The man. Costume design for the ballet H.P. (Horsepower)

Rivera, Diego (1886-1957)


Item type:
drawing
Date of creation:
1927
Height:
53.0 cm  (20 7/8 in.)
Width:
74.6 cm  (29 3/8 in.)
Technique / Medium:
ink, watercolor, and pencil on paper
Place of creation:
New York (New York, United States)

Description

The watercolor belongs to a group of studies that Diego Rivera executed for the ballet-symphony "Caballos de vapor, sinfonía de baile" (know as "Horse-Power" in English by the Mexican composer Carlos Chávez (1899-1978) in 1926–32. It was attributed to the dancer Catherine Littlefeld (1908-1951) and premiered at the Metropolitan Opera House, Philadelphia, on 31 March 1932 under the direction of Leopold Stokowski (1892-1977). "The 28-minute work […] contrasted the industrial North (meaning the U.S.) with the tropical South (meaning Mexico), demonstrating how the two cultures were mutually dependent." (https://catherinelittlefield.com/notable-works/h-p-horsepower, last accessed: 10.04.2017)

Image URLs

image link 1
Link to the object in the Museum of Modern Art, New York.

Bibliographic references

Belnap, Jeffrey. "Diego Rivera's Greater America Pan-American Patronage, Indigenism, and H.P." In: Cultural Critique, 63 (2015), pp. 61-98.

Parker, Robert L. "Carlos Chávez and the Ballet: A Study in Persistence". In: Dance Chronicle, 8/3&4 (1985), pp. 179-210.

Blitzstein, Marc. "Music and Theatre—1932". In: Modern Music, 9/4 (1932), pp. 164-168.

Taylor Gibson, Christina. "The Reception of Carlos Chávez's Horsepower: A Pan-American Communication Failure". In: American Music, 30/2 (2012), pp. 157-193.

Friedler,Sharon E.; Glazer, Susan (eds). Dancing Female: Lives and Issues of Women in Contemporary Dance (Amsterdam etc.: Harwood Academic Publ, 2000, 3rd ed.), pp. 25-27.

Notes

See also record no. 4918-4930 and 4932-4941.

RIdIM record id

4931