Enter a name, company, place or keywords to search across this item. Then click "Search" (or hit Enter).
Volume 076-2 - April 2022 (4 pages)
Go to the Archive Home
Go to Thumbnail View of this Item
Go to Single Page View of this Item
Download the Page Image
Copy the Page Text to the Clipboard
Don't highlight the search terms on the Image
Show the Page Image
Show the Image Page Text
Reset View and Center Image
Zoom Out
Zoom In
Rotate Left
Rotate Right
Toggle Full Page View
Flip Image Horizontally
More Information About this Image
Get a Citation for Page or Image - Copy to the Clipboard
Go to the Previous Page (or Left Arrow key)
Go to the Next Page (or Right Arrow key)
Page: of 4
NCHS Bulletin April 2022
Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera. It contained an almost
complete set of the sketches, which was called “California Miners.” In 2015 an article in the Getty Research
Journal partnered by the J. Paul Getty Trust, JSTOR, and
the University of Chicago Press included a very interesting history of Rivera’s visit to California and what was
known of his activities in Nevada County.’ Although the
article included only
five of his sketches, it
opened the door to a
great deal of interest
in the collection.
We are most fortunate in this community to have men still
alive who worked
at the Empire Mine
before it was closed.
This presented an
opportunity for them
to clarify some of the
unidentified sketches. A few examples
are the machine/
carpenter shop that is
still standing, miners
getting on/off the
man-skip, and a portrait of a man who may be George
W. Starr, manager of the Empire Mine.
Sketch of a man, possibly by Frida Kahlo.
Other pictures included an ore car, deep mine stations
where miners exited the man-skip, an office worker and
what appears to be a Chinese worker who might have been
employed as gardener
or kitchen help. Local
men who worked in the
Empire Mine do not
recall any Chinese men
»’ who worked as miners,
but in the Getty Research
Journal it mentions that
several of the sketches:
“appear to be two African-American miners as
well as a Chinese man,
which together help present a diverse picture.”
Although the Getty
article mentions
Rivera’s sketches of
Diego Rivera’s sketch of miners
getting on and off the man-skip.
both African American
and Chinese miners,
Diego Rivera’s sketch of the Empire Mine machine-carpenter shop that
is still standing.
the book, Mexicanidad, (missing 5 sketches) only
shows what appears to be a Chinese person. Most of
the sketches were of Cornish miners, who comprised
seventy percent of the mine workers. In his pictures
they were often characterized by bushy mustaches and
smoking a type of pipe favored by the Cornish men.
Most of the images show their faces at various angles.
With Rivera’s interest in detail, the miners all wore
overalls and the mining helmets with the characteristic
lights attached. This light was invented by Edward Bullard in 1919 and manufactured in San Francisco.
Rivera remains a very controversial political figure.
Although he openly proclaimed to be a member of the
Mexican Communist Party, he most certainly enjoyed
the “high life” and favors from his wealthy friends.
While in California, he and Frida visited Filoli, the
beautiful home of the Bourn family, which is located
south of San Francisco
in Woodside. Pictures
of Rivera and Kahlo
enjoying festive events
with their many influAd
ential admirers also apoP Am ate!
peared in San Francisco Pane
newspapers and maga.
zines. It was because of
such publicity that he 4
was often criticized by 7 . \
the Communist Party, ‘\
itself, which had dif\ \
\
BS
ry A Man
‘4
ed
et .
ficulty combining his ;
leftist ideals with his iJ Py Pf
many activities and * : way
with the affluent world
2 Diego Rivera’s portrait of a man,
he so enjoyed. = r
possibly George W. Starr.