Mexican Muralist Diego Rivera’s Birthday Honored with Google Doodle (video)
Posted By Vicki McClure Davidson on December 8, 2011
In July 2010, Google’s doodle honored the birthday of Mexican artist Frida Kahlo. Today, the 125th birthday of her husband Diego Rivera, Mexico’s controversial communist muralist, is celebrated.
The Google doodle on the search engine’s homepage imitates Rivera’s bold, story-telling style. He was born on December 8, 1886, and his large wall works in fresco helped launch the Mexican Mural Movement in Mexican art.
From Metro, Mexican artist Diego Rivera’s birthday celebrated with Google Doodle:
The colourful image redesigns the traditional Google logo with a series of figures, including a mother and daughter and a construction worker, with an artist depicted painting a giant sun – making up the G at the start of the graphic.
Clicking on the Doodle simply links through to search results for Diego Rivera, unlike some of the previous animated graphics created by the search engine giant.
Born in Guanajuato, Mexico in 1886, Rivera is seen as one of the most important mural artists in Mexico, who drew attention to the life of the average citizen through his giant art pieces on public buildings.
His work told of Mexico’s turbulent history and his work was produced in various Mexican cities, as well as New York, Detroit and San Francisco.
Rivera’s volatile relationship with his wife and fellow artist Frida Kahlo was depicted in the 2002 film Frida, starring Salma Hayek, with Alfred Molina playing Rivera.
Two video clips from the 2002 film Frida of Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo’s wedding and of their arrival in New York.
From Daily Mail, Diego Rivera celebrated by Google doodle:
The artist Diego Rivera is celebrated in the latest Google doodle which draws inspiration from his huge murals that depicted Mexico’s turbulent history.
While Rivera might have approved of Google bringing art to the masses in this way, the Marxist artist’s view of the multi-billion dollar internet giant may have been rather more critical.
Born in Guanajuato, Mexico in 1886, Rivera was considered the leader of the Mexican muralists who sought to expose ordinary people to art through large-scale works in public buildings. He is credited with re-introducing frescoes – murals painted on fresh plaster – into modern art and architecture.
In recent years his tempestuous relationship with fellow Mexican artist Frida Kahlo, which was depicted in a 2002 Hollywood film, has renewed interest in his life and work.
His murals, which retold Mexico’s turbulent history, adorned the walls of buildings throughout the capital city. He was also commissioned to paint huge murals in the USA.
From Michael Cavna, Washington Post, DIEGO RIVERA GOOGLE DOODLE: Logo celebrates the legendary Mexican muralist whose career was a larger than life:
“SINCE ART IS ESSENTIAL for human life, it can’t just belong to the few.”
So demanded Diego Rivera, the leading Mexican muralist whose creative ambitions swept across the 20th century as large as his class-spanning public art. And Thursday, Google does what it can to spotlight Rivera’s essential art for an audience of millions.
Today, on the 125th anniversary of Rivera’s birth, Google’s homepage ”Doodle” celebrates the artist with a mural rich not only in color, but also in biographical detail.
Between the Doodle’s columns is the historic panorama of a towering career. At left, in typical attire, Rivera himself stands on the telltale scaffolding, the full-bodied painter placed in telling proximity to a star-like image whose hues burn as bold and bright as the artist himself. (Like the burst of a sunflower surrounded by leaves, the image also sprouts thoughts of such Rivera works as “The Blood of the Revolutionary Martyrs Fertilizing the Earth.” from 1927.)
Beneath the scaffolding is a feminine silhouette — as if a shadowed nod to such Diego Rivera models as 1949’s ”Ruth Rivera” and her reflection beheld as if in the sun. And then there’s the prominent scaffolding itself — as if inspired directly by 1931’s “The Making of a Fresco, Showing the Building of a City.”
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