Source: WTL research files.
Mural: "Detroit Industry", fresco on the south wall of the Garden Court in the Detroit Institute of Arts (1933).
Comments: The official dedication of Rivera's murals in the Detroit Institute of Arts takes place in 1933. Conservative citizens of Detroit complain that his murals are Communist, sacrilegious, and inappropriate objects of art (i.e., industrial subjects should not be in a museum). This mural depicts the manufacture of a car engine, most like that of a 1932 Ford.
In the same year, a famous conflict takes place in New York, where Rivera painted the Soviet leader Lenin's face in a mural in the RCA bulding. Nelson Rockefeller asked Rivera to paint out Lenin's face. Rivera offerred to put Abraham Lincoln's face opposite that of Lenin while stating that "rather than mutilate the conception I should prefer the physical destruction of the composition in its entirety, but preserving, at least, its integrity." The famous Battle of Rockefeller Center ensued, with political and art factions engaging in heated exchanges. Finally the mural is covered completely by a blank canvas. The following year, the RCA murals are destroyed. For a quick tour of the urban context in New York City where this politico-artistic battle between Rivera and Rockefeller in 1932, see: => RCA Battle. Also, for the recreation of the controversial mural later in Mexico City, see: => Diego Rivera #31.
Next, Rivera creates works for various American Communist organizations. Rivera then returns to Mexico depressed and in bad health. The figures at the top of this mural add to Rivera's view of the races and ethnic groups that make up the society of the United States.