Several of the lithographs that Rivera made while visiting the United States between 1930 and 1934 enabled the artist to revisit parts of his murals from the 1920s and to cultivate an American market for his graphic work. The brochure for the 1932 exhibition of Rivera’s lithographs at the Weyhe Gallery noted. In addition to their intrinsic qualities, as lithographs, of beautiful draftsmanship and technique, they give an idea of the actual frescoes themselves, both in form and in content, and in monumental design. They are a translation into a medium which many people, who have never been to Mexico, can possess and enjoy, by the very hand which first created the masterpiece. "Open Air School" is based on one of 235 fresco panels that Rivera painted for the Secretaría de Educación Pública in Mexico City between 1923 and 1928. The composition champions the education reform program of José Vasconcelos, the minister of education under Mexican president Álvaro Obregón from 1921 to 1924. Vasconcelos implemented large changes to the Mexican public school system by building new schools, promoting literacy, and hiring teachers to work in remote areas. In this lithograph, Rivera focused on an outdoor classroom where a woman teaches students of different ages in the fields.