A Mural On The Go

The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and the City College of San Francisco have announced plans to display Diego Rivera’s historic mural, “Pan American Unity,” as the cornerstone of a major exhibition of the artist’s work at SFMOMA in 2022. The mural—one of the most important works of public art in San Francisco—will be on view in the museum’s Roberts Family Gallery on the street level, part of the museum’s free, un-ticketed space, beginning in Spring 2021. 

Created in 1940 as part of the Art in Action program at the Golden Gate International Exposition on San Francisco’s Treasure Island and measuring 22 feet high and 74 feet wide, the mural is the largest created by Rivera and his last made in the United States. As a result of a partnership between one of the GGIE’s commissioners and Rivera, from its inception the mural was slated for permanent display at what is now known as City College of San Francisco. Rich in symbolism and imagery from across the North American continent, including Mexico, the United States and Canada, Pan American Unity has been on view in the Diego Rivera Theater on the main campus of City College of San Francisco since 1961.

Coming from Mexico City where earthquakes are prevalent, Rivera created the mural to be removable and portable. The piece is made up of ten steel-framed panels allowing individual sections to be transported and relocated. Four panels on the lower row are discrete scenes, with the top five panels and the lower center panel forming a continuous view featuring the main focal point.

Pan American Unity can be seen at SFMOMA through 2023.

Posted by: TAWD on March 18, 2021