In another life, before becoming one of the best known and most popular journalists in New York and the author of the bestselling memoir A Drinking Life, Pete Hamill studied art on the GI Bill in Mexico City. Upon seeing the monumental work of José Clemente Orozco, however, he abruptly lost his nerve: "It seemed an act of self-delusion to try to be a painter."

After 44 years, Hamill has found a way to integrate his early affair with art, his lifelong love of Mexico, and his narrative gifts in this riveting and lushly illustrated book on Diego Rivera, Mexico's best-known, widely loved muralist. Hamill's text, he says, was completed before the publication of Patrick Marnham's Dreaming with His Eyes Open: A Life of Diego Rivera. This one is less scholarly but respectably researched, and Hamill's fervent opinions on which of Rivera's works are worthy and which are the sad effluvia of a Communist Party hack are remarkably persuasive. Hamill's esthetic judgment has led him to avoid reproducing any second-rate clunkers. He has chosen the great murals, paintings, and drawings that suit the godlike stature of this outsize artist who lied, cheated, womanized, and evaded responsibility his entire life, but who worked like a demon in the service of his art.

Rivera's shabby genteel childhood; his flight to France during the 10-year Mexican Revolution, during which nearly a tenth of his countrymen died; his callous abandonment of his first wife; his ugly political gambits and high-flown society contacts; his ultimately sad relationships with both men and women--Hamill weaves it all into a fantastic read. The book is not as balanced as Dreaming with His Eyes Open, but is nonetheless a passionate first look at an artist whose complicated life will probably still be examined decades from now. --Peggy Moorman


From Library Journal
Hamill, former editor-in-chief of the New York Daily News and the New York Post, has lived, worked, and studied art in Mexico. This lively, if not definitive, biography of the pioneering Mexican muralist recounts the king-sized Rivera's real-life escapades without romantic embellishment and with a critical eye. In particular, Hamill is suspect of the seemingly universal admiration for Rivera's "narcissist" wife, artist Frida Kahlo. Coming on the heels of renewed scholarly interest in Rivera and the Mexican muralist movement, Hamill's work must inevitably compete with other studies. It relies more on secondary sources than Patrick Marnham's dependable, more thoroughly researched Dreaming with His Eyes Open (LJ 10/1/98), which it could serve to complement. With 100 very fine illustrations, 50 of which are in color; suitable for large library systems. [BOMC selection.]AMary Hamel-Schwulst, Towson Univ., M.-AMary Hamel-Schwulst, Towson Univ., MD Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.


The New York Times Book Review, Carolyn T. Hughes
Hamill, who studied art in Mexico when he as a young man, writes authoritatively about Rivera's work and diverse styles.

FROM OUR EDITORS

Mexican painter Diego Rivera's "stoic, laboring peasants" and "warm, earthy palette" are familiar to many, if not most, art lovers, but fewer are familiar with his turbulent life. In Diego Rivera -- part biography, part "appreciation" -- award-winning journalist Pete Hamill, who himself studied art in Mexico City many years ago, attempts to get beyond the myths that have long surrounded Rivera to the man they obscure.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Like his contemporary, Pablo Picasso, the Mexican artist Diego Rivera (1886-1957) was a man of enormous energy, astonishing versatility, and voracious appetites. Rivera made his mark as one of the greatest muralists of the twentieth century. His dramatic public life involved him in the deepest contradictions of art and politics. The great years of Rivera's art - the 1920s and early 1930s - saw an outpouring of work that was equal to the achievement of any twentieth-century master.. "Pete Hamill's Diego Rivera narrates the life and explores the art of this remarkable figure: prodigiously productive artist, polemicist and political activist, Mexican nationalist, and lover of many women. Acknowledging the cost of Rivera's didactic communism, Hamill focuses on what is enduring in his work.. "Pete Hamill has served as editor in chief of the New York Daily News, the New York Post, and the Mexico City News.

SYNOPSIS

Diego Rivera (1886-1957) was the greatest Mexican artist of this century-an audacious muralist, voracious lover, and ardent leftist who befriended Pablo Picasso, married Frida Kahlo, and quarreled with Leon Trotsky. Now Pete Hamill, a best-selling novelist and one of America's most esteemed journalists, gives us an extraordinary book on Rivera's life and art. Hamill, who has lived and worked in Mexico, was himself once a young art student in Mexico City. In a book that is part biography and part appreciation, he turns a novelist's eye to Rivera's tempestuous career-and shows how, despite the political passions, Rivera created a body of work that still astonishes. Filled with reproductions of Rivera's murals, paintings, and drawings as well as documentary photographs, Diego Rivera is nothing less than a tour de force.

FROM THE CRITICS

Dean Bakopoulos - The Progressive

In this tight and balanced look at Mexican painter Diego Rivera, journalist and novelist Pete Hamill focuses on Rivera's work. While Hamill touches on Rivera's unpredictable temperament...notably displayed in his infamous marriage to Frida Kahlo...this gorgeous book devotes itself to Rivera's development as artist and political icon.

Hamill deftly shows why Rivera deserves to be remembered as one of the great painters of the twentieth century.

Library Journal

Hamill, former editor-in-chief of the New York Daily News and the New York Post, has lived, worked, and studied art in Mexico. This lively, if not definitive, biography of the pioneering Mexican muralist recounts the king-sized Rivera's real-life escapades without romantic embellishment and with a critical eye. In particular, Hamill is suspect of the seemingly universal admiration for Rivera's "narcissist" wife, artist Frida Kahlo. Coming on the heels of renewed scholarly interest in Rivera and the Mexican muralist movement, Hamill's work must inevitably compete with other studies. It relies more on secondary sources than Patrick Marnham's dependable, more thoroughly researched Dreaming with His Eyes Open (LJ 10/1/98), which it could serve to complement. With 100 very fine illustrations, 50 of which are in color; suitable for large library systems. [BOMC selection.]--Mary Hamel-Schwulst, Towson Univ., MD Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.

Booknews

Hamill (a political journalist, author, and editor) narrates the life and explores the art of Diego Rivera, the prodigiously productive artist, polemicist and political activist, Mexican nationalist, and lover of many women. Acknowledging the cost of Rivera's didactic communism, he provides historical insights and focuses on what is enduring in the artist's work. The 107 illustrations (including 59 in color) show the full range of his art (murals, paintings, drawings, and illustrations) as well as documentary photographs. Oversize: 10x10. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

New York Times Book Review