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Rivera In San Francisco

A thrill to see two panels from Diego Rivera’s Pan American Unity mural series made originally on Treasure Island in 1940 in front of a live audience being installed at SF MoMA. Chief Curator Janet Bishop tells me all of the 5 oversized panels are being transported in the wee hours to avoid traffic and disturbance. A joint project of the much beleaguered SF City College and the museum they will reside in a special Snohetta designed corner gallery. Opens early this summer and will be on view for at least a couple of years Rivera had in mind that all the peoples of North and South America would therein be represented. As events roiled Europe soon to spill over to the west, perhaps this was a hope and dream more than a reality. Still its majesty bespeaks a commonality we seek even today.