As early morning light filtered into her studio above a bustling Mexico City street, Toztli Abril de Dios was already hard at work recreating costumes from a ballet that was performed just once.
H.P. (Horsepower) was a modern dance piece composed by Carlos Chavez that highlighted the relationship between the industrial north and the tropical south. Diego Rivera designed the costumes and scenery for the ballet, which premiered on March 31, 1932 at the Philadelphia Metropolitan Opera House ― then it was never performed again. Some say it was due to less-than-stellar reviews, others say the stiff, yet fragile, papier-mâché costumes that constricted the movement of performers contributed.
Watercolor paintings, which Rivera used to guide his design, are the only remaining documentation of the original costumes; for the exhibition Diego Rivera’s America at SFMOMA, it was up to Abril de Dios to bring them to life once again. A puppeteer and Mexico City native who has worked all over the world in puppetry language, movement, and visual arts, Abril de Dios was commissioned by James Oles, guest curator of the exhibition, to recreate two costumes for a room devoted to Rivera’s involvement in H.P. (Horsepower).
It was a blessing in disguise for Abril de Dios that no pieces from the original costumes exist. As a result, she reimagined every aspect of the design, from the shape of the headpieces and masks to the materials. To rebirth the characters she affectionally calls King Banana and Mr. Tobacco, Abril de Dios opted for softer, more wearable material than the highly criticized papier-mâché, yet she also took care to honor the past, incorporating materials and approaches used in the 1930s to keep the look and feel of that era alive.
See King Banana and Mr. Tobacco for yourself in Diego Rivera’s America, and imagine these wonderfully whimsical costumes dancing across a stage.