USA: Grandson of Diego Rivera finishes the artist's 50 year old documentary

Record ID: 708724

  • Title: USA: Grandson of Diego Rivera finishes the artist's 50 year old documentary
  • Date: 9th May 2008
  • Summary: NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (RECENT) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) DIEGO LOPEZ, DIRECTOR OF "PORTRAIT OF DIEGO," SAYING: "Well, as far as I know, Diego didn't have any contrary attitude to what was filmed. I think that, on the contrary, he was a man who always liked having a public presence. He liked to be controversial, to make surprising statements. He was a man who part of his fame, part of the image that he put out was precisely because he was a protagonist."
  • Embargoed: 24th May 2008 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Usa
  • Country: USA
  • Reuters ID: LVA878FACSSWWO7DNGPWX1MHB052
  • Story Text: The grandson of Mexican painter Diego Rivera releases "A Portrait of Diego: The Revolutionary Gaze," a documentary started fifty years ago by Rivera, that the artist never finished.
    A documentary about Mexican muralist Diego Rivera that was started fifty years ago was recently completed with the help of Rivera's grandson.
    Entitled "The Portrait of Diego: The Revolutionary Gaze," the film examines the work and life of one of Mexico's most celebrated artists.
    In the mid-fifties, Rivera paired with cinematographer Gabriel Figueroa and photographer Manuel Álvarez Bravo to collaborate on a documentary commemorating the 50th anniversary of Rivera's work. The trio thought it seemed like a project that could exemplify the remarkable flourishing of film, painting, and photography in Mexico at that time.
    But Rivera died in 1957 before the film could be completed and the footage remained forgotten. That is until recently, when Figueroa's son and Rivera's grandson embarked on a new collaboration to bring this long-dormant project to fruition.
    "For me, yes, it was very important to do a documentary about my grandfather because it allowed me to see him in a closer manner, to understand - or to try to understand - his work better. It removed a weight that had been on top of me, and I could see him as someone closer, more as an artist with his good sides and his bad, with his contradictions, with his conflicts, with his very positive aspects," said Rivera's grandson and the film's director, Diego Lopez.
    The film inter-cuts some of Rivera's most popular and acclaimed works, paired with the black and white images of Figueroa, and narratives from art experts and family members.
    "He was a man who always liked having a public presence. He liked to be controversial, to make surprising statements. He was a man who part of his fame, part of the image, that he put out was precisely because he was a protagonist," said Lopez.
    "The Portrait of Diego" premiered at New York City's Tribeca Film Festival and talks are now underway for a general, public release.
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