The Detroit Industry Murals, Detroit Institute of Arts, National Historic Landmark Nomination

Salvatore S. 2014. The Detroit Industry Murals, Detroit Institute of Arts, National Historic Landmark Nomination. National Historic Landmark Nominations. 14000279_NHL. National Park Service. Washington, DC

This document is the National Historic Landmark (NHL) nomination for The Detroit Industry Murals, Detroit Institute of Arts, in Detroit, Wayne County, Michigan. The NHL nomination for The Detroit Industry Murals, Detroit Institute of Arts, documents its national significance under NHL Criteria 1 and 2. Considered to be the most complex artistic work of industry in America, the Detroit Industry mural cycle depicts the city’s manufacturing base and labor force on all four walls of the Detroit Institute of Arts’ garden court, since renamed the Rivera Court. The Detroit Industry mural cycle has exceptional national significance in the area of Art for its association with Diego Rivera, a premier exponent of the Mexican Mural Movement in America who is credited, along with José Clemente Orozco and David Alfaro Siqueiros, with the reintroduction of fresco painting into modern art. The mural cycle meets NHL Criterion 1 in the area of Art as an exemplary representation of the introduction and emergence of Mexican mural art in the United States between the Depression and World War II; this movement significantly impacted this country’s conception of public art. The period of significance begins in November 1932 when Rivera arrived in Detroit and began his research on the city’s varied industries and ends in March 1933 when Rivera completed the Detroit Industry murals.

Type
Published Report
Authors
Salvatore, Susan Cianci
Date of Issue
2014-04-22
Publisher
National Park Service
Keywords
Detroit, Diego Rivera, Fresco, Industry, Labor, Mexican Mural Movement, Michigan, Mural, National Historic Landmark, New Deal, Painting, Paul Phillipe Cret

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