Acapulco Home with Extraordinary Rivera Mosaic Murals AND His Last Studio For Sale

Those of you who have a copy of MAN's 2009 edition may recognize the serpent above. That's Ehecatl-Calle, a vibrant mosaic designed by Diego Rivera and fabricated by MAN supporter, Perdomo Studios, in 1956. Michele Petno's story, "Modern Mexican Painters and Their Amazing Mosaic Murals" used this very mosaic as an illustration of the exceptional collaboration between Rivera and Perdomo. (www.PerdomoSmalti.com)

We're posting two different stories here about the sale of the Olmedo home in Acapulco, Mexico. It seems that there are at least three, if not six, mosaic murals by Rivera decorating the residence. And if that's not enough to make an art lover's heart go pitty-pat, Rivera's three-story last studio with more murals is also part of the package.

And yes, ArtDaily.org is off the mark in characterizing the murals as "paintings", but we do highly recommend the site.

Enjoy -- Nancie

From AFP Wire Service (photos courtesy of AFP):
MEXICO CITY — A mansion on the market in Mexico's legendary beach resort of Acapulco has an unusual selling point -- six murals by one of the country's most renowned artists, Diego Rivera.
Three of the murals are publicly unseen, late works by the world famous Mexican artist who died more than 50 years ago made and his name painting massive murals on buildings from Mexico City to New York.
The mansion was built on a cliff in Acapulco's heydey in the middle of the last century, and is on the market for a minimum of six million dollars.
"There are (three) unknown murals inside. Only the ones that can be seen from the street are known," Carlos Phillips, son of the mansion's original owner, Dolores Olmedo, told AFP.
Olmedo, a sophisticated art collecter and friend of Rivera and his famous artist wife Frida Kahlo, had the mansion built in 1940.
Rivera created the murals between 1955 and 1957 -- the year he died.
One mural of naturally-colored stones depicting a journey by leftist Rivera to the former Soviet Union decorates the artist's former studio alongside the house, Phillips said.
Another -- on the outside of the house which is called "Exekatlkalli" or "House of the Winds" in the indigenous Nahuatl language -- depicts an Aztec serpent god in a long stone mosaic.
Olmedo died in 2002 and passed the property, which includes a tropical garden and a swimming pool overlooking the Pacific, to her grandchildren who now live in the United States and wish to sell it.
Rivera's work cannot leave the country because it is considered to be part of Mexico's cultural heritage, but private individuals can buy the property, Phillips said.
The estate includes Rivera's three-storey artist studio with murals on the ceilings and a two-storey house with five bedrooms and six bathrooms.
For now, Rivera fans remain in suspense over the unseen works.
The property is not open to the public so that interested parties can decide what to do with it, Phillips said.
Copyright © 2009 AFP. All rights reserved.

From ArtDaily.org
ACAPULCO.- Mexican authorities are analyzing the purchase of a house with a view to the sea in Acapulco, which is owned by the heirs of collector Dolores Olmedo. The house has walls where Diego Rivera painted five murals.

"It is a house located in an extraordinary place in Acapulco, with marvelous murals, by Diego Rivera, which have been restored by experts from the Restoration Center at the Museum of Fine Arts", said to news agency EFE, Fernando Serrano Migallón from CONACULTA.

Serrano Migallón considers that the house has a “notable artistic value” due to the murals and the artistic activity that developed there before Diego Rivera died.
Serrano considers that it is viable to buy the house and convert it into a cultural center, with didactic activities, entertainment, and concerts.

"To start talking seriously with the owners of the house, three factors have to coincide: the city of Acapulco, the State of Guerrero and the CONACULTA", he explained.

The property, built in the 1940s, known as Exekatlkalli or La Casa de los Vientos (the House of the Winds, has 3.000 square meters and 544 of those are construction.

Diego Rivera was a world-famous Mexican painter, an active Communist, and husband of Frida Kahlo, 1929-1939 and 1940-1954 (her death). Rivera's large wall works in fresco helped establish the Mexican Mural Renaissance. Between 1922 and 1953, Rivera painted murals in Mexico City, Chapingo, Cuernavaca, San Francisco, Detroit, and New York City. His 1931 retrospective exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City was their second