Reference Reviews

Doug’s Student Reference Room

Diego Rivera: Muralist. Kevin Hillstrom. 104 p. Farmington Hills, MI: Lucent Books, 2008. ISBN 13: 978-1-4205-0018-9; ISBN 10: 1:4205-0018-X. $32.45.

This compact biography on Rivera goes far to develop the richness and complexity of the painter’s life. The introduction not only places Rivera at the center of revolutionary politics and art, but reveals that the painter’s collection of pre-Conquest art informed his work and subsequently became one of the most important such collections in Central America. The opening chapter focuses on the painter’s early formal training and the political milieu in which he was raised; this is followed by Rivera’s interest in cubism and his short-lived friendship with Picasso, followed by several chapters that closely connect his evolving style with the revolutionary politics he championed. The stories of his famous mural projects, including the Detroit Industry murals—the Rockefeller commission of the visionary mural in the new RCA building, and his masterpiece works in Mexico’s National Palace—are recounted with accompanying photographs. A full chapter is devoted to his stormy relationship with Frida Kahlo and includes their association with Trotsky. This lively biography includes color reproductions of many of Rivera’s most famous works. Recommended for middle and high school libraries.
—Doug Achterman