In his painted portrait of Mary Joy Johnson from 1939, the celebrated artist Diego Rivera (1886–1957) explored a unique artistic direction, creating a work highlighting the sitter’s individuality and style while subtly echoing an enduring connection to his Mexican heritage.

Johnson, a buyer for American department stores, met Rivera while working in Mexico in the 1930s. Known for her keen fashion sense, she owned a unique green velvet jacket adorned with beaded motifs of birds and plants—a style inspired by Indigenous Mexican designs of the time. This same jacket, as seen in Rivera’s painting, is now on loan to the Cincinnati Art Museum and displayed next to Johnson’s portrait.

“The current owner, Kelly Joy Brown-Lewis, the granddaughter of the sitter, originally contacted the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising (FIDM) in Los Angeles to see if they might want to borrow it,” explains Cynthia Amnéus, CAM’s Chief Curator and Curator of Fashion and Textiles. “A colleague at FIDM knew we had the Rivera portrait and referred her to us.”

The jacket/portrait display represents ongoing efforts to exhibit vintage fashions alongside artworks in the museum’s galleries. Stop by CAM to see Johnson’s jacket displayed together with Rivera’s painting in Gallery 212, now through April 20, 2025.