DIEGO RIVERA (1886-1957)

La bañista en el río (Juchitán, Oaxaca) is part of a series of life studies from Rivera's sketchbooks, which the artist made into larger watercolors and are now dispersed in various collections. All depict Tehuana women bathing in the Juchitán River, near the southern coast of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec.
The present watercolor served as a sketch for the main figure in the large mural-format painting Juchitán River (Oaxaca) measuring 60 ¼ x 346 ½ in. (153 x 880 cm), a polyptych painted in oil on canvas mounted on wood, now in the collection of the Museo Nacional de Arte of the Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes (INBA). The polyptych was the main source of inspiration for a glass tile mural Rivera later created in a technique known as Venetian mosaic. Rivera designed the mosaic mural for the Cuernavaca home of the noted Mexican publicist and film producer Santiago Reachi Fayad, founder of Posa Films. Reachi Fayad is credited for discovering and launching the career of the legendary comedian Mario Moreno Cantinflas.
Professor Luis-Martín Lozano, Art Historian