  About the Artwork
  
  
  In October 1932, Diego Rivera requested from the Ford Motor Company a photo showing Edsel Ford from the left side to help paint his portrait. The artist depicts Ford — the only child of Henry and Clara Ford — as a working designer. A compass, French curve, and pencil are arrayed on the drafting table in front of him, while a full-size sketch of a 1933 coupe hangs on the studio wall in the background.

Edsel Ford served as president of the Ford Motor Company from 1919 to 1943 and underwrote Rivera’s fee for the Detroit Industry Murals (in which he also appears, on the south wall). Rivera completed this modern portrait while he was in Detroit to paint the murals. By showing Edsel as a confident and fashionable modern designer, Rivera helped craft a public profile for a man often overshadowed by the outsized presence and complicated legacy of his father.
  
  
  Title
  Edsel B. Ford
  
  
  Artwork Date
  1932
  
  Artist
  Diego M. Rivera
  
  
  
  Life Dates
  1886 - 1957
  
  
  
  
  Nationality
  
  
  
  Please note:
  Definitions for nationality may vary significantly, depending on chronology and world events.
  Some definitions include:
  Belonging to a people having a common origin based on a geography and/or descent and/or tradition and/or culture and/or religion and/or language, or sharing membership in a legally defined nation.
  
  
  
  Mexican
  
  
  
  Culture
  
  
  
  Please note:
  Cultures may be defined by the language, customs, religious beliefs, social norms, and material traits of a group.
  
  
  
  
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  Medium
  Oil on canvas, mounted on Masonite
  
  
  Dimensions
  Unframed: 38 1/2 × 49 1/4 × 1 1/8 inches (97.8 × 125.1 × 2.9 cm)
  Framed: 40 5/8 × 51 1/8 × 2 1/2 inches (103.2 × 129.9 × 6.4 cm)
  
  
  Classification
  Paintings
  
  
  Department
  American Art before 1950
  
  
  Credit
  Bequest of Eleanor Clay Ford
  
  
  
  Accession Number
  
  
  
  This unique number is assigned to an individual artwork as part of the cataloguing process at the time of entry into the permanent collection.
  Most frequently, accession numbers begin with the year in which the artwork entered the museum’s holdings.
  For example, 2008.3 refers to the year of acquisition and notes that it was the 3rd of that year. The DIA has a few additional systems—no longer assigned—that identify specific donors or museum patronage groups.
  
  
  
  77.5
  
  
  Copyright
  Restricted
