 |
| The Love Embrace of the Universe, the Earth (Mexico), Diego, Me, and Senor Xolotl, 1949 Frida Kahlo |
Mexican Modernism arose as a result of the post-revolution Mexican regime seeking to use culture as a means to unite the nation and visual artists efforts to use their craft in furtherance of this goal. The chart below graphically illustrates the road to this new Mexican art school.
They began collecting art soon after their marriage, commissioning and buying works from the leading Mexican artists. They became friendly with most of the artists, acting sometimes as patrons and other times as promoters. Jacques died in 1986 and Natasha 12 years later. Natasha had continued adding to the collection after Jacques' death and the collection continues to be expanded post her death.
The stars of the exhibition are the husband and wife team Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo.
Rivera's bombastic personality, revolutionary politics, and inspiring murals made him a celebrity. Although at one time he overshadowed his equally talented wife, Kahlo's fame has far outstripped Rivera's since his death. The raw emotion of her paintings still resonates today, and her intense self-portraits have made her face familiar throughout the globe.In addition to works from these two personalities, the exhibition includes paintings from Lola Álvarez Bravo, María Izquerdo, David Alfano Sisqueiros, Rufino Tamayo, and others. The exhibition also includes a large number of photographs and garments and jewelry akin to those worn by Frida during her time in the limelight.
While murals are a key part of the Mexican Modernism movement, only one example of this genre is included in the exhibition and that is a reproduction of Diego Rivera's The History of Mexico. Diego began painting this mural in 1929, the year he married Frida. This mural is emplaced in the main stairway of the National Palace in Mexico City and cemented Rivera's place as the foremost Mexican muralist. The mural chronicles the history of the country with the Aztec culture at the base. The topmost layer depicts the country's future.
 |
| The History of Mexico (detail) Diego Rivera, 1929 - 1935 |
The remaining Diego Rivera works in the exhibition combine to show the range of his talent beyond murals. From a blending of the human and botanical (Landscape with Cacti, 1931), to portraiture (Portrait of Cristina Kahlo, 1934), to nude studies (Nude with Long Hair (Dolores Olmedo), 1930; Nude with Beads (Frida Kahlo), 1930), to Cubism (The Last Hour, 1915), to genre (The Healer, 1943), Diego's range is phenomenal and his work captivating. The most stunning of his efforts in the exhibition though were Portrait of Natasha Gelman, Sunflowers, and Calla Lily Vendor.
In 1943, Jacques Gelman commissioned Diego Rivera to paint a portrait of his wife; the below work was the result.
 |
| Portrait of Natasha Gelman, 1943 Diego Rivera |
The portrait lies along a perfect diagonal line with the subject framed at the head by upright Calla Lilies and the litheness of the lower extremities accentuated by horizontal lilies.The shape of the gown aligns with the shape of the lilies. The red hair and bold stare of the sitter contrasts with the other major elements of the picture.
The Calla Lilies in this picture meshes nicely with the mass of lilies in the Calla Lily Vendor and they contrast, both in color and subject, with Sunflowers which, in this exhibition, is positioned between the two.
 |
| Sunflowers, 1943 Diego Rivera |
 |
| Calla Lily Vendor, 1943 Diego Rivera |
Frida Kahlo had an intimate relationship with pain throughout her life; and many of her paintings reported on this pain or reflected on its effects. Frida had polio at an early age, resulting in one leg being shorter than the other. She had a catastrophic accident when she was 18 and suffered chronic, debilitating pain for the rest of her life. She married Diego Rivera in 1929 and suffered through multiple episodes of his unfaithfulness, including with her sister. Frida suffered a miscarriage, probably a result of internal damage suffered during the accident when she was 18 years old,
Frida's paintings are raw and emotion-filled but they are also steeped in Mexicanidad, a key ingredient of Mexican Modernism.
 |
| Diego on my Mind (Self-Portrait as Tehuana), 1943 Frida Kahlo |
 |
| Self-Portrait with Necklace, 1933 Frida Kahlo |
 |
| Self-Portrait on Bed, 1937 Frida Kahlo |
 |
| Self-Portrait with Red and Gold Dress, 1941 Frida Kahlo |
 |
| Frida and the Miscarriage, 1932 Frida Kahlo |
The third leg of Mexican Modernism was photography and that mode is well represented in this exhibition. Photographs (black and white) serve as separators for the main segments of the exhibition. For example, there are a set of pictures between the first works and the Diego Rivera paintings and another set of photographs between the diego and the Frida works. The pictures between the Frida and Kahlo paintings are pictures featuring the husband and wife in various settings and poses.
I have been studying the work of Frida Kahlo intensively over the course of the past year and this exhibition allowed me to add to that knowledge base. But it also framed her work within this broader school and given me a path for further investigation.
©EverythingElse238
No comments:
Post a Comment