Lecture | Labor and National Identity in Diego Rivera’s “La Bordadora (The Embroiderer)”
Diego Rivera, La Bordadora, 1928, oil on canvas. © 2022 Christie’s Images Limited
James Oles, art historian
February 11, 2023
“Labor and National Identity in Diego Rivera’s La Bordadora (The Embroiderer)” presented by art historian James Oles
The MFAH recently acquired a major, long-lost work by Diego Rivera: La Bordadora (The Embroiderer). The painting depicts a woman on Mexico’s Isthmus of Tehuantepec embroidering a traditional huipil. The garment—a local product, painstakingly made in the home—was recorded on-site by Rivera with almost ethnographic accuracy. At the same time, it is an emergent symbol of Mexico’s post-revolutionary national identity, an embodiment of cultural mestizaje with Indigenous, European, and Asian roots. This lecture places La Bordadora in a rich, critical dialogue with overlapping and unexpected sources, from mass-market postcards to works by Frida Kahlo and Claude Monet.
The Armando Garza-Sada Sr. Endowment for the Arts funds a yearly program at the MFAH that focuses on Mexican art and artists.
About the Speaker
James Oles specializes in the history of modern Mexican art, from muralism to photography. His books include Art and Architecture in Mexico and South of the Border: Mexico in the American Imagination, 1914–1947. Most recently he curated the traveling exhibition Diego Rivera’s America.
Plan Your Visit This program is included with general admission. Lynn Wyatt Theater is located in the Kinder Building, with seating on a first-come, first-served basis. On Saturdays, the Museum is open from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Visiting Guidelines In the interest of your personal safety and community health, please observe all precautions set forth by the MFAH—learn more here.
This lecture is endowed by the Armando Garza-Sada Sr. Endowment for the Arts.