46. Diego Rivera (Mexican, 1886-1957)

"Rostro."
ink and pencil on paper, circa 1921, signed in full at lower left, matted and framed.
7-1/2" x 4-7/8" image size.
Note: original export documents and a letter from the point of purchase gallery (Galeria Central de Arte) from 1968 accompany the lot.

5,000/7,000     SOLD: $4,025.00

Diego Rivera produced this drawing during a trip he made to Italy in 1920-21. The head recorded in this drawing was sketched from one of the figures in the elaborate cycle of mosaics in the church of San Vitale, Ravenna. The Byzantine features of this head--the enormous eyes, long thin nose and tiny mouth--are typical of all the figures portrayed in the San Vitale mosaics and are therefore difficult to match up with one specific figure. In his essay on Rivera's early work in the 1999 exhibition catalogue, Diego Rivera: Art and Revolution, Luis-Martin Lozano describes this specific drawing as a "Head of a Courtesan", in which case it would derive from a figure in the "Theodora and Her Attendants" mosaic. The shape of the hair, nose and mouth, however, seem to have greater similarity with a figure of a soldier in the Justinian mosaic.

About 100 drawings by Rivera survive from this Italian trip of an estimated 300. More than half of these are studies of works of art, and most of these record paintings and mosaics that decorated churches and civic buildings directed toward the masses. As Lozano has noted, "It appears that Rivera had a specific mission to accomplish [on his trip to Italy], and everything indicates that he was preparing himself to participate in the great Mexican post-revolutionary cultural project, imagined by Jose Vasconcelos, the future Minster of Public Education. This cultural climate of a true Mexican Renaissance needed great mural art to educate the new public emerged from the ashes of Revolution, eventually the society that would build the modernity of Mexico."

Literature:
Luis-Martin Lozano, "Diego Rivera: Classicus Sum" in Diego Rivera: Art and Revolution, exh. cat., Consejo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes, Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes, The Cleveland Museum of Art, Ohio Arts Council, 1999, pp. 149-152, this lot illustrated p. 150 (entitled "Head of Courtesan").

Condition: the paper time-toned, ink slightly faded, overmat is fully adhered at margins to back mat. The paper appears to be mounted to back mat. Both the top mat and back mat are acidic board. There is a tiny crease visible at the right edge above center and a tiny tear is visible at the bottom center edge.