Diego Rivera's Zapatista Landscape

Diego Rivera was born in Guanajuato Mexico and grew up there until his family moved to Mexico City in 1893. Accepted into the San Carlos Academy at the age of ten, Rivera began his education and his career during a troubled time not only for Mexico but also within the world stage. Socialism and Marxism were on the rise and at the time his native Mexico was struggling to re-establish its own identity before Spanish influence. Diego Rivera’s art would contribute to the voice of the oppressed Mexican people by offering a colorful glimpse into the everyday life using social realism style to approach and represent the common man. Diego Rivera’s “Zapatista Landscape” depicts a grand central floating image which some describe as Rivera’s greatest Cubist masterpiece. This overt politicization of his work was produced in 1915 during the Mexican Revolution and while considered vulgar in expression, beautifully exhibits what some have called Rivera’s Mexican texture. “Zapatista Landscape” represents the divide that Picasso and Braque as academicians showcased in their own cubist's expansion. It is Rivera reaching out to …show more content…
There is a centered slightly high sombrero upon a suggested all-seeing eye. A serape seems thrown over an implied shoulder to the left and a gun and cartridge belt are placed prominently in the foreground. There are an ammunition box and images of trees within the central overlapping plains of diminution. To the bottom right we see a blank paper held with a nail which would seem to call attention to the plight of the vast number of illiterate at the time. The colors are bold reds and blues showcased within earth tones and in tune with the Mexican art revival of the time. While this work came near the end of Rivera’s short cubists period, it still to this day remains one of his most recognized