Rivera’s Pan American Unity: Economic Themes from the North and South
Throughout the late 1920’s many American patrons of the arts had attempted to bring the famous Mexican muralist, Diego Rivera, to the United States for commissioned works. It wasn’t until September of 1930 that Rivera finally arrived in San Francisco to paint. His wife, the famous painter Frida Khalo, whom he had recently married, accompanied him. Fellow artist and instructor at the California Academy of Arts, Ralph Stackpole, had recommended to Timothy Pflueger that he use Rivera for a new project he was working on, the Pacific Stock Exchange. This turned out to be a fruitful relationship with the successful completion of Allegory of California, in the stock exchange building. Nearly 10 years later and his last appearance in the US, Pflueger asked Rivera to return to San Francisco to be part of Golden Gate International Exposition of 1939/40. The fruit of those laborers is his Pan American Unity, the themes of which will be explored in further detail here.
Timothy Pflueger commissioned the painting, Pan American Unity. It was a replacement for an art exhibit of European masters on loan for 1939. Pflueger was a well-known architect in San Francisco, having built the Medical Dental Skyscraper on Sutter and worked on the Pacific Stock Exchange building.
Jeremy Long LALS – 14 Landau July 6, 2014
Rivera’s painting are often controversial and spark debate in all kinds of circles, whether it be for his political affiliations or the subject matter of the paintings themselves. In a way, Pan American Unity avoids some of this controversy with his themes of unification and harmony. One might think that the North and South, in this case the United States and Mexico, stand diametrically opposed to one another, but Rivera sought to unite them in common themes. He showed how the labors of the Mexican farmers and ingenious people were not that dis-similar from the backbreaking work of the Detroit autoworkers. Most, if not all, scenes depicted show Mexicans and Americans side
Timothy Pflueger commissioned the painting, Pan American Unity. It was a replacement for an art exhibit of European masters on loan for 1939. Pflueger was a well-known architect in San Francisco, having built the Medical Dental Skyscraper on Sutter and worked on the Pacific Stock Exchange building.
Jeremy Long LALS – 14 Landau July 6, 2014
Rivera’s painting are often controversial and spark debate in all kinds of circles, whether it be for his political affiliations or the subject matter of the paintings themselves. In a way, Pan American Unity avoids some of this controversy with his themes of unification and harmony. One might think that the North and South, in this case the United States and Mexico, stand diametrically opposed to one another, but Rivera sought to unite them in common themes. He showed how the labors of the Mexican farmers and ingenious people were not that dis-similar from the backbreaking work of the Detroit autoworkers. Most, if not all, scenes depicted show Mexicans and Americans side