Frida Kahlo
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When she died at the age of 47 in 1954, Mexican artist Frida Kahlo was relatively unknown outside of Mexico except as the wife of famed mural artist Diego Rivera. Today Frida Kahlo has not only achieved artistic recognition in her own right, but has become a kind of cultural icon, admired by artists, art critics, art buyers and film makers. She is also admired by many people who have only seen her work and image on coffee mugs, tote bags, posters, t-shirts and a U.S. postage stamp. Such is the state of contemporary culture. Kahlo=s art reflects her Mexican heritageBboth Euro-Mexican and Indian MexicanBas well as her incredible physical suffering. As Laura Mulvey noted, AFrida Kahlo=s paintings emerge directly out of her lifeBher physical suffering and her emotional suffering@ (91). In the words of art historian John Canady, a picture is Aan expression of its time, and also of the personality of the artist who painted it@ (37). In many ways, Kahlo=s art and life also marked a turning point in the history of the male dominated field of art. This paper will address issues relating to Kahlo=s life and work including the socio-political context and influences of gender.Frida Kahlo was born on July 6, 1907. In later years she gave her birth date as 1910, not to make herself younger, but to make her birth date more significant since 1910 was the year of the Mexican Revolution which promised democratic reforms. Her father, Wilhelm Kahl, was descended from Hungarian Jews and
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veled to the United States where Rivera had commissions to work on jurals. While Rivera wanted to remain in El Norte, Kahlo hated the States (as well as Europe) and longed to return to Mexico, the place where she felt most comfortable.
Despite their attachment to each other, the couple had a stormy marriage which took its toll as Kahlo more than on Rivera. He continued to have love affairs during the course of their marriage, the cruelest one with Frida=s younger sister Cristina. As a result, the couple separated, but reconciled. Kahlo also began to have love affairs of her own, with women as well as men; her most famous lover was Communist Leon Trotsky who, with his wife, lived with Frida and Diego in Mexico while attempting to escape Stalin=s henchmen. After several attempts on his life, he was finally assassinated.
Kahlo and Rivera divorced in 1939, but remarried in 1940. Part of Kahlo=s emotional suffering and sorrow was the result of not bearing Rivera=s children. He did not want any more children so she had an abortion during her first pregnancy, and a painful miscarriage during the second. She experienced a Aprofound melancholy@ and began to paint in a surrealistic style. In 1938, she had a solo art exhibit in New Y
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 2635
Approximate Pages = 11 (250 words per page)
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