In 1933, as the Depression dragged on and fascism continued its rise, the Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA) unveiled its newly decorated Garden Court. In that grand Roman Baroque space—all marble floors and elaborate doorways—the Mexican muralist Diego Rivera had painted the series of frescos known as the Detroit Industry Murals. The murals covered all four walls and depicted not only the machines and laborers of the shop floor, but also figures in gas masks, a baby, women typists, fists emerging from a mountain, and strata of earth and minerals. Read more