Untitled (Pre-Columbian Sculpture and Diego Rivera Mural, Mexico City) - Ed van der Elsken

A striking diptych by Ed van der Elsken, pairing a Pre-Columbian skeletal sculpture with a detail from Diego Rivera's mural in Mexico City.

This black and white photograph by the Dutch photographer Ed van der Elsken presents a diptych composition. On the left, the image captures a Pre-Columbian skeletal figure, likely a funerary sculpture, set against a stark, dark background. The figure is seated with arms crossed, its anatomical features rendered with a focus on texture and form. This ancient object contrasts with the right side of the frame, which features a photographic reproduction of a section of Diego Rivera's mural, 'Historia de México a través de los siglos', located in the Palacio Nacional, Mexico City.

The mural segment depicted includes a prominent figure of Karl Marx, who is shown gesturing towards a text that outlines his theories on class struggle. The juxtaposition of these two subjects—the ancient funerary sculpture and the modern political mural—reflects Van der Elsken's interest in the layers of history and cultural identity found in Mexico. The photographer, known for his candid and often gritty approach to documenting urban life and human experience, uses this pairing to create a visual dialogue between the distant past and the ideological movements of the twentieth century.

Van der Elsken travelled extensively during the mid-twentieth century, and his work often focused on the intersection of people, art, and their environments. This print demonstrates his eye for composition, as he balances the static, sculptural presence of the Pre-Columbian artefact with the dense, narrative complexity of Rivera's mural. The high-contrast lighting emphasises the skeletal structure on the left and the graphic, illustrative quality of the mural on the right. This piece offers a glimpse into the photographer's process of documenting global cultural heritage through a personal, observational lens.