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notes on Rivera fresco at CCIE 1940 by Emmy Lou Packard

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change in the social order. River had claimed if dialectical laws indeed operated as they were supposed to, Marxian socialism would in turn, in thousands of years, give rise to some social order we couldn't dream of. This angered Trotsky, and caused him to leave Rivera's house. But Rivera remained loyal to the Fourth International for several years, in spite of his fight with Trotsky.

Rivera was primarily concerned with anti-fascism at this time, and warned of the consequences to the world if the United States did not join the Russians in fighting the German nazis. Later, just after Pearl Harbor, he wrote reminding me of his warnings. (see photostat of letter dated December 27, 1941) He took all of his mural assistants to see the opening of Chaplin's film "The Great Dictator". Paulette Goddard (Charlin's wife) came up to pose for scenes from the movie which were incorporated in the mural. She also posed for the "tree of life" figure in the center of the mural, with Rivera.

The content of the mural is explained in the accompanying catalogue. Minor changes were made as the color was applied. The figure of the swimmer was drawn from Helen Krelenkovich, the swimming star. The blonde girl sitting at the card table is Mona Hoffman. In the center panel are three drawings of Dudley Carter, one looking over the shoulder of Tim Pflueger. Next to the figure of Frida are the drawings of Paulette and Diego planting the tree of life. A Mexican child and a [[strikethrough]] n American [[/strikethrough]] a northamerican child are shown next to them. The Mexican child was painted from memory, but the boy was modeled by my son, Donald Cairns. In the next panel is the figure of the Woman Architect, which was modeled by Mary Anthony (a San Francisco landscape architect). The woman painter, although shown in the rough drawings as Irene Bojus, was changed in the final painting to Emmy Lou Packard. Below are movie scenes showing Edward G. Robinson, Chaplin (who did not come up to pose) and Paulette Goddard. At the top panel on the right, the figure of the pioneer woman with the embroidery was modeled by Mrs. William Gerstle.

(When the mural was finished, it was orated and stored in the hangar for several months. A fire broke out one day, and one of the firemen mistakenly chopped through one of the crates. An area of about a square foot was damaged, exactly in the center of the needlework held by Mrs. Gerstle. I have photographs of the damage, and a letter from Rivera asking me to repair it. Tim Pflueger decided that it would be better to wait until the mural was installed in case there was more damage.)

We finished the mural about a month after the Fair closed. I drove Rivera to Santa Barbara (Frida had flown back to Mexico), where he painted a fresco portrait of Frances Rich, a sculptor and daughter of radio star Irene Rich. From there we drove to Los Angeles, where Rivera was entertained by some of the movie colony. Oscar and Florence Homolka were particularly helpful.

cont'd.

Transcription Notes:
Reopened to make several corrections.