Lot 276
Emmy Lou Packard (American, 1914-1988), photograph of Diego Rivera and his pet spider monkey, ca. 1941 CE. A wonderful signed and dated black and white photograph of legendary Mexican Modernist Diego Rivera playing with his pet monkey with a wonderful wall of cacti in the background, by the California artist Emmy Lou Packard, one of the most accomplished American fresco painters and an early 20th century pioneer of printmaking. The handwritten inscription beneath the full-of-life image reads, "Diego Rivera with his pet monkey in the large yard of his studio 1941 Emmy Lou Packard". Packard's early experience as an assistant to the legendary Mexican muralist, and as a student of both Kahlo and Rivera, not only impacted her artistic trajectory but also influenced her political direction as an opponent of human rights violations, World War II, as well as the Cold War and the Vietnam War. Size: 10.25" L x 10.25" W (26 cm x 26 cm) image; 14" L x 11" W (35.6 cm x 27.9 cm) full sheet; 18" L x 16" W (45.7 cm x 40.6 cm) with matt
The inclusion of a monkey in this photograph is highly symbolic, for Frida Kahlo, Diego's wife and accomplished Surrealist artist, chose to paint eight of her famous large self portraits with monkeys. Monkeys were Frida's constant companions, and she kept them as pets in the Blue House garden in Coyoacan. She said that her monkeys were in effect her children, as she was unable to have children due to injuries suffered from a horrific bus accident in 1925.
Prior to her formal art education, Emmy Lou Packard studied with both Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo in Mexico from 1927 to 1928. In 1936, Packard received her B.A. from UC Berkeley, and next studied at the California School of Fine Arts. In 1940, around the time this photograph was taken, she assisted Rivera in creating the 1,650 square foot fresco at the Golden Gate International Exposition at Treasure Island in San Francisco. Following that project, Packard returned with Rivera to Mexico City, a Diego and Frida's guest. A few years later, during World War II, Packard worked as a writer and illustrator for a Richmond, California newspaper. As a human rights activist, she fought for the rights of women and children, and supported Cesar Chavez and the United Farmworkers. Continuing to combine her art with social purpose, Packard's studies of the Mendocino Headlands would later inspire her to promote the establishment of the headlands as a National Park.
Provenance: ex- private Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA collection
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#124495
- Condition: Choice. Signed lower right; inscribed lower left. Photo is under a translucent sheet and set in a mat.
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