! Rivera was commissioned by Henry Ford to paint these murals in the museum's courtyard in 1932. They were painted using the fresco techniques which originated in the Renaissance and were revived in the early 20th century by Rivera and his comrades in Mexico. Rivera used this opportunity to create a work of art that is a monumental celebration of industry. While these murals don't contain the kind of controversial Communist imagery which appears in so many of Rivera's murals, they do stay true to his socialist ideals through the glorification of labor and the heroic depiction of the worker. The subject matter of the murals goes beyond the automotive manufacturing process to include the role of science and technology in the history of mankind. Below is an image of one of the four walls.

While I prefer the imagery of some of Rivera's murals in Mexico City, I think these in Detroit are probably the best preserved examples of his work. At some point in the last 70 years, the courtyard was covered, protecting the paintings from the elements, and the murals underwent some intense restoration. The colors are so incredibly vibrant, that it would seem the paintings have undergone very little or no deterioration over their lifetime.

Diego Rivera at the DIA is a good web site that provides more photos of the murals, as well as historical photographs of Rivera engaged in the process of creating them.

There are also some great murals at the Detroit Public Library, across the street (Woodward Ave.) from the Detroit Institute of the Arts. Unfortunately, I don't have any information to offer on the artists that created them.

All artwork and photographs in this site ©Karl Janssen, unless otherwise noted.
No reproduction of images without permission.