Detroit Industry

"Detroit Industry" is a mural by Mexican fresco artist Diego Rivera. It is a series of twenty-seven panels depicting industry at the Ford Motor Company. Together they surround the Rivera Court in the Detroit Institute of Arts. Painted between 1932 and 1933, it is considered by Rivera himself to be his most successful work. [The Detroit Institute of Arts. [http://www.dia.org/collections/AmericanArt/33.10.html] "Detroit Industry". Retrieved on March 24, 2008. "The Detroit Industry fresco cycle in Rivera Court is the finest example of Mexican muralist work in the United States; Rivera considered it the most successful work of his career."]

ubject matter

The two main panels on the North and South walls depict laborers working at Ford Motor Company's River Rouge Plant. Other panels depict other advances made in fields of science, such as medicine and new technology. The entire mural as a whole encompasses the idea that all actions and ideas are one.

Controversy

Even before the murals were made, there had been controversy surrounding the conflict between Rivera's Marxist philosophy and Detroit being a developing industrial center at the time. Critics viewed it as pro-labor propaganda.

One panel on the North wall displays a Christ-like child figure with what appears to be a halo over its head. Surrounding it are livestock, a doctor and nurse giving the child a vaccination, and three men working on a lab experiment. This is believed to be a parody on the birth of Christ, with the scientists as the three wise men, and offended members of the religious community. It was demanded to be destroyed, but was saved due to support from commissioner Edsel Ford and the director of the DIA. [ [http://www.umich.edu/~ac213/student_projects06/sdtber/Detroit%20institute.html University of Michigan] "An Analysis of Diego Rivera's Exhibitions in the United States".]

References