It was the end of the 1920’s when Diego Rivera received his second request from the president of the San Francisco Art Institute, William Gerstle to create a mural for the institution’s gallery. With many obstacles and some help from the American ambassador in Mexico, Rivera was finally able to secure a US visa, and in 1930, arrived in San Francisco with his wife Frida Kahlo. This moment in history has forever been memorialized by the sketch above, created by Frida Kahlo one month after arriving in California.  

This sketch will be one of 200 pieces featured in an upcoming museum show at the Harry Ransom Center in Austin, Texas, titled Mexico Modern. The exhibition will feature artworks by Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, David Alfaro Siquieros, Miguel Covarrubias and other Mexican artists that were active in the 1920’s, 30’s and 40’s.

Although the show will feature Internationally recognized artists such as Frida and Diego, it will also display works by less known, “highly creative, though sometimes overlooked” artists of the era, exclaims guest curator Donald Albrecht. In addition to works of art, the show will include publications and letters by journalists and patrons who supported the artists.

The story of the exhibition begins in the 1920’s, immediately proceeding the Mexican Revolution and overthrow of President Porfirio Diaz. The aim of the exhibition is to highlight the cultural exchange and cross pollination of the recently revolutionized Mexico and the United States.