The Warmth of Art in the Los Angeles Summer

Hello, everyone

This summer the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) has a comprehensive set of work by of Diego Rivera on display. It is a brilliant exhibition. By way of background, Rivera may be best known for his inspirational murals in the Mexico City subway.

One of his early masterpieces is a stylized portrait of a rifle carrying revolutionary against a mountain landscape inspired by Emanuel Zapata. It was completed when Rivera had mastered cubism, having painted with Picaso, but was becoming disillusioned with it. The portrait has cubistic elements, but it is too well composed, too realistic and beautiful to be cubism. As explained in the galleries and shown in his later painting, Rivera had too much heart stay with cubism, which he eventually concluded was too cold and intellectual.

The LACMA permanent collection also has a wide range of 20th century American masterpieces. These can be photographed by the public. Some of these works are, consequently on the web: lacma 20th centurty