Latin American & Caribbean Art, Individual Artists

Frida Kahlo

Name: Frida Kahlo
Author: Luis-Martin Lozano
ISBN: 9780821227664

by Luis-Martin Lozano

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Overview

Frida Kahlo (1907-1954) was a Mexican artist whose life was nearly as dramatic and fiery as her art. She endured a catastrophic set of physical calamities as a child and young woman, was an active member of the Communist Party, and survived a tempestuous marriage to the artist Diego Rivera. This book includes many photographs of her life alongside her extraordinary paintings, and presents commentary by leading Mexican art historians, stunning reproductions of her most seminal works — some never before reproduced, and nine gate-folds allowing the reader to examine in detail aspects of her larger works.

At last--vivid, full-color postcards featuring Frida Kahlo's most popular works in a high-quality, inexpensive collection. This compilation of Kahlo's most famous and haunting works was selected from her passionate self-portraits, exotic still-lifes, and semi-surreal scenes. 22 full-color postcards.

Synopsis

Foreword by Kathy Halbreich. Edited by Elizabeth Carpenter. Text by Hayden Herrera, Elizabeth Carpenter, Victor Zamudio-Taylor.

About the Author, Luis-Martin Lozano

Frida Kahlo lived fewer than 50 years, but hers was an intensely examined life, and one that enthusiasts all over the world are still poring over. As a child in the suburbs of Mexico City, Kahlo, born in 1907, survived polio. As a teenager already enrolled in premedical studies, her body was brought forcefully to her attention again by a bus accident whose physical repercussions would shape the rest of her days, crucially inform her artwork and eventually kill her. Kahlo was already a painter when she married the political muralist Diego Rivera at 22, a volatile pairing that survived much unrest and one divorce and remarriage. She had her first solo exhibition in 1938, at New Yorkis Julien Levy Gallery, and saw some growth in her career before her death in 1954, but nothing like the steady, exponential increase of interest and respect that has continued since. Exhibits, books and reproductions abound, and 2002 saw the release of a high-profile feature film about her life starring Salma Hayek.

Elizabeth Carpenter is a Guest Curator in the Department of Prints and Drawings at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, and a Curatorial Assistant at the Walker Art Center.