The Representation of the Indigenous Peoples Of
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THE REPRESENTATION OF THE INDIGENOUS PEOPLES OF MEXICO IN DIEGO RIVERA’S NATIONAL PALACE MURAL, (1929-1935) Natasha Picôt, MA (Nottingham) Thesis submitted to the University of Nottingham for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy April 2007 (Separate book of illustrations available in hard copy from University of Nottingham) Acknowledgements The achievement of this work would certainly not have been possible without the talent and intelligence of Professor Mark Millington who patiently supported me through every step and helped me through a number of seemingly impossible barriers. Deep appreciation is also due to Professor Fintan Cullen for providing challenging debate, invaluable research guidance and crucial advice. Thank you to Professor Michael Hatt for his critical insights into the work in the early days of the project. I am also indebted to the ahrc for their support and faith in my studies and to the Logia Quetzalcóatl México D.F. for their interest and care in providing information. Thank you to Iona Macintyre, Beatriz Vera-López, Graham Shaw, Victoria Ríos-Castaño, Judy Wang and Ezi Nochiri for their sympathy and moral support and, in some cases, proofreading. Thanks to Pauline Harris for her companionship and discussion of sociological matters, inside and out of, the worlds of French and yoga. A big thank you to Dr Nick Stevenson for his admirable courage and kind support through the most difficult times and to Dr Christian Karner, for his empathy and encouragement, as well as some thought- provoking advice on theories of nationalism. I am also very grateful to Professor Catherine Davies and Dr Nuala Finnegan for a stimulating and thorough viva voce examination and for their useful suggestions. Great appreciation is due for the patient work of Alison Stevens in Interlibrary Loans; her diligent excavation of documents and brave attempts at pronunciation. Thanks also to Anne-Marie Llewellyn and Tracey O’Shea for their friendly support in library and other matters. Also, to my students at the University of Nottingham with their stimulating ideas and to all the school children who have helped me keep my feet on the ground and my studies alive. To my sister Michelle-Carmen for being herself and my mother María-Carmen for her practical help. Thank you also to Kathleen Chapman for her words of wisdom. Most importantly, to my darling Jasmine, thank you for being such a great companion and inspiration over these years. Contents Abstract ..................................................................................1 Introduction ...........................................................................3 Chapter One: The Mexican Mural Movement................................................19 Chapter Two: Indigenismo and los tres grandes ............................................75 Chapter Three: National Palace and Nationalist Mythology.............................117 Chapter Four: Prehispanic Mexico...............................................................193 Chapter Five: Mexico of Today and in the Future.........................................276 Conclusions ..........................................................................374 Bibliography .........................................................................380 List of illustrations ..............................................................i-vii Abstract This thesis is a multidisciplinary project, drawing on the discourses of Visual Cultural Studies, Latin American history and Critical Theory. Insights from each of these disciplines interact to investigate the representation of the indigenous peoples of Mexico in the mural triptych entitled History of the Mexican People painted by Diego Rivera in the National Palace, Mexico City between 1929 and 1935. The main focus is an exploration of the mural as a cultural text, which is formed through socio-political structures and homogenising nationalist visions. The artist is seen as partly a product of history who acts, both consciously and subconsciously, as a conduit for such historical structures. The investigation requires a multi-dimensional approach as it includes emotional, aesthetic, sociological, political, cultural, philosophical, biographical and material elements. A close-reading of the National Palace mural as a cultural ‘text’ is undertaken in order to deconstruct certain culturally-specific political myths . The production of the fresco triptych is inextricably interlinked with the construction of the post-revolutionary Mexican nation and socio-cultural mythologies regarding the ‘Indian’ which are central to nationalist imagery and the post-revolutionary, anthropological theories of indigenismo . Certain distinctive racial strands of nationalist mythology which are represented in the mural are analysed within the framework of Anthony D. Smith’s (1999) theory of historical ethno-mythology. I argue, following Smith, that what gives nationalism its power are the 2 myths, memories, traditions and symbols of ethnic heritages and the ways in which a popular living past has been, can be and is rediscovered and reinterpreted by modern, nationalist intelligentsias. Smith’s universal theory has not previously been applied in depth to a complex concrete situation. This thesis relates the insights of the theory of nationalist ethno-mythology to the tangible cultural text of History of the Mexican People. 3 Introduction Diego Rivera is regarded as the quintessential Mexican artist. He is known worldwide as the champion of the Mexican people and advocate of the ‘Indian’. His works are part of a powerfully reconstructed, national cultural heritage, which reinvents the past in the service of the present. Notwithstanding the public works themselves, the persistent cultural industry which has proliferated from them ranging from tourist merchandise, extensive reproductions illustrating all manner of Mexican books to kitsch of popular culture exemplified by the Julie Taymor’s film Frida (2002), is testimony to the fact that Rivera’s images have a potent after-life in the Mexican cultural imagination and are still a vibrant force in the international reflection of Mexico. This thesis is a multidisciplinary project being informed by the over-lapping disciplines of Latin American history, Visual Culture and socio-political theory. The aim is to challenge the prevailing cultural assumptions surrounding Rivera’s work and re-evaluate the notion of the artist as the promoter of the ‘Indian’. The theoretical framework of the thesis is predicated on the perception that Rivera is, in part, acting as a conduit, channelling hegemonic socio-cultural formulations in the context of post-revolutionary Mexico. It is therefore an analysis of the mural as a historical artefact which poses many questions as to the political significance of the culture of public display. The investigation therefore necessarily encompasses aesthetic, historical and socio-political dimensions, as it is a study of culture and its political significance. 4 Literature Review and Aims Unsurprisingly, varied commentators have analysed Rivera’s monumental work from a plethora of theoretical perspectives. A selection of the most significant of these will offer an overview of the theoretical framework which provides the academic research context of this thesis. The literature dealing with Rivera’s representation of the indigenous peoples of Mexico is, however, negligible and I outline the examples from which the innovations of this thesis develop. The wide-ranging catalogue Diego Rivera–A Retrospective , edited by Cynthia Newman-Helms was originally published alongside the first major North American exhibition which was held at the Detroit Institute of Arts. The exhibition spanning the sixty years of the artists career was held in the year 1986, when Mexico celebrated the centennial of Rivera’s birth in Guanajuato on December 13 1886. The retrospective contains ten essays dealing specifically with different features of Rivera who Linda Downs and Ellen Sharp describe as ‘this 20th century renaissance man’ (1986: 11). These writings serve to illustrate the multi-faceted character of Rivera and his wide ranging interests and education. The artist’s skills included ‘draftsman, painter, printmaker, sculptor, book illustrator, costume and set designer and architect, as well as one of the first collectors of pre- Columbian art and a political activist’ (Downs and Sharp 1986: 11). The essays tackle Rivera’s ‘encyclopaedic interests and studies [which] led him into such diverse fields as science; medicine; archaeology; social, cultural and political history; philosophy; mythology; and industrial technology’ (Downs and Sharp 1986: 11). This extensive catalogue of skills testifies to the multi-dimensional nature of Rivera’s 5 work and its monumental significance in aesthetic, historical and socio-political terms. In combination the essays present a selection of divergent views which also serve to illustrate the broad scope of responses to Rivera’s work. Of particular relevance to this thesis and Rivera’s socio-historical representation of race are essays by Betty Ann Brown and Francis V. O’ Connor. In ‘The Past Idealised: Diego Rivera’s Use of pre-Columbian Imagery’, Brown documents the sources of the iconography in the artist’s murals which are derived from various records, sculptures and artefacts of indigenous civilisations. She asserts that the artist’s images of the past were ‘definitely influenced by his indigenista stance’ characterised by a portrayal