Just Finished a Quick Reading of ..
An interesting story from the book --
The Rockefellers proposed a "competition" where Picasso, Matisse,
and Diego Rivera would submit proposals for a mural in the RCA Building soon
to be opened in Radio City, New York City. The Rockefeller clan laid out
all kinds of parameters "which seemed, consciously or unconsciously,
calculated to restrain these turbulent spirits by a series of elaborate restrictions
and regulations." Matisse said no thanks. Picasso wouldn't even talk
to their representative. Diego Rivera also declined to compete, but said
he would create a mural if they commissioned him without a competition.
They did commission him, and he included a large head of Stalin in the
mural -- they paid him and then destroyed the mural, not even allowing
photos for documentation. Diego Rivera used the money to
paint other anti-capitalist pictures at several locations in New York.
That's the art spirit.