Good The Development Of Detroit Essay Example

The invitation to Diego Rivera to do the DIA murals and the presence of Rivera and his wife, artist Frida Kahlo, in Detroit during the Great Depression provide a case study in ideological, social class and political differences between Detroit’s ruling elite, the couple, and the working class labor force. Rivera’s murals in Detroit are a testament to the social struggles that Rivera was experiencing at the time; these murals contain a number of interesting thematic choices that reflect these social struggles.
In the mural cycle in Detroit, the mural begins on the East wall and moves westward, reflecting the rising and setting of the sun. Rivera intentionally chose a number of images that reflect fertility and growth, as well as the importance of being rooted in the earth. One of the first and most prominent images of the mural is the image of the baby, rooted in the earth; this reflects Rivera’s notion that people are part of the natural order of things. The women on each side of the mural are fertility figures holding fruits, vegetables, and grains grown in Michigan. Despite being a Mexican artist with distinct Mexican motifs, Rivera’s art reflects the soul of Detroit in an incredibly adroit manner.
George Speer, in his essay “Detroit Industry: Art and Healing in the Body Politic,” discusses the complex organicist symbolism of this mural. Nature, technology and the human body play significant roles in the creation of the Rivera fresco. The sheer size and breadth of the mural itself is striking. Rivera manages to use symbols and ideas that are important to the people of Detroit; some of the paneling is heavily industrial, while other parts of the mural reflect vaccinations, the production of gases for bombs, and the production of pharmaceuticals. Rivera treats each of these subjects individually, as though he is reflecting on both the positive aspects of the Detroit “industry” as well as the negative ones. Perhaps one of the most interesting things about Rivera’s mural is the development and use of Mexican iconography; he does not, however, insert Mexican and indigenous Mexican iconography blatantly into the work. Instead, he builds shapes into industrial scenes that reflect the cultural background of Mexico and the industrial heart and soul of Detroit. There is a certain romance to the pieces; Rivera does not really reflect heavily on the problems in the industrial sector, instead building the industrial sector in Detroit into an empire and leaving the viewer to make qualitative decisions regarding the nature of the empire as a whole.
Art deco was another important movement during the 1920s, and one that developed extensively in Detroit. The Guardian Building is a prime example of art deco style in architecture. It features geometric motifs and clear, vertical axes on which the building is structured. Even in materials, the building is clearly art deco: it relies heavily on tiling and bright colors, contrasted with darker granite and marble tiling. It is a stylized cathedral, which makes it even more interesting in a cultural context. The building itself is a commercial building, but the inclusion of architectural elements that are reminiscent of a cathedral makes it a unique piece in the art deco world. There is showiness in the building, as though the architect was trying to outdo others; there is a reflection of an almost Baroque or high-Gothic ideal in the proportions and concepts expressed in the space. Interestingly, there was also a movement towards Fordism and Machinism in Detroit in the early twentieth century. This was reflected in the idea that houses and art could be produced in the same assembly-line style as cars were being produced.
Black Bottom was an area of Detroit that was plagued with racial issues from early in the 1900s. From the start, the area was 10% owner-occupied; although the area covered 60 square blocks, it also housed a large portion of the city’s black population. White homeowners refused to sell to black buyers, instead choosing to rent out space in the Black Bottom neighborhood in an attempt to scuttle black home ownership dreams. In the 1960s, the area was destroyed and Lafayette Park was constructed. Lafayette Park took the place of the low-income area, and many of the residents were moved to other housing projects. This area had been the home of many organic musical and artistic movements; with the destruction of Black Bottom, much of the art and culture of the area was lost. There were also similar issues surrounding the Sojourner Truth housing project in the city during the 1940s. During this time, there were race riots in Detroit as the city tried to heavily segregate black individuals from the general population. The city had a significant amount of de facto segregation, and the promises that many southern blacks had heard regarding the job situation in Detroit turned out to be untrue; the segregation in housing, however, was the issue that really caused the city to implode. The black residents wanted to integrate housing projects, but the strong Ku Klux Klan presence in the city meant that inclusion and integration was difficult.
Racial tensions in Detroit in the early 1900s contributed significantly to the development of the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s in the United States. Because there was such an influx of blacks from the south to the north, the city became integrated in some ways by force; this forced mixing led to a pressure cooker environment. Blacks in Detroit sought out equality in their work environments and living situations, and thus became heavily invested in freedom for themselves and for their families. This is not to say that other cities did not have an equally important role in the Civil Rights Movement—however, Detroit did have a somewhat unique role, as it was such a center for industrialization and manufacturing in the United States during this particular time period.
Many important artistic and musical movements developed out of Detroit during the first half of the twentieth century. The white population of Detroit often saw these movements as potentially problematic and destructive, and a number of things were done to keep the black population of the city segregated from the white population. However, the city had a number of race riots as a result of this segregation, and those race riots contributed directly to the eventual development of the Civil Rights Movement. Without Detroit and the unique situation that it presented, there would not have been such a strong movement towards integration and civil rights in the northern parts of the United States.