




"Diego Rivera's SIGNED MoMA Exhibition Shipping/Inventory Contract", 1931, Museum Modern Art NY, Fourteen Pages, Mexico City Mexico.
1931
Dated November 5, 1931, and bearing Diego Rivera's bold signature at its center, this fourteen-page shipping and inventory contract represents a foundational document in the history of twentieth-century American art. Executed in Mexico City as an official American Consular Service declaration, the record details the transport of oils, drawings, lithomontages, and watercolors from Mexico to New York, organized by Francis Flynn Paine on behalf of the Museum of Modern Art, with a declared shipment value of $51,425. Twelve of the pages are typed in Spanish and constitute a formal invoice of merchandise, capturing in bureaucratic precision the full scope of what would become a landmark cultural moment. The document is presented in excellent condition, with smoothed folds and only minor corner creasing consistent with its age and handling across several distinguished private collections. The exhibition to which this contract corresponds was only the second monographic show in MoMA's brief history, and Rivera's first major presentation in the United States. Opening December 22, 1931, and running through January 27, 1932, it was championed by Abby Aldrich Rockefeller, one of the museum's co-founders, and drew enormous public attention, firmly establishing Rivera as a celebrated figure in American cultural life. The retrospective also served as an early platform for Frida Kahlo, whose visibility as his companion amplified the couple's combined presence in the transatlantic art world. That a single administrative document could carry such historical weight speaks to the rarity of primary materials from this period. Provenance traces the contract through the Heritage Historical Manuscripts Signature Auction, the Hemphill Collection of New York, and the University Stamp Company of Connecticut, with a certificate of authenticity from noted authenticator John Reznikoff included. An original 1931 MoMA exhibition catalogue accompanies the lot, further contextualizing the document within the institutional moment it helped make possible. For collectors focused on modernism, Latin American art history, or the material culture of museum practice, this contract occupies a genuinely irreplaceable position.
- Medium
- Ink on paper
- Overall
- Signed
- Yes
- Spotted At
- Gallery · VINCE fine arts/ephemera
For Sale — $5000
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