Diego Rivera (1886-1957)

Mr. and Mrs. D. Enrique Freyman, Paris (acquired from the artist)
Sale: Parke-Bernet Galleries Inc., New York, Diego Rivera, Twenty-Seven Paintings of the Period 1909-1917, October 28, 1959, lot 1, illustrated
Conrad, Anna, Susan and Sean Martin
Acquired from the above by the present owner (April 1, 1998)

Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes, Diego Rivera, Catálogo General de Obra de Caballete, Mexico City, Consejo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes, 1989, p. 21, no. 103, illustrated
Manuel Reyero, Rivera, Fundación Cultural Televisa, 1983, p. 23, illustrated in color

This painting seems to have been lightly lined on the reverse but the surface is conspicuously un-restored. There are a few tiny spots of restoration on the extreme left edge; a rather ineffective vertical restoration running for approximately two inches in the lower left approximately four inches to the right of the signature; a diagonal scratch and some associated losses in the lower center which seem to have received some attention; some other similar scratches in a few other small areas along the bottom edge towards the right; another restored isolated loss in the upper center in the trees in the village; and a few other thin losses in the upper right. Elsewhere there do not appear to be any restorations. Despite these isolated losses, this picture is in very fresh condition and with the right attention it would be extremely presentable and be seen to be in lovely state. The lining has stabilized the paint layer well and no cleaning or varnishing is recommended. This condition report has been provided courtesy of Simon Parkes Art Conservation.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

One of the most fascinating chapters of the history of modern art involves the way in which Latin American artists  reacted to the avant-garde movements of the early 20th Century. With one foot firmly in the cultural and historical realities of their native countries, painters like Diego Rivera took on the challenge of theoretically and aesthetically assimilating the new artistic currents that were emerging in Europe.

Having been in Spain on a scholarship since 1907, the 27-year-old Diego Rivera was at a crossroads when he decided to paint La vieja aldea (The Old Hamlet). He had received excellent academic training in Mexico, studied in Madrid for two years with the renowned painter Eduardo Chicarro and then traveled throughout Spain and Europe. There he was able to appreciate the advances of Post-Impressionism in Paris and the new forms of avant-garde discourse that were changing the direction of modern art. Following these experiences, even after his return to Mexico to present his first solo exhibition in 1910, Rivera decided to return to his work in Europe and began to openly explore Cubism around 1912.

Rivera had distinguised himself as an excellent landscape painter since the early days of his career. From his Mexican teacher José María Velasco, he had learned the rigorous use of perspective as well as the study of nature through geometric forms. These lessons proved useful when Rivera encountered the cubist works at the Salon d'Automne in Paris in 1911; he immediately understood the visual revolution that Cubism represented for the conception of modern painting.

From 1912 to 1913, however, Rivera explored cubism carefully, approaching it through compositional solutions he experimented with in a series of landscape paintings of the plains of Castilla and the surroundings of the city of Toledo. He particularly focused his interest on the modulation of space, fragmenting it into geometric forms according to the constructions and natural topography he found on the landscape. He thus achieved a more enveloping and dynamic composition consisting of curvilinear perspectives and marked diagonal lines like those he had seen in works by El Greco. In this way La vieja aldea reveals Rivera's experimentation with the avant-garde, as much for its use of Cubism as a theoretical reference as for its study and reinterpretation of the great masters; proving that in art, the avant-garde and the traditional are not always incompatible.

Professor Luis-Martín Lozano
Art Historian

Uno de los capítulos más fascinantes de la Historia del Arte Moderno es la manera como los artistas latinoamericanos se confrontaron ante las vanguardias artísticas de principios del siglo XX. Con un pie anclado en la realidad cultural e histórica de sus países de origen, los pintores como Diego Rivera, asumieron el reto de asimilar teórica y estilísticamente los nuevos lenguajes del arte que surgían en Europa.

Becado desde 1907 para estudiar en España, el joven Rivera de 27 años se encontraba en una gran disyuntiva cuando decidió pintar el paisaje de La vieja aldea (The Old Hamlet). Habiendo tenido una sobresaliente formación académica en México, Diego Rivera había estudiado en Madrid durante dos años con el reconocido pintor Eduardo Chicarro cuando decidió emprender diversos viajes de estudio por España y otras ciudades europeas. Pudo entonces percatarse de los avances del postimpresionismo en París y de los lenguajes vanguardistas que estaban cambiando el rumbo del arte moderno. Por lo que tras regresar a México para presentar su primera exposición individual en 1910, decidió emprender de nuevo su carrera en Europa, comenzando a explorar abiertamente con el cubismo hacia 1912.

Desde fechas muy tempranas, Diego Rivera destacó como un excelso pintor de paisajes. De su maestro mexicano, José María Velasco, había aprendido el rigor en el manejo y proyección de la perspectiva, así cómo el estudio de la naturaleza a partir de volúmenes geométricos. Estas enseñanzas probaron efectividad cuando Rivera pudo apreciar obras cubistas en el Salón de Otoño de París, de 1911; y de inmediato comprendió la revolución visual que significaba el cubismo para la concepción de la pintura moderna.

No obstante, nuestro pintor exploró el cubismo con cautela, durante el periodo de 1912 a 1913, aproximándose a través de las soluciones compositivas con las que experimentaba en una serie de pinturas en torno al paisaje de las planicies de Castilla y los alrededores de la ciudad de Toledo.  Centró particularmente su interés en la modulación del espacio, el cual fue fragmentado en formas geométricas, conforme las construcciones y la accidentada topografía del paisaje; logrando una composición más dinámica y envolvente, de perspectivas curvilíneas y marcadas diagonales, como bien había advertido en las notables pinturas de El Greco, que también había venido analizando. De manera que La vieja aldea, es ciertamente una pintura de experimentación vanguardista, pero lo es tanto teniendo al cubismo como referencia teórica, como por ser el resultado del estudio y reinterpretación de Rivera, de los grandes maestros.  Probando que en el arte, la vanguardia y la tradición, no  siempre resultan antagónicos.

Profesor Luis-Martín Lozano
Historiador del Arte