DETROIT – This 1962 WWJTV special on the Detroit Institute of Arts, appropriately titled “A Visit to the Institute of Arts,” takes a look inside the museum with director of communications John D. Morse.
This is nothing short of another gem from the WDIV vault. Morse guides the audience through the DIA experience and what is found in each area of the museum. He opens the special with a brief overview of Diego Rivera's Detroit Industry Murals, which were painted between 1932 and 1933.
Watch the 30-minute special above.
"The idea of finding beauty in machinery was fairly new in 1933. Also new was the concept of labor as a bargaining force in industry. Like every great artist, Rivera was both a product and a prophet of his times," Morse explains.
Then Morse takes us room-to-room, gallery-to-gallery in exploration of the DIA in 1962. It's exactly what the title suggests -- a visit to the Institute of Arts.
"Every great work of art is as highly complex, individual and fascinating as the human being who created it,” Morse says. "In addition to being an expression of its time, every great work of art has a life of its own, quite independent of its surroundings, no matter when or where it was created."
If you have 30 minutes to enjoy a piece of Detroit history, watch this.