Open-Air School

1932

Open-Air School, 1932. Diego Rivera (Mexican, 1886–1957), printed by George C. Miller (American, 1894–1966), published by Weyhe Gallery. Lithograph; image: 31.5 x 41.1 cm (12 3/8 x 16 3/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Mr. and Mrs. Lewis B. Williams Collection 1941.510 © Banco de México Diego Rivera Frida Kahlo Museums Trust, Mexico, D.F. / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York In the decades following the Mexican Revolution, the country's citizens fought for social reform and civil liberties. This print presents an idealized vision of universal public education, one of their central goals. A teacher holds a book and instructs a group of attentive students while behind the group, farmers tend to the land, suggesting the important role of agriculture in Mexico. This print belongs to a series of five that Diego Rivera was commissioned to create in 1932 by New York's Weyhe Gallery representing details from mural projects in Mexico.