The DIA Survived Bankruptcy and Earned Its Collection
The DIA Survived Bankruptcy and Earned Its Collection
In 2013, Detroit's bankruptcy threatened to liquidate the art to pay creditors. Citizens of three counties voted a property tax millage to save it. That vote said more about Detroit than any comeback narrative.
The Rivera Detroit Industry Murals are why most come — 27 panels, 1932-33, every wall of the garden court. Workers and machines and chemical processes. Stand in the center and turn slowly. It's one of the most overwhelming experiences any American museum offers. Beyond Rivera: Van Gogh, Rembrandt, Bruegel, one of the finest African-American art collections in the country.
The General Motors Center for African American Art on the lower level tells the Detroit story Rivera doesn't — Black workers who built the cars, raised families, and made the music. Quilts to contemporary painting. Free for county residents. Fourteen dollars for visitors, worth fifty.
