The Diary of Frida Kahlo: An Intimate Self-Portrait

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Lindauer, Margaret A. (1999). Devouring Frida: The Art History and Popular Celebrity of Frida Kahlo. University Press of New England. In addition to Aztec legends, Kahlo frequently depicted two central female figures from Mexican folklore in her paintings: La Llorona and La Malinche [122] as interlinked to the hard situations, the suffering, misfortune or judgement, as being calamitous, wretched or being " de la chingada". [123] For example, when she painted herself following her miscarriage in Detroit in Henry Ford Hospital (1932), she shows herself as weeping, with dishevelled hair and an exposed heart, which are all considered part of the appearance of La Llorona, a woman who murdered her children. [124] The painting was traditionally interpreted as simply a depiction of Kahlo's grief and pain over her failed pregnancies. But with the interpretation of the symbols in the painting and the information of Kahlo's actual views towards motherhood from her correspondence, the painting has been seen as depicting the unconventional and taboo choice of a woman remaining childless in Mexican society. [125]

What Elvis Presley is to good old boys, Judy Garland to a generation of homosexuals, and Maria Callas to opera fanatics, Frida is to masses of late-20th-century idol seekers. Every day at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the 1931 double portrait of newlyweds Frida and Diego Rivera draws a worshipful horde, as reverent as the devotees gathered daily before the Louvre’s Mona Lisa. Says Hayden Herrera, author of the groundbreaking 1983 biography Frida, “Her paintings demand—fiercely—that you look at her.” like a game of telephone, the more Kahlo's story has been told, the more it has been distorted, omitting uncomfortable details that show her to be a far more complex and flawed figure than the movies and cookbooks suggest. This elevation of the artist over the art diminishes the public understanding of Kahlo's place in history and overshadows the deeper and more disturbing truths in her work. Even more troubling, though, is that by airbrushing her biography, Kahlo's promoters have set her up for the inevitable fall so typical of women artists, that time when the contrarians will band together and take sport in shooting down her inflated image, and with it, her art." [269] Born to a German father and a mestiza mother, Kahlo spent most of her childhood and adult life at La Casa Azul, her family home in Coyoacán– now publicly accessible as the Frida Kahlo Museum. Although she was disabled by polio as a child, Kahlo had been a promising student headed for medical school until being injured in a bus accident at the age of 18, which caused her lifelong pain and medical problems. During her recovery, she returned to her childhood interest in art with the idea of becoming an artist. Even as Kahlo was gaining recognition in Mexico, her health was declining rapidly, and an attempted surgery to support her spine failed. [70] Her paintings from this period include Broken Column (1944), Without Hope (1945), Tree of Hope, Stand Fast (1946), and The Wounded Deer (1946), reflecting her poor physical state. [70] During her last years, Kahlo was mostly confined to the Casa Azul. [71] She painted mostly still lifes, portraying fruit and flowers with political symbols such as flags or doves. [72] She was concerned about being able to portray her political convictions, stating that "I have a great restlessness about my paintings. Mainly because I want to make it useful to the revolutionary communist movement... until now I have managed simply an honest expression of my own self... I must struggle with all my strength to ensure that the little positive my health allows me to do also benefits the Revolution, the only real reason to live." [73] [74] She also altered her painting style: her brushstrokes, previously delicate and careful, were now hastier, her use of color more brash, and the overall style more intense and feverish. [75]

2. Frida Kahlo’s Diaries

November 1938 – Frida's first solo exhibit and New York debut at the Museum of Modern Art. Georgia O'Keeffe, Isamu Noguchi, and other prominent American artists attended the opening; approximately half of the paintings were sold. Kahlo soon began a relationship with Rivera, who was 21 years her senior and had two common-law wives. [177] Kahlo and Rivera were married in a civil ceremony at the town hall of Coyoacán on 21 August 1929. [178] Her mother opposed the marriage, and both parents referred to it as a "marriage between an elephant and a dove", referring to the couple's differences in size; Rivera was tall and overweight while Kahlo was petite and fragile. [179] Regardless, her father approved of Rivera, who was wealthy and therefore able to support Kahlo, who could not work and had to receive expensive medical treatment. [180] The wedding was reported by the Mexican and international press, [181] and the marriage was subject to constant media attention in Mexico in the following years, with articles referring to the couple as simply "Diego and Frida". [182] a b c Collins, Amy Fine (3 September 2013). "Diary of a Mad Artist". Vanity Fair . Retrieved 17 July 2016.

urn:oclc:833294077 Republisher_date 20150926031703 Republisher_operator [email protected] Scandate 20150912070511 Scanner scribe1.shenzhen.archive.org Scanningcenter shenzhen Worldcat (source edition) Frida Kahlo Facts". www.uky.edu. Archived from the original on 24 February 2021 . Retrieved 6 July 2020. Kahlo, Frida (1995). The diary of Frida Kahlo: an intimate self-portrait. New York and Mexico: H.N. Abrams; La Vaca Independiente S.A. de C.V. pp. 295. ISBN 978-0-8109-3221-0. Forming a third of her entire works, these self-portraits — sometimes her unibrow alone suffices — have long been money-spinners, adorning assorted paraphernalia from flowerpots to yoga cushions to yes, even face masks, as collectibles for Frida fans. Not long after she married Diego Rivera in 1929, the couple moved to San Francisco, California. The young bride of 23 then maintained a constant correspondence with her mother. These letters gave her mother daily updates, saw her ask for news on the family and also express her concerns as a newlywed, all the while maintaining a chatty, gossipy tone.

Beyond her renowned portraits

Ankori, Gannit (2002). Imaging Her Selves: Frida Kahlo's Poetics of Identity and Fragmentation. Greenwood Press. ISBN 978-0-313-31565-7. Kahlo tried to conceal her heterosexual liaisons from Rivera—not so difficult after they moved into his-and-hers houses, adjacent residences connected by a bridge. Once detected, these dalliances, such as her mid-1930s fling with the dapper Japanese-American sculptor Isamu Noguchi, usually ended. (In contrast, Rivera boasted to anyone who would listen of her flings with women.) Her brief liaison with Leon Trotsky—whom Rivera, with his potent political pull, had helped bring to Mexico in 1937—infuriated him most. (Kahlo also did not miss the opportunity to seduce Trotsky’s secretary, Jean van Heijenoort.) Friends recall that long after Trotsky’s assassination Kahlo delighted in driving Rivera into a rage by humiliating him with the memory of her affair with the great Communist. The Kahlo-Rivera duet was, a friend says, “heightened torture and heroism.” glbtq >> arts >> Kahlo, Frida". 10 November 2013. Archived from the original on 10 November 2013 . Retrieved 24 February 2020. More than a century after Goethe’s theoretical inquiry into the emotional hues of color, Frida Kahlo (July 6, 1907–July 13, 1954) contemplated the question from a far more intuitive place in a fragment from The Diary of Frida Kahlo: An Intimate Self-Portrait ( public library) — the treasure trove that gave us the visionary Mexican painter’s DIY paint recipe, her ferocious political convictions, and her stunning handwritten love letters to Diego Rivera. Castro's Rainbow Honor Walk Dedicated Today: SFist". SFist – San Francisco News, Restaurants, Events, & Sports. 2 September 2014. Archived from the original on 10 August 2019 . Retrieved 13 August 2019.

Snell, Zoe (12 April 2022). "Watch Out: The Latest Swatch Collaboration". The Market Herald Fancy. Archived from the original on 3 January 2023 . Retrieved 3 January 2023. Friis, Ronald (March 2004). " "The Fury and the Mire of Human Veins": Frida Kahlo and Rosario Castellanos" (PDF). Hispania. 87 (1): 53–61. doi: 10.2307/20062973. JSTOR 20062973. Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 July 2019. Have these questions prompted you to look closer? A pencil sketch by Kahlo that is a departure from the lush colors typically attributed to her Image: akg-images Shedding light on Frida's lesser-known works Lccn 94045994 Ocr_converted abbyy-to-hocr 1.1.20 Ocr_module_version 0.0.17 Openlibrary OL1119686M Openlibrary_edition These letters reveal a Frida who felt neglected again, this time by her husband: Diego refused to have children and worked morning, noon, and night, leaving her on her own. She got bored when meeting people, found it difficult to communicate in English, and preferred to paint, which she was only able to do for short spells.Carnivele, Gary (2 July 2016). "Second LGBT Honorees Selected for San Francisco's Rainbow Honor Walk". We The People . Retrieved 12 August 2019. Fracessa, Dominic (20 June 2018). "Citing racist connection, SF changes Phelan Avenue to Frida Kahlo Way". San Francisco Chronicle. Due to polio, Kahlo began school later than her peers. [156] Along with her younger sister Cristina, she attended the local kindergarten and primary school in Coyoacán and was homeschooled for the fifth and sixth grades. [157] While Cristina followed their sisters into a convent school, Kahlo was enrolled in a German school due to their father's wishes. [158] She was soon expelled for disobedience and was sent to a vocational teachers school. [157] Her stay at the school was brief, as she was sexually abused by a female teacher. [157] La Casa Azul". Museo Frida Kahlo. Archived from the original on 19 November 2016 . Retrieved 15 November 2016. In 2019, Frida's “Fantasmones Siniestros” (“Sinister Ghosts”) was burned to ashes, publicizing an Ethereum NFT. [312]

In 2018, Mattel unveiled seventeen new Barbie dolls in celebration of International Women's Day, including one of Kahlo. Critics objected to the doll's slim waist and noticeably missing unibrow. [307] Magdalena Carmen Frida Kahlo y Calderón [a] was born on 6 July 1907 in Coyoacán, a village on the outskirts of Mexico City. [134] [135] Kahlo stated that she was born at the family home, La Casa Azul (The Blue House), but according to the official birth registry, the birth took place at the nearby home of her maternal grandmother. [136] Kahlo's parents were photographer Guillermo Kahlo (1871–1941) and Matilde Calderón y González (1876–1932), and they were thirty-six and thirty, respectively, when they had her. [137] Originally from Germany, Guillermo had immigrated to Mexico in 1891, after epilepsy caused by an accident ended his university studies. [138] Although Kahlo said her father was Jewish and her paternal grandparents were Jews from the city of Arad, [139] this claim was challenged in 2006 by a pair of German genealogists who found he was instead a Lutheran. [140] [141] Matilde was born in Oaxaca to an Indigenous father and a mother of Spanish descent. [142] In addition to Kahlo, the marriage produced daughters Matilde ( c. 1898–1951), Adriana ( c. 1902–1968), and Cristina ( c. 1908–1964). [143] She had two half-sisters from Guillermo's first marriage, María Luisa and Margarita, but they were raised in a convent. [144] Similarly to many other contemporary Mexican artists, Kahlo was heavily influenced by Mexicanidad, a romantic nationalism that had developed in the aftermath of the revolution. [95] [84] The Mexicanidad movement claimed to resist the "mindset of cultural inferiority" created by colonialism, and placed special importance on indigenous cultures. [96] Before the revolution, Mexican folk culture– a mixture of indigenous and European elements– was disparaged by the elite, who claimed to have purely European ancestry and regarded Europe as the definition of civilization which Mexico should imitate. [97] Kahlo's artistic ambition was to paint for the Mexican people, and she stated that she wished "to be worthy, with my paintings, of the people to whom I belong and to the ideas which strengthen me". [92] To enforce this image, she preferred to conceal the education she had received in art from her father and Ferdinand Fernandez and at the preparatory school. Instead, she cultivated an image of herself as a "self-taught and naive artist". [98] Frida Kahlo: Feminist and Chicana Icon". San Francisco Museum of Modern Art . Retrieved 6 August 2016.Furthermore, the wealthof information on religious and cultural symbolism in her choice of colors, clothing, subject positions, fruits, animals, draw attention to the tiniest details,adding further layers to appreciating her art.