The Detroit Murals of Diego Rivera

In the early years of this century, the major manufacturing cities of the American Midwest, such as Chicago or Cleveland or Pittsburgh, were eager to show that they were not just grey industrial centres. As part of the so-called City Beautiful Movement, the local captains of industry used some of their profits to build impressive and conspicuous art galleries and museums, filling them with European masterpieces of art. The great car-making centre of Detroit was no exception. However, in 1930 the Detroit Institute of Arts' director, William Valentiner, decided to give the DIA a more Iocal focus by commissioning a mural celebrating the city's industrial achievements.