ANN ARBOR—As part of the University of Michigan’s Detroit Theme Semester, American art historian Anthony Lee is speaking at U-M Friday and Saturday (Oct. 26-27).

Lee, an associate professor at Mt. Holyoke College, will be lecturing on “Social Realism and Race in Diego Rivera’s Detroit Industry” at 4 p.m. Friday in Auditorium A, Angell Hall. In addition, Lee will hold a coffee hour at 10:30 a.m. Saturday in Room 180, Tappan Hall, to review and discuss issues brought up in his lecture.

Lee will base his talk on new research in Detroit archives. He has uncovered material on the conflict between social realism as a developing radical language, and working-class and racial tensions in Detroit at the time that Rivera painted his famous industry murals at the Detroit Art Museum. Lee will propose “a new reading” that relates the murals’ imagery to local conflicts.

He is the author of two books, “Painting on the Left: Diego Rivera, Radical Politics, and San Francisco’s Public Murals” and “Picturing Chinatown: Art and Orientalism in San Francisco.”

Lee’s talk and the coffee hour are sponsored by the Department of the History of Art, the Program in American Culture, Latino/a Studies, the Museum of Art, the Office of the Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs, and the King-Chavez-Parks visiting professorship program.

For more information,

Detroit Theme Semesterindustry muralsPainting on the Left: Diego Rivera, Radical Politics, and San Francisco’s Public MuralsDepartment of the History of Art