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\nThe executor holding the photo of Alfred Honigbaum, who bought the painting of \u00c1urea Procel directly from Rivera in 1929. The photo of Honigbaum is by Dorothea Lange. Photo by Julie Zigoris.<\/p>\n
In a light-filled, two-story Cow Hollow home, a pair of ethereal eyes gaze from a pastel canvas. <\/p>\n
The otherworldly stare belongs to Aurea Procel \u2014 and to Diego Rivera, who painted the young woman\u2019s likeness in the 1929 portrait, \u201cTehuantepec Costume.\u201d The hypnotic work will soon be on the move, most likely in December. Yet the portrait\u2019s fate could change even sooner if its 90-year-old owner dies before the portrait goes to an exhibition in Houston.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThis story is not about me, but about the painting,\u201d said the trustee of the Rivera masterpiece, who wishes to remain anonymous regarding the work hanging above her bed. <\/p>\n
She began calling the portrait \u201cthe Mexican Mona Lisa\u201d in the course of her extensive research on the painting\u2019s subject and its original owner, Alfred Honigbaum, who bought the painting directly from Rivera in 1929.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nThe executor holding the photo of Alfred Honigbaum, who bought the painting of \u00c1urea Procel directly from Rivera in 1929. The photo of Honigbaum is by Dorothea Lange. Photo by Julie Zigoris.<\/p>\n
Procel accomplished much in the 45 years of her short life, becoming the first female Mexican doctor and a staunch feminist. She was 18 \u2014 turning 19 \u2014 at the time Rivera painted her portrait, which could have made it a birthday gift. <\/p>\n
Rivera\u2019s inscription in elegant, looping cursive on the canvas appears to provide further evidence: It reads Para Aurea Procel (For Aurea Procel). She is dressed in traditional costume, the huipil of lace encasing her face a symbol of femininity that identifies her as a Tehuana.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s sort of in la-la-land when he paints this,\u201d said Will Maynez of the Rivera portrait. Maynez serves as a longtime guardian of and expert on the Rivera mural \u201cPan-American Unity,\u201d currently in storage at the City College of San Francisco. \u201cHe just married Frida, and he just got kicked out of the Mexican Communist Party.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Rivera painted a second, much larger, portrait of the same woman in 1929, titled \u201cTehuana (Aurea Procel),\u201d with a more traditional look. This may have been the painting originally intended for Honigbaum during his visit to Mexico, but he forked out $500 to buy the smaller one instead.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIf Alfred had taken the big, rustic one, the more refined sensibility of the tastes here at the time would not have been as receptive,\u201d said the trustee. \u201cThis is just polished enough that it creates a sensation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sensation, indeed. A San Francisco Examiner article from 1930 calls the portrait the \u201cmost striking of all\u201d the art in Honigbaum\u2019s extensive art collection on display at the Galerie Beaux Arts with its \u201csimple and masterful composition\u201d and \u201cjeweled light.\u201d <\/p>\n
The article lovingly describes Procel\u2019s face as \u201ca perfect oval, almost like an olive, set in absolute vertical balance [\u2026] The eyes, the brows, the lips are adjusted in horizontal or vertical rhythms.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Indirect family connections to the original owner have led Procel\u2019s portrait to hang in Cow Hollow. Now it\u2019s the trustee\u2019s job to ensure the painting finds a new \u2014 and appropriate \u2014permanent home. <\/p>\n