Book Description
Presents a biography of Diego Rivera ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Great for Elementary Art Teachers!
You can't go wrong with these Art books! I use them all the time in my Art room...great way to introduce the "sometimes" boring topic of Art history.

Diego Rivera
My son is 8 years old and had to do a book report over the summer on Diego Rivera.
This book was recommended by his teacher and I would highly recommend it as well.
Super easy to read and follow and made it interesting enough for my son to enjoy.
He was able to read this in a day! ... Read more

Book Description

Customer Reviews (2)

Fact and Fiction
This book is a mixture of fact and fantasy, the real real and imagined world as conjured by the mind of Diego Rivera as told to Gladys March. The invention of facts, the fabrication of the bits of truth to create a colorful story are the result of a newspaper interview that flourished into a series of interviews over many years. Beginning in1944 and continuing until his death in 1957 Gladys March spent several months each year collecting over 2000 pages of notes thateventually formed the basis of this book. As another customer reviewer stated this is not the place to start when you reading about the life of Rivera since the lines between fact and fiction are blurred at best. A more accurate picture can be found in "dreaming With His Eyes Open" by Patrick Marnham. If you have a foundation in the life and times of one of the great Mexican artists than this book reflects a colorfuland imaginative mind. The brillance of his art aside Diego reveals himself and makes no excuses for the parts of his pesonality that are less than desireable. He talks about his experiment in cannanbilsm, witchcraft, his blaphemous treatment of religion and the church, the communist party, his relationships with world leaders, artists and women, his advetures in Europe, the United Statesand Mexico, his troubles and ills , including his bout with cancer of the penis and in general the things that made his life as large as his physical presence.A very entertaining book that is easy to readbecause each small chapter deals with an extensive period of his life. All in all this is a good book to compliment other books on Rivera to get an even more accurate but distorted view of his brilliance. Included are several picturesand paintings from throughout his life. The man , the myth and the artist are here for you to decipher the truth and paint your own picture.

Strictly Fantasy
If you have not yet read anything about the life of Diego Rivera, don't start with this book. While Rivera's re-imagining of his life is riveting, it is merely one more tall tale.Rivera is known for many talents,however, sticking to the truth is not one of them.

If you already have asolid background in the artists life, then by all means read this book toget a sharper insight into his mental inner-workings! ... Read more

Amazon.com
What confidence and ambition it requires to approach a biography of Diego Rivera, the larger-than-life Mexican muralist who in recent years has been reduced, in some circles, to being known as Frida Kahlo's evil husband. The myths and mysteries begin at his birth, in 1884. His mother seemed to die just after Diego, a firstborn twin, emerged, and her body was laid out for burial, until an old servant insisted she was still breathing. She recovered fully (Diego's twin died at age 2). This macabre event was but the first in a fabulously eventful life.

Under the brutal regime of the dictator Porfirio Díaz, whose legacy included human slavery on an unprecedented scale, Mexico City became "The Paris of the Americas," with imperial palaces, European music, and decorations by artists who had studied under Ingres. "It was in this exuberant, chaotic, and occasionally dangerous world that Diego Rivera grew up," writes Patrick Marnham, who casts a spell of such strangeness, beauty, and black humor that the reader is utterly hooked by the end of the first few pages. Marnham repeats and analyses all the fables Rivera spun about himself and his family; he describes Rivera's enchantment with Italian fresco cycles and his friendship and rivalry with Picasso in Montmartre in the 1920s; he reports Rivera's countless amorous conquests; and he presents the supposedly feminist view of Rivera as a monster of appetite, arrogance, and authority. Marnham also does an excellent job of picking apart the personal, political, and artistic threads of the disastrous brouhaha over Rivera's Rockefeller Center murals. In prose that is poetically rich and frequently tinged with not-so-gentle irony, he has written a thoroughly believable book about an all but unbelievable life. --Peggy Moorman Book Description
This engrossing biography of Diego Rivera, the brilliant Mexican artist and revolutionary, captures the explosively passionate nature that made Rivera one of the twentieth-century's most gifted and controversial painters. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

Author Has Better Understanding of History than People
I am surprised that other readers enjoyed this book, especially readers who like Rivera. I had the distinct impression that the author, Patrick Marnham, did not like Rivera.Rivera's larger than life personality can probably not be claimed to be understood by many people, and perhaps Marnham's total want of understanding is the source for his dislike.

While this could be one of several books to read about Diego Rivera it should not be relied heavily upon. Marnham does not seem to approve of many of the characters he writes about in this book . I don't think he has an appreciation for colorful people. I felt he was a very supressed and uptight person writing about some very free spirits.

A biography of Rivera seemed a poor subject choice for him.Perhaps being an art critic would be a better suited undertaking for him.Or maybe since his grasp of history seems good his temperment would be better suited to writing dry fact based history than attempting to discern the subtlties of the human character.

He made several assertions that he represented as fact.One that springs to mind was that Frida Kahlo commited suicide.While that May be true, it also may not be true.

Marnham collected information about Diego Rivera, where he went, when he went , etc, but gave no real sense of warmth of Diego Rivera. Since Rivera was a man of such great passion it was disappointing to have only a two dimensional portrait of him drawn.I felt I knew alot more of Marnham's personality after reading this book than of Rivera's.But touché I felt much the same about Marnham as he did Rivera, I didn't like him much.

Great Biography of a Flawed but Great Artist
Diego Rivera was born in the magical city of Guanajuato. This fact alone made me pick up this book and then buy it. I visited Guanajuato in 2002 and fell in love with the twisty roads, the Baroque facades of the Templos and the Basilica, the Easter-egg colored houses and the general feeling that one had been dropped down in a 18th Century Spanish town.Rivera left it with his mother at the age of six, but the city of his birth, with its recent mummies and Day of the Dead festivals left its mark on him.

Rivera lived in Mexico City until 1907, when he left for Spain and for the next 15 years lived there and in France. He picked up a common-law wife and then a lover- a portent of things to come.He met and was friends (or sometimes enemies) with some of the greatest artists of the period, including Picasso, Mondrian, Modigliani and Matisse.He worked in classic style until he accepted Cubism, only to move toward Cezanne-style art, and eventually to develop his own style. He eventually became one of the greatest of modern fresco painters.However, his character was far from flawless. He lied about his past often and in different ways, depending on the situation, was not very careful about personal hygiene, and also often ran away from relationships to avoid unpleasant realities.

Rivera joined the Mexican Communist Party (MCP) in 1922. After three failures at having a permanent relationship with a woman, he married the rather obsessional young Communist Frida Kahlo (who was twenty years his junior) in 1929.In that same year he was expelled from the MCP because of various internal party intrigues.He then became friends with the exiled Leon Trotsky, who repaid him by having a short affair with Frida. Frida, to make matters more complicated, was repaying Rivera for his affair with her sister. Because of his association with Trotsky, Rivera was not readmitted to the party again until 1954, after the death of Stalin. This summery only touches on and can hardly do justice to the complicated world of Diego Rivera, one of the most complex of men.

Patrick Marnham presents in this book the convoluted ins and outs of Rivera's life, his many affairs and his association with the art world and the Communist Party in vivid detail.

This is a fascinating study of this very complex and often selfish man who was also a great artist. It is also a window into a very confusing and turbulent time in the history of the World.It is a work that should be read by all interested in understanding this period and the modern world that rose from it.

The many loves of Rivera
With various books written on the life of Diego Rivera this one is a must have. Anytime a subject is studied, it this case the life of arguably the greatest Mexican muralist, it is worthwhile to have various perspectives before coming to one's own conclusion. In that regard this book is invaluable as the author doesn't give you a softball and is quick to point out the inconsistencies in other versions of the larger than life Diego Rivera's exploits, including his own autobiography. The book itself is a fascinating portrait into the life of the celebrated Mexican muralist's life, beginning with the unusual circumstnances of his youth, his sojourn to Europe and studying art in France, his mingling in the bohemian lfestyle with various artists and intellectuals of his era, including his at times not so friendly rivalry with Spanish artist Pablo Picasso, his return to Mexico, his politics(communist) and the troubles he had since he usually mixed art and politics, his many, many love affairs, his multiple marriages including several to soul mate Frida Kahlo, his association with Trotsky(and his wife), his work in the United States and his later years in Mexico where he remained productive in spite of failing health. It is all here, both the believable and the unbelieveable, meshing together for a fascinating look at a man that could literally charm the pants off of the most beautiful women of the world. Included are two seperate groups ofpictures that include rarely seen vintage photographs and color prints of his most famous works. Every now and then I read a book that I want to savor and take my time. Like a special meal or an intimate moment, this book was one that I wanted to savor once I began. I wanted to make it last because it was so enjoyable, knowing that the inevitable consequence of my reading would make it end I almost regretted finishing the book. I took days to read the final chapters in the hope that somehow the experience would not end. I would highly recommend this book to those that are interested in DiegoRivera, Frida Kahlo, and Mexicanart or history. It is a book that paints more than a picture, it is more like a grand muralthat captures thefantastic life of Diego Rivera. This is a highly enjoyable book and an indispensable aid in understanding the complex makeup ofone of the true giantsof art in the twentieth century.

Marnham on Rivera
No footnotes, inadequate bibliography, and surprisingly, almost no mistakes. He reports on time and place in a constructive way and dispels Rivera's own myths about himself humorously. Very good read.

A Rotund Biography Worthy of the Rotund Rivera
Marnham's biography provides a rotund, finely textured portrait worthy of the rotund Rivera.Marnham's Rivera is a technically blessed meta-Mexican eternally adapting his extraordinary gifts and solitary vision to the economic and political exigencies of Europe, Mexico, and the United States. Marnham's Rivera loves only art and as a consequence was - as we all now know - a bad husband, bad father and horrible politician but - as we may not know- never truly a bad man. Marnham is able to write with enormous respect for Rivera without losing his critical edge. For example, throughout the book, Marhnam's continuously tests Rivera's own autobiographical assertions against more conventional notions of truth with amusing irony but without condescension.Marnham never loses sight of Rivera's genius.

The biography contributes fascinating details about Rivera's European years from his studies in Spain to his days/nights as a sometimes participant of the cafe society of the Free Republic of Montparnasse.Likewise, Marnham's discussion of the Rivera/ Kahlo visits to the United States is fascinating. Though this fills in large gaps in Rivera scholarship, my major criticism is that Marnham failed to dedicate comparable effort to Rivera's role in the intellectual currents of post-revolutionary Mexico.For instance, scarce mention is devoted to the contrasts and rivalries between Rivera, and the other notable mutalists of his day, Jose Clemente Orozco and David Alfaro Siqueiros.Marnham also ignores Rivera's artistic legacy in Mexico or the United States.While Rivera did not invent nor perhaps truly even master mural art, Rivera is certainly the premier inspiration for "public" artists on both sides of the border.

For an interesting and literate discussion of Rivera and Mexican muralism, I recommend Octavio Paz, Essays on Mexican Art. ... Read more

Book Description
Diego in detail: The most comprehensive study of Rivera's work ever made A veritable folk hero in Latin America and Mexico's most important artist - along with his wife, painter Frida Kahlo - Diego Rivera (1886-1957) led a passionate life devoted to art and communism. After spending the 1910s in Europe, where he surrounded himself with other artists and embraced the Cubist movement, he returned to Mexico and began to paint the large-scale murals for which he is most famous. In his murals, he addressed social and political issues relating to the working class, earning him prophetic status among the peasants of Mexico. He was invited to create works abroad, most notably in the United States, where he stirred up controversy by depicting Lenin in his mural for the Rockefeller Center in New York City (the mural was destroyed before it was finished). Rivera's most remarkable work is his 1932 Detroit Industry, a group of 27 frescos at the Detroit Institute of Art in Michigan. This lavish volume - the first book to feature Rivera's complete mural oeuvre, including newly discovered works - features numerous large-scale details of the murals, allowing their various components and subtleties to be closely examined. In addition to the murals is a vast selection of paintings, vintage photos, documents, and drawings from public and private collections around the world many of which the whereabouts were previously unknown to scholars and whose inclusion here is thanks to the most intense research performed on Rivera's work since his death. Texts include an illustrated biography and essays by prominent art historians offering interpretations of each mural. One could not ask for a more comprehensivestudy of Rivera's oeuvre; finally, a half-century after Rivera's death, his work is the subject of the sweeping retrospective it deserves. ... Read more

Amazon.com
In another life, before becoming one of the best known and most popular journalists in New York and the author of the bestselling memoir A Drinking Life, Pete Hamill studied art on the GI Bill in Mexico City. Upon seeing the monumental work of José Clemente Orozco, however, he abruptly lost his nerve: "It seemed an act of self-delusion to try to be a painter."

After 44 years, Hamill has found a way to integrate his early affair with art, his lifelong love of Mexico, and his narrative gifts in this riveting and lushly illustrated book on Diego Rivera, Mexico's best-known, widely loved muralist. Hamill's text, he says, was completed before the publication of Patrick Marnham's Dreaming with His Eyes Open: A Life of Diego Rivera. This one is less scholarly but respectably researched, and Hamill's fervent opinions on which of Rivera's works are worthy and which are the sad effluvia of a Communist Party hack are remarkably persuasive. Hamill's esthetic judgment has led him to avoid reproducing any second-rate clunkers. He has chosen the great murals, paintings, and drawings that suit the godlike stature of this outsize artist who lied, cheated, womanized, and evaded responsibility his entire life, but who worked like a demon in the service of his art.

Rivera's shabby genteel childhood; his flight to France during the 10-year Mexican Revolution, during which nearly a tenth of his countrymen died; his callous abandonment of his first wife; his ugly political gambits and high-flown society contacts; his ultimately sad relationships with both men and women--Hamill weaves it all into a fantastic read. The book is not as balanced as Dreaming with His Eyes Open, but is nonetheless a passionate first look at an artist whose complicated life will probably still be examined decades from now. --Peggy Moorman Book Description
Diego Rivera (1886-1957) was the greatest Mexican painter of the century-an audacious muralist, voracious lover, and ardent leftist who befriended Pablo Picasso, married Frida Kahlo, and quarreled with Leon Trotsky. Pete Hamill, a best-selling novelist and one of America's most esteemed journalists, gives us an extraordinary book, now in paperback, on Rivera's life and art. Hamill, once a young art student in Mexico City, shows how, despite the political passions, Rivera created a body of work that still astonishes. Filled with superb reproductions and documentary photographs, Diego Rivera is a tour de force.

"In this tight and balanced look at Mexican painter Diego Rivera, Pete Hamill focuses on Rivera's work. While Hamill touches on Rivera's unpredictable temperament . . . notably displayed in his infamous marriage to Frida Kahlo . . . this gorgeous book devotes itself to Rivera's development as artist and political icon. . . .Hamill deftly shows why Rivera deserves to be remembered as one of the great painters of the twentieth century."-The Progressive

"A fascinating book . . . Hamill writes authoritatively about Rivera's work and diverse styles."-The New York Times Book Review ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

great artist, great writer
Buy this for the beautiful reproductions and intriguing photos that will have you dreaming of the non-beach areas of Mexico.

Buy this for the warm and beautiful writing even if you don't know who Diego Rivera is.

Re the reviewer who thought Hamill was hard on Rivera's politics: he was equally hard on Rivera's religious affiliation.Hamill is not interested in convincing the reader of any political or religious belief; he is interested in describing the difference between Rivera's greatest and weakest works.His opinion, of course, but the overall impression is one of great admiration for Rivera as a person as well as a painter, and the overall influence on the reader is one of opening the mind and not closing it.

Highly recommended.

Anti-left diatribe

The artwork in Hamill's volume almost makes the book worth its price, but his commentary is so unrelentingly anti-left that he does an injustice to Rivera's memory. Consider a representative passage: "The violent triumph of the Bolsheviks in October 1917 and the swift and bloody [sic] creation of the Soviet Union provided an instant model [for Mexican revolutionaries]. Many young intellectuals were persuaded that a Marxist-Leninist ideology could be imported to Mexico... They believed the lies about communist successes that were being sent to the world from Moscow. They truly believed that the new and glorious Soviet Union was a state where artists and writers flourished, and where millions of happy Russians, Slavs, and other ethnics were working selflessly toward common goals....It was an oddly innocent time. Nobody had yet heard the word gulag." Now any reader with even a limited knowledge of Soviet history can't help but find the sarcasm of this passage arresting. One need not be an apologist for Stalin and the crimes of the later Soviet Empire to acknowledge that in the early years of the revolution there was, in fact, a flowering of art and culture, a truly revolutionary environment that produced luminaries like Bakhtin and Eisenstein. Furthermore, Rivera, himself, was not an apologist for Stalinism and his own work fits well within the critical Western Marxist tradition that includes Lukacs (who, by the way, also admired Lenin), Benjamin, and even Adorno.

Hamill never loses an opportunity to attack Rivera's politics. Why such a strident anti-leftist would write a book on Rivera I'll will never understand. But the fact that this is the most readily available and one of the most handsome books on Rivera speaks volumes about the politics of the art publishing industry.

The life and the art. First rate!
Prior to reading Hamill's bio of Rivera I had read some of another, published the same year. I'm not sure why I was so cool to the book or why it left me irritated. But that would have been the end of my investigation of Rivera's life if I hadn't come across Hamill's book by accident.
I read a couple of pages and was hooked. Hamill is known to me as a fine journalist, editor and novelist but an art biographer? Yes! Yes! This book is a pleasure to read. The prose is clear, clean and engaging, yet it packs a lot of information. And what's the point of writing about a major painter and not printing any of his work? This book is filled with glorious, excellent color reproductions covering Rivera's entire life work. Hamill is not afraid to offer judgments but I thought they were fair and relevant. This is a solid piece of work. As a young man Hamill wanted to be a painter and went to Mexico City to study. He later lived in the city as a journalist. So there are many years of the love of Mexico and art behind this book.
If you want to know more about the Mexican revolution, the art scene in Paris around the years of WWI (Rivera accused Picasso of stealing ideas from him) how Mexico nurtured and esteemed its artists, and much more, read this book.

Coffee Table Material
If you admire Rivera, buy this book. It sits on our coffee table and is very alluring. It makes a great gift for any fan of this extraordinary artist.

Submitted by the author of "I'm Living Your Dream Life."

Blends both the highs and lows in his struggle
Unforgettable reading, Diego Rivera is a vivid, emotionally written biography of the famous Mexican artist, mural painter, and Communist activist Diego Rivera (1886-1957). Biographer Pete Hamill narration of Rivera's remarkable life is enhanced with Rivera's great works of art both in full color replications and through black-and-white photographs. With an informed and informative text more heavily weighted toward relating Rivera's life story than simply being a showcase of Rivera's great murals, Diego Rivera blends both the highs and lows in his struggle through life for meaning against a background of turbulent politics, as well as the overwhelming messages of his art. ... Read more

Book Description
A beautifully illustrated in-depth study of the mostimportant North American work by the best-known Mexican muralist, DiegoRivera. Early in the Depression, Diego Rivera was commissioned by EdselFord to create a series of murals in the gallery of the Detroit Instituteof Arts, giant frescos whose theme would be America's industrial might.This volume studies the astonishing results and gives us a remarkablyclose look at Diego and his wife, Frida Kahlo. Rivera's Detroit Industrymurals are one of this country's greatest treasures. In addition toproviding full coverage and analysis of the murals, this volume includeschapters on the murals' planning and antecedents, Rivera's workingmethods (which can be read as a primer on frescos), Diego and Frida'slives for their nine months in Detroit, and the public's dramaticresponse to the strong socialist/communist themes in the works. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Viva Rivera, Viva Detroit!
For anyone who has ever been fascinated with Diego Rivera and his works, this is a wonderfully detailed guide to the Detroit Industry Murals. Readible either from cover-to-cover or in chapters, this book is filled throughout with photos, historic background, interviews and amazingly interesting details to all that went into the Detroit Industry Murals.Starting with other Rivera murals located across the United States, Downs leads into the situation of Henry Ford wanting a depiction of Detroit and the auto industry for a neglected garden gallery.A chapter details the fresco process used by Rivera during this immense project, and is skippable for those not interested in art technique.Another chapter details how Rivera and his wife, artist Fridah Kahlo, spend their time in the Motor City.The especially amazing introduction tells the story of how in 1979 Detroit Institute of Art staff found in a dusty closet the original "cartoons" (full size pencil sketches) that Diego Rivera had made during the planning and layout of the murals.Downs ends the book with reactions to the finished project, which ranged from churches outrage to extreme pride for the city's auto workers, which the work most positively depicted. Because of the artist's political convictions (Mexican communist) the murals were almost destroyed during the Cold War and had to be protected under armed guard.Detroit is the last place you would expect to find the masterpiece of the Mexican muralist movement's greatest son.Just like it's topic, this book is an amazing and unexpected masterpiece. ... Read more

Book Description

Customer Reviews (1)

Latin American Culture and Art
Great resource for teaching about Latin American artisits and culture.The project ideas were original and the background information was very helpful. ... Read more

Book Description
They met in 1928, Frida Kahlo was then 21 years old and DiegoRivera was twice her age. He was already an international reference, sheonly aspired to become one. An intense artistic creation, along with pain and suffering, was generatedby this tormented union, in particular for Frida. Constantly in the shadowof her husband, bearing his unfaithfulness and her jealousy, Fridaexorcised the pain on canvas, and won progressively the public's interest.On both continents, America and Europe, these commited artists proclaimedtheir freedom and left behind them the traces of their exceptional talent. In this book, Gerry Souter brings together both biographies and underlineswith passion the link which existed between the two greatest mexicanartists of the 20th century. ... Read more

Book Description
Diego Rivera's (1886-1957) Detroit Industry fresco cycle in the Detroit Institute of Arts is the finest Mexican-style mural in the United States. This volume details the murals with horizontal and vertical fold-outs ideal for the paintings' size and scope. A lively text includes information on the artist and his technique; his patron and a detailed analysis of the various panels that make up the fresco cycle. ... Read more

Amazon.com
In Mexico in the early 1920s, a growing, collective social consciousness gave rise to a revolutionary furor focused on liberating the country's workers from harsh conditions and poverty. In 1921, Mexican artists Diego Rivera, José Clemente Orozco, and David Alfaro Siqueiros were all commissioned by the government to create educational paintings on the walls of public buildings. After that initial experience, they devoted themselves almost exclusively to painting these large-scale murals--forming the foundation of a movement that would last 50 years. The muralists' work took up the themes of society and revolution. Often the paintings depicted historical vignettes like the story of Cuernavaca and Morelos crossing the barranca, or Mexico's ancient Indians. They satirized contemporary society, created ideal visions of peaceful families, and built up dark, imposing industrial cityscapes then leveled them by depicting the debauchery and death of the capitalist industrialists.

The paintings themselves reflect diverse artistic influences--surrealism, cubism, and illustration, most notable among them.Their bold colors and strong imagery practically bound out of the 150 color plates in this book. Mexican muralist and scholar Desmond Rochfort lucidly traces the development of the movement to place the work in context and provides a solid history of each of the artists' social and artistic influences. This is an excellent overview of work that should appeal both to fans of the individual artists and Mexican art in general. --Jordana MoskowitzBook Description
Los tres grandes: Jose Clemente Orozco, Diego Rivera, and David Alfaro Siqueiros. Now legendary, these men have emerged as the most prominent figures of the famed Mexican mural movement, which lasted from the '20s through the early '70s and was hailed as the most significant achievement in public art of the 20th century. The dramatic story of the movement is told here in a fascinating history of the artists, accompanied by over 100 spectacular color reproductions of the murals. Showcasing popular as well as lesser-known works from around the US and Mexico, this is the first high-quality paperback to do justice to a subject that will captivate every lover of Mexican art and culture, Rivera fan, and art historian, as well as anyone who appreciates a beautiful, intelligent art book. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

The Big Three
Read the editorial reviews first and if you are still not convinced that this bookdoes a good job covering the Big Three than get individual books on each. The text is outstanding andputs the works of art into a political context of the time period. The author is analytical, insightful and definitely well versed in the subject matter.There is an exhaustive bibliography, extensive endnotes on each chapter and spectacular reproductions on thick quality paper stock. There are historical photographs of publicworks in progress and a varity of camera angles of individual murals to show the enormity of the works. I have seen many of these murals on location and this book does an excellent job of portraying them as they are. When you see a Rivera fresco ona wall at the National Palace live or in this case from a pulled out camera angle and see the railing leading to the next floor being dwarfed by the images it is truly impressive. Looking at the details within the murals is the ultimate visual experience where you can get lost in the pictureand themeaning. The closeupsand details of individual segments are superior. This is art for the peoples public viewing brought directly to you from Mexico to hold in your hands and examine at your leisure. There are several good books out there on Mexican Murals but this one for the money is outstanding. The three artists each had a distictive style but each brought a unifying nationalistic approach to the walls of public buildings. Is one artist better than the other? You be the judge, everyone has their own favorite.If you are unfamiliar with the works of the Big Three than check it out, you are in for a treat.

ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS I OWN!!
This is definitely one of the best books out there for anyone interested in Mexican art. Few books can inspire as much as this one, especially for people from Zapotlanejo, Jalisco. It's loaded with many pictures and chronicles the lives of these three muralistas and has in depth coverage of specific murals, i especially enjoyed the coverage on "History of Mexico" mural by Diego Rivera. This book is definitely worth the price and a great addition to any collection. Orale!

best outlook on the murilists of mexico and their beliefs
Shows a great variety of each artists pieces and movements through out their career.

very informative
outstanding full of historical views ... Read more

Book Description
Best known for his epic mural production, Mexican artist Diego Rivera was also an important easel painter and--as this book eloquently demonstrates--an extraordinary illustrator. This volume takes a detailed and long-overdue look at this rich and significant facet of Rivera's immense oeuvre: the illustrations he contributed to books and periodical publications over the course of his long career. Accompanying the numerous reproductions is a long and splendidly researched essay by noted art critic Raquel Tibol, an expert on the artist's work. The panorama of Rivera's themes--Modernist poetry, political issues, Mexican folklore, pre-Columbian America and many others--take the reader on a tour of the history of Mexican art in the first half of the twentieth century. Even those who think they know Rivera's work will find new aspects to explore in this beautiful book. ... Read more

Book Description
Diego was a boy who loved to draw; he drew on everything, even the walls. In time, he would become known as one of the greatest muralists in all of Mexico—in all the world. "An accessible picture book about the life and work of Diego Rivera sounds like an oxymoron, but Winter and Winter succeed beyond belief," announced School Library Journal in a 1991 starred review. With spare, lyrical text—featured in both English and Spanish on every page—accompanying miniature murals done in Rivera's own vibrant style, this celebrated picture-book biography now makes a much deserved return to hardcover after a seven-year absence. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (11)

Diego for young people
This is a concise little biography about the artist, Diego Rivera. Winter (The Librarian of Basra, 2005) begins Rivera's story with his birth. He was a sickly infant who survived because of the devoted care of an Indian healer. His twin brother did not live. He was a daydreamer in school but his parents encouraged his artistic abilities. He studied art in Europe but was inspired by his memories of life in Mexico. Winter ends the book as Rivera's career as a painter whose "murals told the story of the Mexican people" is just beginning.

The text is in English and Spanish. Each of Winter's illustrations is edged in a unique painted frame. I wish they had chosen to feature the illustrations in a larger format. The paintings are colorful and engaging and deserve more page space.

The boy who was born to paint


Told in simple, straightforward text, this small children's book relates the story of Diego Rivera, a famous Mexican artist who loved his art and the people of his country. Diego spent his whole life painting, drawn to the vibrant colors and magical rituals of Mexico as well as the troubles of the people as they fought for equality and better working conditions.

At birth, Diego was not a strong child. He had a twin bother, Carlos, who died before he reached the age of two. Diego's parents, fearing their other son would die from the same illness as his small brother, sent him to a nurse, Antonia, who was also an Indian healer and lived in the mountains. Her cozy hut fragrant with burning candles and healing herbs, Antonia's mountain home was filled with fresh air and the natural plants necessary to make the boy well. Diego entertained himself with the animals around him; he even had a pet parrot and was soon well enough to return home to his parents.

Upon Diego's homecoming, his imagination already infused with the brilliant colors of nature, the boy began to draw and paint on very surface. He had difficulty in school, constantly distracted by the paintings he was dreaming of creating, unable to concentrate on anything but the wonderful world his mind inhabited. Finally Diego attended art school, but even that failed to stimulate the artist, for he felt constrained by the rules and the life drawings the teachers expected from their students. The paintings Diego imagined were of the bright fiestas, the celebration of the Day of the Dead and the struggles of the people confronting soldiers in the streets. Holding nothing back, it was Diego's plan was to show it all, the many faces of his beloved land. Returning from a visit to Italy, where he was impressed by the religious murals that covered the walls of the churches, Diego knew what he wanted to do.

He spent the rest of his life painting murals throughout Mexico, drawn to the folklore, rituals and struggles of the Mexican people, hiding from nothing, even the sometimes brutal street battle between soldiers and the workers. Diego Rivera is revered in Mexico, his paintings as popular today as when he first created them. Surely this little boy was destined to write the history of his country on the walls and churches of Mexico, a gift to last through time. The illustrations are small and filled with brilliant colors, retaining the same style as Diego's murals, the faces of people and place recognizable in their simplicity and natural beauty. Luan Gaines/ 2007.

Viva Diego!
Diego Rivera's biography is told in this superbly illustrated text. The story begins as he is born, and ends many years later after Rivera has become a famous Mexican muralist, however much of the text focuses on Rivera's childhood. The text is written in both English and Spanish on every page. Both languages are written in concise sentences that clearly convey information about Rivera's life and work. Each page also has a brightly colored picture that reinforces the text's message.The illustrations by Jeanette Winter are beautiful, richly colored accompaniments to the colorful life of Diego Rivera. The motifs in them are those typically found in Mexican folk art and include appropriate colors and subjects, often echoing those found in Rivera's work. This is a delightful and age appropriate introduction to an artist whose tempestuous personal life sometimes overshadows his outstanding artistic accomplishments both inside and outside of Mexico. Students who are interested in art or Mexican history will find this book to be a treasure. Native Spanish speakers could use this text in the classroom to share their knowledge of the Spanish language and Mexican culture.

Great
Writing a book about Diego Rivera in terms that young children can understand is not an easy task, however this book does a great job. The story is engaging, the pictures are wonderfully colorful, and can hold a kid's attention. I purchased this book when my daughter was only 3 and even though she didn't understand much of the text, she was captivated by the pictures. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to expose a young child to art and artists' lives.

The Life of Diego Rivera Simplified
This is a very simplified life story of Diego Rivera, famous Mexican artist.It is filled with pictures that are artistic and designed in the style of the artist.Any child, especially those interested in art, would find this book of interest. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Excellent illustrations
The art of Diego Rivera is most definitely the focus of Schaefer's book, rather than his personal life or political activities. This approach is probably best suited for the audience age level, but it should be said that this book gives a very simplistic view of a tumultuous and politically controversial life. Most importantly, though, the illustrations are excellent and the selection of works from different periods and styles of Rivera's career is outstanding, especially in regards to his early work and training. Young readers will enjoy learning about mural painting and "public art", as well as Rivera's philosophy of creating art about and for people, from a clear and educational viewpoint. ... Read more

Book Description
A celebration of a renowned artist and political activist.

Diego Rivera, in a career that spanned sixty years, produced some of the most distinctive and socially powerful works in modern art. Rivera was very much a twentieth-century renaissance man. He was a painter, printmaker, sculptor, book illustrator, one of the first collectors of pre-Columbian art, as well as a political activist. In both the United States and Mexico, Rivera's monumental frescos gave life to revolutionary themes, often offending the critics as well as the public. In New York's Rockefeller Center, for instance, his murals were destroyed because of public outrage over their strongly pro-communist content. This volume illustrates Rivera's life and work from his early years at the Mexican Academy of San Carlos and studies in Spain; his subsequent eleven-year sojourn in Paris in the first part of this century; to his efforts to establish a truly national Mexican style in the murals for which he is most famous. Accompanying Rivera's work are essays by noted scholars reevaluating his place in the history of modern art. 200 color plates, 325 black-and-white illustrations. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Diego
Long out of print, this book has never been surpassed as "the complete Rivera." This volume illustrates Diego Rivera's life and work, from his early years at the Mexican Academy of San Carlos and studiesin Spain; his subsequent eleven-year sojourn in Paris in the first part ofthis century; to his efforts to establish a truly national Mexican style inthe murals for which he is most famous. Illustrations of Rivera's work areaccompanied by essays by noted scholars who reevaluate his place in thehistory of modern art. ... Read more

Book Description
This best-selling book, now available in an attractive flexi format, reveals the story of two creative geniuses whose important contributions to twentieth-century art were equaled by the public's fascination with their tumultuous romance.

This captivating book delves into the forces that shaped Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera's lives and art, and made them important painters in their own right. Elegant reproductions of their best-known works and historical photographs illustrate the thoughtful text, which explores the political, social, and cultural upheaval that was at the center of their relationship. What emerges is a portrait of the artists, the tension between their love for each other and their commitment to their work, and the indelible legacy of paintings, murals, and words they left behind. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

Great Intro into the Life of Kahlo & Rivera
This book is a very good introduction to the tragic love story of Frida Kahlo and her husband, the famous Mexican muralist and womanizer Diego Rivera. It presents an insight into their stormy relationship and how it affected her personal life and her art. If you are just getting acquainted with Frida Kahlo this is a great "Frida Kahlo 101" book. It's very well written and easy reading. There are several color illustrations of works by both artists as well as several black & white photos.Although several illustrations of their works are included, there is very little discussion of the works....this book is, for the most part, biographical.And, yes, as another reviewer on Amazon.com pointed out, there are a few typos in the text, and some of the sentence structure is a bit "unusual" and there are a couple of facts that aren't quite right...but just overlook that and you'll find this book very interesting and informative.

Beautiful
This is a wonderful short collection of color prints and includes an account of the lives of two great artists, troubled though they were. For art lovers who don't love spending a fortune on their art books, this volume is a natural. I highly recommend it.

FRIDA KAHLO AND DIEGO RIVERA
This book gave me a glimpse into Frida's life, the turmoil she must have constantly felt to love a man whose weakness was all women. I could almost feel her thoughts through the author's words.
The ending brought me to tears.I wish I knew her.Once I started reading, I couldn't put this book down!thank you for a glimpse into Frida and Diego's lives.

Errors, Typos - Poor quality - Photo selection good.
I'm baffled that a book can be published with so many typos and gross errors.Frida's name is even misspelled "Kahalo" in one place.It states her tragic accident happened on "17 December 1925" which it did not (it was September) and it says this twice.On the very next page it shows her diary entries discussing her pain from the injuries, the entries are dated October 1925 and on.I mean it's really distracting and totally unacceptable.Sentences were incomplete and you are left rereading and looking for the rest of the statement.Some of the sentences just didn't make any sense. I ended up reading with a pencil in hand to make corrections.As for the actual bio info, I agree it's interesting, but Frida and Diego were unquestionably fascinating people even in poorly written text.Thankfully I checked this out from our public library.I would NOT recommend this book to anyone.Get another bio from a different publisher.One that is reputable, responsible and does good work.I give it two stars for photo selection.

Does Life imitate Art?
This book provides better than average insight into lives of Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera.While people are now eagerly awaiting the Fall 2002 Selma Hayek movie on Frida, this book does provide some background into the world of Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera. If you are unfamilar with these artists this book would be a good place to start. ... Read more