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The historian Alan Balfour writes that the Rockefellers had full knowledge of Rivera's communist activities, but hired him anyway. Rivera was given the theme "Man at the Crossroads Looking with Hope and High Vision to the Choosing of a New and Better Future", since John wanted the painting to make people pause and think. The entire Rockefeller family became close friends with Rivera and his wife Frida Kahlo over the next few months, which led to the decision to commission Rivera for the RCA Building's mural. Abby suggested that a mural by Rivera would be a positive addition to Rockefeller Center. The writer Daniel Okrent states that a key event in the mural's conception occurred during a luncheon that Abby Rockefeller hosted in January 1932, at which Rivera was a guest. Rivera had recently been kicked out of Communist Party USA for accepting commissions from wealthy patrons, and his commission for Detroit Industry did not help improve the Communist Party's views of him. At the time, Rivera was painting a controversial fresco in Detroit titled Detroit Industry, commissioned by the Rockefellers' friend, Edsel Ford, who later became a MoMA trustee. This had been the case since winter 1931–1932, when Abby purchased many of Rivera's pieces at a Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) show. Meanwhile, his wife, Abby Aldrich Rockefeller, was a patron of the socialist Mexican artist Diego Rivera. He wanted to have a 63 by 17 feet (19.2 by 5.2 m) mural placed on the lobby wall of the RCA Building (now 30 Rockefeller Plaza), the largest structure in Rockefeller Center. Rockefeller Jr., a businessman and member of the Rockefeller family, was heavily involved in the 1930s construction of Rockefeller Center. White's 1933 poem "I paint what I see: A ballad of artistic integrity".ģ0 Rockefeller Plaza, where Man at the Crossroads was originally installed The reactions to the mural's controversy have been dramatized in Archibald MacLeish's 1933 collection Frescoes for Mr. The creation and destruction of the mural is dramatized in the films Cradle Will Rock (1999) and Frida (2002). The controversy over the mural was significant because Rivera's communist ideals contrasted with the theme of Rockefeller Center, even though the Rockefeller family themselves admired Rivera's work. Using the photographs, Rivera repainted the composition in Mexico under the variant title Man, Controller of the Universe. Only black-and-white photographs exist of the original incomplete mural, taken when Rivera suspected it might be destroyed. Man at the Crossroads was peeled off in 1934 and replaced by a mural from Josep Maria Sert three years later. In May 1933, Rockefeller ordered the mural to be plastered-over and thereby destroyed before it was finished, resulting in protests and boycotts from other artists. When these were discovered, Nelson Rockefeller – at the time a director of the Rockefeller Center – wanted Rivera to remove the portrait of Lenin, but Rivera was unwilling to do so. However, after the New York World-Telegram complained about the piece, calling it "anti-capitalist propaganda", Rivera added images of Vladimir Lenin and a Soviet Russian May Day parade in response. The Rockefeller family approved of the mural's idea: showing the contrast of capitalism as opposed to communism. The central panel was flanked by two other panels, The Frontier of Ethical Evolution and The Frontier of Material Development, which respectively represented socialism and capitalism. A central panel depicted a worker controlling machinery. As originally installed, it was a three- paneled artwork. Man at the Crossroads showed the aspects of contemporary social and scientific culture. It was originally slated to be installed in the lobby of 30 Rockefeller Plaza, the main building of the center. Man at the Crossroads (1934) was a fresco by Diego Rivera in New York City's Rockefeller Center. The recreated version of the painting, known as Man, Controller of the Universeĭestroyed a smaller replica made by Rivera in 1934 is located in the Palacio de Bellas Artes