Rare Diego Rivera s Frescoes in the National Palace of Mexico City Travel Guide, 1949 Rivera, Diego Art, Illustrations & Fashion,Latino, Chicano, Mexico

Rivera, Diego. Mexican History: Diego Rivera s Frescoes in the National Palace of Mexico City. A Descriptive Guide with 16 Illustrations. Mexico City: R. S. Silva, Government Authorized Tourist Guide, 1949. First edition. Printed by Policolor, Mexico City. 16mo. Original illustrated paper wraps featuring Rivera s Quetzalcoatl motif printed in terracotta, staple bound. First edition of this rare early tourist guide to Diego Rivera s monumental fresco cycle in Mexico City s National Palace, among the artist s most important state commissions. Issued by an officially sanctioned government guide, the booklet presents an authorized visual and textual overview of Rivera s murals chronicling the arc of Mexican history from the Aztec empire through the Revolution of 1910. The introduction, titled Murales in the National Palace by Diego Rivera, identifies the grand mural s Marxist historical structure, depicting the pre-Cortesian epoch, conquest, independence, and revolutionary struggle, and situates it as a work of national pedagogy. Illustrated with sixteen black-and-white plates captioned in English, including The Legend of Quetzalcoatl, The Conversion of the Indians by the Franciscan Missioners, and The Heroes of the Mexican Independence War, among others. The booklet interprets Rivera s iconography in detail, naming figures such as Miguel Hidalgo, José María Morelos, and La Corregidora Josefa Ortiz de Domínguez. A striking visual and textual synthesis of Mexican nationalism and public art, it reflects Rivera s didactic commitment to portraying Indigenous resistance, colonial violence, and class struggle within a unified historical narrative. Light wear to spine ends, small crease to lower wrap, internally clean and well-preserved. Overall very good condition. A scarce and important surviving artifact of mid-century cultural diplomacy and the dissemination of Rivera s revolutionary muralism to both domestic and international audiences.