Two Words

Colleene Fesko saw the signature and felt immediately drawn to it. The irregular signature conveyed the whole other thing to her. She scanned the signature for a while and then looked up towards Rue. And then she said something that made Rue jump out of his skin. She started, “Well, there are two extraordinarily intriguing words in an artist’s catalog of paintings…” 

“Whereabouts Unknown”

Colleen pointed “And those words are ‘whereabouts unknown’,” Rue could not understand what does it mean. But the woman was not finished yet. She had more to disclose. “My understanding of the painting’s history is that it was painted in 1904,” she continued, pausing for effect, “…by Diego Riviera. And at that time, Diego Riviera, who was arguably one of the most important Latin-American 20th Century artists, was only 18 years old,” she revealed.  

A Young Man’s Signature

At that time Rue could have easily been knocked down with a feather. The expert did not stop there. She said, “And there were, I think, only three or four paintings known from that early time…the painting is signed here as ‘Diego Riviera’, 1904. And what’s interesting about the signature is it’s a very young man’s signature.” 

An Obsession

Rue’s father when alive had gone obsessed with this portray. He had been so intrigued by this painting that he read all the autobiography and documents pertaining to hedonistic Mexican muralist. The man knew that the painting was not an ordinary one and so despite people telling him that it was just a regular one he kept on finding more about the artist and his part in the Mexican Revolution. The face of the man in portray was not ready to leave his mind. He even began to appear in his nightmares and dream both. No matter what others used to say, Rue’s father kept on asserting that the painting was real.         

A National Treasure

Diego Riviera was quite famous in those days. He rose high as a political artist of the 20th Century. No doubt, he deserved the fame he received. Many of his work revolved around the Mexico workers including, laborers, the brick-layers, and farmers who according to Rivers formed the essence of society. that is the reason why his work is included in Mexico’s national treasures. Now the question was how did Rue’s father get his hand on this painting?   

Fearing For His Life

Diego Riviera was engaged in politics as well. The man had many experiences in his life be it of Delusion and Paranoia or truth. However, the real experience came when he came into contact with Russian Revolutionary Leon Trotsky and hosted him at his home with his then-wife Frida Kahlo. It happened after he was exiled because of his anti-Stalinist views. After this Trotsky and Riviera constituted a Joint Commission of Inquiry into the Moscow Trials.