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One thing all of my primary analysis’ had in common is that in all of the articles, the authors were criticizing an artist or an exhibition. In my first primary analysis, the author is criticizing Mexican artists, of the time, for lack of originality and he says everyone is so hung up on the renaissance that nothing feels authentic. He claims Mexican artists are trying to be cheap imitations of European artists. In my second primary analysis, the author criticizes an exhibition of Mexican artists in the Academia de San Carlos, where he states that nothing really stood out to him. Although he does like one painting named “Virgen de Cordero” by Escudero, he claims that although the color palette is good, it fails to convey the mystery of the Virgin Mary. He also claims that the time to paint the Virgin Mary’s has past. In my third primary analysis the author criticizes Diego Rivera’s paintings stating that he lacks the charm that the old masters had in their paintings. All of these articles relate to each other in that way. The artists that were criticized still ended up creating works of art that could be considered masterpieces today. Some artist chose to focus on the rich history of Mexico and some on more contemporary issues happening in Mexico. We can all relate to this topic because at some point in our lives we have probably been criticized, but we shouldn’t let that stop us from creating what we want to create. This is something that happens to artists all the time. I feel like there's an audience for everything so if there are people who don't like your work there will always be people who do.

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This primary analysis helped me interpret a painting by Victor Meirelles called “The First Mass in Brazil.” While Mexico often criticized their artists for lack of passion, Brazil believed that Meirelles would make a masterpiece. They even gifted him a scholarship. Since he had a scholarship and was seen as a prodigy there was a lot of pressure on him to create a masterpiece. While Brazil believed in Meirelles, Mexico harshly criticized some of their young artists to the point if early retirement. At one point the author compares Mexican artists to the old masters stating, that if the old masters didn’t have an audience but still managed to make an impact, then why cant Mexican artists. In the article that where it talks about Meirelles’ work it states that when he frist came out with his master piece he was heavily criticized. They stated that their were faults in his coloring and in the historical part of his painting, “The first mass in Brazil.” They also questioned if the painting had actually been done by Meirelles. This ties into my “One Idea” because it helps us see how even the most successful artists were criticized.

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La pintura histórica en México · ICAA Documents Project · ICAA/MFAH

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Ignacio Manuel Altamirano (1834–1893), a Mexican politician, writer, and journalist was born in Guerrero to parents of indigenous lineage. He received a scholarship to study at the Instituto Literario de la Capital del Estado de Mexico, Toluca. Within his lifetime, he founded various newspapers and magazines including: El Renacimiento, La República, El Correo de México, La Tribuna, and El Federalista. Altamirano also wrote several books including Clemencia (1869), La navidad en las montañas (1871), Antonia (1872), Beatriz (1873), Cuentos de invierno (1880), Rimas (1880), and El Zarco (1889). In addition to his literary and journalistic careers, he served on the Mexican Supreme Court as a public prosecutor, magistrate, and president. In his literature, criticism, and personal achievements, Altamirano represented the indigenous struggle for social standing and efforts toward the political, social, and cultural consolidation of the Mexican national identity. “La pintura histórica en México,” published in El Artista in 1874, reflects Altamirano’s interest in the development of Mexican nationalist artistic, literary, and cultural movements that parallel the independence and achievement of the Mexican nation.

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Victor Meirelles, The First Mass in Brazil, 1860. Painting

This was the painting that Merielles was criticized on. One critique they said was that the drapes the priest was wearing, wasn't historically accurate. The composition was from a different painting but he made it unique and added his own motifs in there.

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My second Primary Analysis is one by Marti Jose, where he talks about an exhibition with young Mexican artists that he finds not to be very impressive. There is one painting in particular that stands out to him. A painting called “Virgen de Cordero” by Escudero y Espronceda. He states that the color palette makes it stand out from the rest of the works, but that it doesn’t convey the mystery of The Virgin Mary. The main thing that caught my attention in this article is when Marti says, “The time to paint Virgin Marys has passed.” Although I don’t agree with this, at the time I think everyone was tired of seeing religious paintings. Everyone was trying to focus on contemporary issues instead of The Renaissance. I compared Escudero y Esproncenda’s Virgin Mary painting to one by Nicolas Enriquez called, “The Virigin of Guadalupe With four Apparitions.” I believed that Enriquez’s painting did a better job at conveying the mystery of the Virgin Mary. This can relate to the “One Idea,” because the author is saying that even though Escudero y Espronceda had the best painting, it still wasn’t that good.

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Una visita a la exposición de Bellas Artes · ICAA Documents Project · ICAA/MFAH

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Una visita a la exposición de Bellas Artes

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Escudero y Espronceda, Virgen de Cordero, 1875. Painting

This was the painting that the author saw that stood out to him where he says the color palette stood out to him. I can see what he means where it fails to portray the mystery of the Virgin Mary. To someone who doesn't know anything about religion, they might portray the lady in the painting as a random lady.

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Nicolás Enríquez, The Virgin of Guadalupe with the Four Apparitions, 1773. Oil on copper

This painting does a better job at portraying the mystery of the Virgin Mary. It shows us the four apparitions and she is wearing her iconic drapes with hints of gold. Anyone would know who this is even if they weren't religious.

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Horace Vernet, First Mass in
Kabylie, 1855. Oil on canvas

Here is a painting with a similar composition. We can see that it was made before Meirelles interpretation of The First Mass.

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My third Primary source is by Sam A. Lewisohn, where he talks about how Diego Rivera learned the methods of the old masters, but he was missing their charm. The article also lets us know how Rivera became a pictoral storyteller. This all ties in to the “One Idea” in the beginning because throughout Riveras career he was criticized. He was criticized a lot for his subject matters. He was commissioned to make a mural at the Rockefeller Center by Rockefeller himself, but Diego Rivera added communist figures to his composition. They ordered him to take down the figures, but he refused. They destroyed his mural and he re did it in the Palacio De Bellas Artes where it sits today. This wasn’t the first time it happened though. In 1933, when Rivera’s 29 frescoes were open to the public in Detroit, he was criticized heavily. People were saying that his work was vulgar and they labeled it as “Psychologically erroneous.” A councilman even called for the city to wash down the wall. Nothing ended up happening to the murals. The murals stayed up and people go see them even to this day.

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Mexican Murals and Diego Rivera on JSTOR

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Sam A. Lewisohn, Mexican Murals and Diego Rivera, Parnassus, Vol. 7, No. 7 (Dec., 1935), pp. 11-12

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Diego Rivera, Man the Controller of the Universe, 1934. Fresco

This was the mural I based my primary analysis on. This was the second composition he made of this painting because the first one was destroyed. Now people don't care about his beliefs they just see it as art.

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Diego Rivera, Man at The Crossroads, 1933. Fresco

This was the original painting by Diego Rivera that was taken down at the Rockefeller Center for having communist figures. He managed to take a photo before it was destroyed. This can help remind us that if you really believe in something then don't give up.

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Diego Rivera, Detroit Industry, 1933. Fresco

This was the mural he got heavily criticized on. They thought it was blasphemous and they thought the nudity was pornographic. Luckily it didn't get taken down so it can keep inspiring artists in Detroit and all over the world.

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Altamirano, Ignacio Manuel. “La pintura histórica en México.” In Obras completas XIV:
Escritos de literatura y arte, 109–112. México: Consejo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes,1989.

Develder, Julia Van. “Detroit - Diego Rivera’s Detroit Industry - a Communist’s Homage to Capitalism.” Vassar College, www.vassar.edu/stories/2016/161116-diego-rivera.html#:~:text=The%20work%20began%20in%20July,the%20paintings%20by%20official%20order.”. Accessed 9 Dec. 2024.

Marti Jose “La primera exposición de los artistas mexicanos pensionados en Europa” In La
crítica de Arte en México 1896-1921, tomo I. -- México, D. F., UNAM : Instituto de
Investigaciones Estéticas, 1999

Sam A. Lewisohn “Mexican Murals and Diego Rivera”. Parnasuss Vol. 7 No. 7 1935

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Diego Rivera, Mexico Today and Tomorrow, 1935. Fresco

Here is another painting by Rivera where he illustrates Karl Marx is pointing the campesinos towards a better future. This is an example of Rivera focusing his work on Mexican culture rather than old renaissance style paintings.