Rivera Praised

Next to having genius, the highest honor in the art world is discovering genius. Lee Simonson has some claim to the first, by virtue of his stage designs executed for the Theatre Guild (Manhattan). He may have some claim to the second as a result of his announced revelation that Diego Rivera, Mexican painter of little international repute, is the greatest artist in the world. Being a Socialist, Artist Rivera subscribes to the idea, "From those according to their ability, to those according to their need." Therefore, he painted the patio (inside court) of the Ministry of Education Building in Mexico City, refusing all recompense above a common laborer's wage. There are 138 murals in the court. Most of them describe feasts, ceremonies, daily employments, of native Indians. Some show U. S. millionaires drinking champagne (except John D. Rockefeller, who sips milk). The Mexican Minister of Finance is pic tured eating gold pieces. Little is the recognition given these crea tions; no color reproductions of them have been made. Yet, according to Lee Simonson, who has lately visited Russia to inspect the work of modernist painters, who is familiar with con temporary German, French, U. S. artists: "Rivera is the most impor tant artist living today. He means as much to the modern world as Giotto did to the Renaissance.* He is the culmination, the full development of the modernist movement."

*A daring statement, for Giotto was not only one of the most brilliant artists of the Renaissance but was also a leader in the movement to introduce three dimensional backgrounds in painting. Up to then, pictures were painted against flat back-grounds.