Antique & Vintage Postcards

Trotsky's spectral presence, a crowd of workers, a stone colossus, and a banner reading "Workers of the World Unite" — this vivid linen-era card reproduces the right-side panel of Diego Rivera's monumental fresco at Mexico City's Palacio de Bellas Artes, one of the most politically charged murals of the twentieth century. Rivera had repainted his famous "Man at the Crossroads" here after Nelson Rockefeller famously destroyed the original at Rockefeller Center in 1934 for including Lenin's portrait; the Bellas Artes version, completed in 1934, is richer and more explicit than its New York predecessor. A "Stop War / Abolish Militarism" placard is visible among the crowd, and Leon Trotsky — identifiable by his white hair and round spectacles — holds the red banner at centre. Published by Fotocolor in 1937 under official Palacio de Bellas Artes auspices (Teatro Nacional de Mexico), this card is a primary document of Mexican muralism at its peak. The reverse retains its original tape residue from album mounting.