A big figure who created big art, Diego Rivera remains one of Mexico's most fascinating characters a half-century after his death. Bernier-Grand chronicles his dramatic and turbulent life in thirty-four free-verse poems written in Rivera's own voice, covering his early artistry, his travel to Europe as his country underwent revolution, his lovers and wives, including fellow artist Frida Kahlo, his political leanings, and his artistic labors. Though the verses are somewhat prosaic in style, they're evocative snapshots of a roaring and eventful life, and there's honest acknowledgement of Rivera's flaws and fictionalizing tendencies. The book includes a few reprinted images of Rivera's own art, but the majority of the illustrations are Diaz's sharply edged, glowingly hued profiles. The elaborate patterning in their backgrounds sometimes recalls papel picado, but the effect's subtlety of hue allows it to enhance the main figures without overwhelming them; the iconic images of Diego and his circle dominate each illustrative vignette or page. The book closes with substantial additional material, including, a biographical overview that addresses some of the tension between fact and self-created myth in Rivera's life story, a glossary, a chronology, a list of source materials, endnotes, and a collection of quotations from Rivera himself. That's a refreshing amount of rigor for a verse account, so this will be particularly useful as a starting point for studying the artist, and it's a welcome step up from Winter's Diego (BCCB 11/91).
The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books
This emotionally charged collection of poems tells the story of Rivera's life like never before. The paintings are colorfully reminiscent of Rivera's art but have a more dreamlike quality, as do the poems, which are told in first person, as if he were speaking aloud. Four reproductions of Rivera's paintings and one photo of the artist are included, and the book concludes with additional information on his life, a glossary, a chronology, a bibliography, and a page of quotations."
Bernier-Grand (who wrote about Frida Kahlo in Frida: ¡Viva la Vida! / Long Live Life!) uses free verse to chronicle the childhood of Mexican muralist Diego Rivera, before highlighting the passions—art, women, and politics—of his adult life. ("Critics said my Mexican cubism was interesting. / I could live on it. The rich bought it. / It hung where the poor couldn't afford to go. / That wasn't what I wanted. / I resigned cubism.") These vignettes are appropriately accompanied by Diaz's vibrantly colored mixed-media silhouettes and occasionally—and to great effect—Rivera's own paintings. This offering makes an excellent companion to the poet's previous books, not just because Frida Kahlo and Rivera were (twice) married, nor yet because Diaz and Bernier-Grand also collaborated on César, a verse biography of César Chávez, but because all these books celebrate the symbiotic relationship between art and politics in Latino culture. Extensive back matter—glossary, chronology, bibliography, notes, and quotes—is appended
This treatment of the Mexican muralist is a companion piece to Bernier-Grand's Frida (2007), but bears more resemblance to the author's César: ¡Si, se puede! (2004, both Marshall Cavendish). All three titles employ free verse, but Frida's story is told visually through her own art; Diego and César exhibit Diaz's stylized digital and mixed-media compositions, his recognizable figures rendered in profile, with a prominent, single eye. Diaz is in top form here with luminous scenes drenched in color, layered with indigenous and political motifs, and sensitive to the various art styles his subject explored. However, only four reproductions of Rivera's work are included, which barely scratch the surface. That said, author and artist provide a nuanced and spirited look at a complex individual. Bernier-Grand's first-person poems introduce Rivera as storyteller, one who proceeds to spin true and fabricated details. Fact and fiction are sorted in the meticulous end matter, which includes a biographical overview, sources, endnotes, quotations by the artist, and a photograph. One emerges with a sense of Rivera's genius, devilish personality, and struggles both in relation to accepting financial support from oppressive governments and in his capacity to be, by turns, self-centered or tender with the many women and children in his life. Young people will be surprised and entertained by this accessible, arresting portrait.
*STARRED REVIEW* Well written and beautifully illustrated volume, the life of Mexican artist Diego Rivera best known for murals depicting working people is introduced in free verse. Similar in format to Bernier-Grand's Frida: Viva la vida! Long Live Life! (2007) and César: Sí, Se Puede! = Yes, We Can! (2004), the book offers a chronological sequence of poems, each appearing either on a single page accompanied by a small illustration or on a left-hand page with a full-page picture on the right. Almost all written in first-person from the artist's point of view, the poems convey information succinctly within a context of colorful narrative and clearly expressed emotion. Each poem stands alone, yet some words, ideas, and images recur, creating an interconnected sequence. A three-page appended biography clarifies and amplifies the information in the verse. Also appended are a glossary, and chronology, a source bibliography, notes, and quotes from the artist. Apart from four reproductions of Rivera's paintings and one photo of the artist, the illustrations are mixed-media pictures by Diaz. Depicting Rivera and his world, these iconic images glow with warmth, light, and color. In the backgrounds, some scenes incorporate imagery from Aztec art, which Rivera collected. A lively verse portrait illuminated with incandescent illustrations.
As she did in Frida: Viva la Vida! Long Live Life! (2007), Bernier-Grand channels the personality of Kahlo's husband in 34 free-verse poems. From the beginning, readers learn that Rivera's truth is mutable: "What is life but a story? / I choose to embellish my life story." Thus he confides to readers that while he "rode the revolutionary hills" in his public story, "In truth, . . . I boarded a ship to Europe- / a storm of guilt almost sank me in mid-ocean." He is just as frank about his many liaisons and children, mitigating his infidelity with his ardent yearning to create art that celebrated the Mexican people. Where the earlier volume paired poems with Kahlo's art and archival photographs, this mixes some reproductions of Rivera's work with Diaz's stylized, Aztec-inspired mixed-media tableaux. Done in a South-of-the-Border palette, they are undeniably lovely, but serve to distance readers from the vigorous man speaking in the poems. While this effort is not as sublime as its predecessor, it nevertheless makes a worthwhile, if flawed, companion-rather like the man himself. (biographical note, glossary, chronology, sources, "In His Own Words") (Poetry. YA)
