Dr. Nakayama will speak on one of the masterpieces housed in the Detroit Institute of Arts is Diego Rivera’s Detroit Industry Murals, a work he considered to be his finest. A small panel on the south wall of this work, The Surgery Panel, shows a gloved surgeon’s hands in an operative field, flanked by endocrine, digestive, and reproductive organs. It is a medical analogue to the iconography of the main theme of the panel. Where the monumental panels celebrate the construction of automobiles from forging steel to steel presses and final assembly, The Surgery Panel suggests the assembly of a human worker. Part of the backstory behind Rivera’s work on the mural is that of his wife, Frida Kahlo, who did some of her most personal and celebrated paintings while in Detroit at the time.
The public community along with UM faculty, staff, and students are welcome to attend. The event is sponsored by the U-M Department of Urology.
For more information, please contact Sandra Heskett by phone at 734-232-4943 or email at [email protected]
