29 oktober 2019

Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo #4


Juan O’Gorman’s studio for the renowned Mexican painter Frida Kahlo and muralist Diego Rivera, San Angel, Mexico City, 2016.

"....
Inspired by the Russian Constructivists, O’Gorman’s work ties their ideals about geometry and the disruption of context with the Mexican regionalist ideals of materiality, colors, outdoor/indoor spaces. The outer facades are all painted in “Indian” red and deep blue, recalling both the tezontle (volcanic soil) traditional to Mexico City as well as the color of dried blood (symbolizing the indigenous massacre by the conquistadors). The blue was the same as the one used in Frida Kahlo’s home in the nearby neighborhood of Coyoacan. These traditional vernacular colors utilized in the exterior facades related to the architecture of the place. The exterior can be read a rational system of concrete frame and waffle slab, where walls are infilled between the frame. The glazing consisted of steel industrialized windows that formed a mosaic-like pattern. The addition of outdoor stairs, bridges and terraces further roots the house into the site, creating a circulation path that constantly interacts with the outside elements.

In the inside, the architecture changed quite drastically, as yellow and parrot green were used to create a sense of warmth. The interior rooms were expressed as distinct, separate elements with mechanical and electrical systems were exposed to portray the modernist idea of the house as a machine for living. The interior was filled with Mexican traits partially because Kahlo and Riviera collected indigenous art, creating a dichotomy between a modernist house with exposed systems and industrialized materials, and the handcrafted uniqueness of the artifacts. This reflected O’Gorman’s interest in making an architecture concerned with progress, universality, technology rationalism, and abstraction, but also an architecture that utilized vernacular Mexican colors and indigenous art to create interiors.
...."
(bron: Mexican Whispers)


Facade of Diego Rivera's House-Studio, 1932. (foto: Guillermo Kahlo)


Unidentified people outside the functionalist houses of Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo.


Facade of Diego Rivera's House-Studio as seen from the Cecil O’Gorman House, ca. 1931.


Exterior view of the San Ángel houses from Avenida Palmas, 1932. (foto: Guillermo Kahlo)


View of the main facade of Diego Rivera's House-Studio, 1931.


Interior of Frida Kahlo's House-Studio,1930.


Frida Kahlo's House-Studio,1932. (foto: Guillermo Kahlo)


Diego Rivera's House-Studio,1932. (foto: Guillermo Kahlo)

"The "Museo Casa Estudio Diego Rivera y Frida Kahlo" (Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo House-Studio Museum) comprises 3 house-studios, a photographic laboratory, and a garage. The first house was built by Juan O'Gorman between 1929 and 1931, and his work was a watershed moment in 20th century Mexican architecture. These homes exemplify the functionalism of the architect Le Corbusier, embodying the principle of "minimum expense for minimum effort," which sums up his now classic work.

The buildings incorporate functionalist elements which, in several cases, have been adapted to the Mexican landscape. Examples of this are the pilotis (slender columns that support the first-floor structure) and the use of concrete, baked clay panels, electrical installations, exposed drainage, open floors in the style of vestibules, and a spiral staircase—the central component which stands out from everything else.

A constant element in this space is the organic cactus perimeter fence, which visually integrates it as a whole, from inside and out. It is a fundamental aspect that demonstrates the importance O'Gorman gave to landscape architecture.

In line with his political and social views, as well as his functionalist aesthetics, Diego Rivera commissioned him to build his house and studio, which was completed in 1932. He also planned to build a small photographic workshop.

In keeping with the style chosen for construction of the first house-studio, the first floors are completely open and the others are supported by pilotis. The property includes access from the streets Diego Rivera (then Palma) and Altavista, as well as the cactus fence that marks out the plot.

Le Corbusier's influence can be seen in the building that houses the studio, given its similarity to the house-studio belonging to the painter Amedeé Ozenfant, which was built in Paris in 1922. Both structures boast a saw-tooth roof and an external spiral staircase with concrete handrails. Inside, the work space or painter's studio is the highlight, because of its dimensions and double height.

The house that was lived in, known today as "Casa Frida," was the part designed to be used as a home, with a bathroom, kitchen, dining room, and bedroom, and a studio on the second floor for Frida Kahlo. The proportions of the spaces are smaller in scale, since functionalism advocated building very small homes.

On the roofs of both buildings are terraces that can be used as viewpoints, and the two spaces are connected with a bridge.
....
Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo returned from their stay in the USA in 1934 and only lived in the houses as a couple for a short time, because Frida left Diego and moved to the "Casa Azul" (Blue House) in Coyoacán, where she had spent her childhood and youth. Even when they were subsequently reconciled, they kept separate homes and did not live together again.

In 1986, the building was handed over to the Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes (National Institute of Fine Arts) and the Diego Rivera House-Studio Museum was opened in the painter's studio. "Casa Frida," meanwhile, was handed over to the National Centre of Research, Documentation, and Information on Visual Arts (CENIDIAP).

The site had changed quite a lot over time, and in 1997, the decision was made to restore it to its original 1932 state, incorporating the "Casa Frida" into the museum and changing the name to the Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo House-Studio Museum.
...."
(bron: Google Arts & Culture)


Diego Rivera´s home and studio and Frida Kahlo´s house by Juan O´Gorman, 1931. (bron: Iconic Houses)

> Museo Estudio Diego Rivera y Frida Kahlo

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