Material Detail

Diego Rivera

Diego Rivera

The Diego Rivera web museum is a comprehensive site on the works of the famous Mexican artist Diego Rivera. Quictkime video about Rivera's works with explanations in Spanish and English are a highlight. The site also includes information and video footage on Rivera's wife, artist Frida Kahlo.


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Luz del Carmen A. Vilchis Esquivel
9 years ago

The material was used to analyze the graphic design interface. The students objected that it's full of information, it shows contents, news, advertisements, even a calendar, the site navigation is not clear and some links don't work. The color scheme is too plane, the page needs more contrasts between the chromatic and typography hierarchies. This cannot be considered a didactic material cause it has not been designed under teaching parameters like a teachers guide, a students guide and a level learning structure.

Technical Remarks:

Some links are not available.

Used in course? Yes
Time spent reviewing site: 60 minutes
Courtney Fell
Courtney Fell (Consultant)
12 years ago
There are many different types of materials on the site (biographical timeline; small collection of paintings with titles and dates; photographs and descriptions of some murals) and it is very easy to navigate. There are some VERY interesting original materials on the site, for instance clippings of a magazine to which Rivera contributed in 1928-1930 as well as film clips (in English) discussing Rivera's paintings. Unfortunately, the majority of the material is exclusively in English with about a quarter in both languages.

Technical Remarks:

The majority of the media was easily accessible, however when I clicked on the photos on the "Biography: Chronology" page, I was taken to a page that said "NOT FOUND" The "Virtual" Panorama views of the Anahuacalli Museum were almost too small to make-out and I was not able to zoom in at all. The Film clips were also very small and the one titled "Man in crossroads" did not open at all.
Time spent reviewing site: 20 minutes
Barbara Kuczun Nelson
16 years ago
I used The Virtual Diego Rivera Web Museum with a second semester Spanish class
in November 2003. The assignment was designed to take advantage of the social
themes of the paintings and murals and to compare the lives of the indigenas
with the privileged lives of the upper ruling class. To prepare for this
assignment I had students read the Biografia Visual de Diego Rivera by Marela
Trejo Zacarias, a student at Kenyon College:
Students working in pairs selected a mural or painting from the museum. Then
they discussed the subject material, theme, symbols, and possible social
significance. The present subjunctive with verbs of doubt and certainty as the
grammatical focus tied in perfectly. As a followup activity they had to send me
a PowerPoint slide with their painting and five original sentences using the
subjunctive or indicative as a fill in the blank exercise.
For example: Es obvio que la molinera_______(tener) una vida dura.
I used their slides as a review the next day in class.

Other less complicated assignments could easily be planned. For example, using
La Sangre de los Martires Revolucionarios fertilizando la Tierra, students could
write a creative short story using the preterite and imperfect tenses to
describe the life of the two martyrs. What were they like? What were their lives
like? What did they believe or want? How did they die? Why are they martyrs?

This is a beautiful site, but since this site was not designed as a complete
study module, it is left to the techer's imagination and creativity to find ways
to make meaningful activities. A suggestion would be to incorporate a "For
Teacher's" manual with suggestions for use in the classroom at all levels

Technical Remarks:

My students found the site easy to navigate and appreciated the cleaness and
simplicity of the site. Images loaded quickly and there are links to download
required plugins.
Used in course? Yes