Abstract This paper provides an analysis of the life and art of FridaKahlo through the psychoanalytic theory of Carl Jung. The paper examines how Kahlo's art and life are inseparable. The paper also looks at her early life and development. The author applies Jung's theory of the unsatisfied yearning of the artist to Kahlo's life and work.
From the Paper "Only one solo exhibition of Frida Kahlo's work was held during her lifetime. This was near the end of her life and long after she had produced her best work. Today her art is revered and admired for its sheer accessibility and timelessness, held in high regard by women, Latin Americans, artists and other marginalized cultures alike. It is through her art that Kahlo expressed herself, and as such, the images that she painted during her lifetime exist not only as..."
Abstract This paper is a book review of Frida Khalo's biography. Khalo's life is described as a series of extreme challenges that she was able to endure and transcend through her work. Despite severe pain and illness, Khalo was able to be a productive and prolific writer, using creativity as an escape from her physical pain.
From the Paper "Frida Kahlo lived from 1910-1954. Her existence was a continuous experience of pain and of enduring operations. Khalo's life was marked by ambiguity and duality since she had an "exterior persona constantly reinvented with costume and ornament, and an interior life nourished on the pain of a body crippled in a trolley accident" (Chadwick 313). Frida expressed her physical and mental torment in her work. Kahlo (227) wrote in her Diary that "I'll do what I can to escape from my world."
This paper discusses the legendary Mexican artist, FridaKahlo, sometimes called a surrealist painter, Communist, and inspiration for one of the greatest painters of the 20th century, Diego Rivera.
Abstract This paper explains that FridaKahlo's physical suffering definitely stimulated her spiritual side as images came into her mind and then appeared in her paintings, similar to many physically handicapped artists, such as Toulouse-Lautrec. The author claims that the biography of FridaKahlo, as written by Hayden Herrera, is perhaps one of the most interesting and complete stories about someone's life that has ever been written. The paper contends that Kahlo is a type of traditional artist, called Mexicanism, which she embraced throughout her lifetime as a result of the Mexican Revolution of 1910 that resulted in a wave of nationalism throughout the country and prompted a new pride in traditional Mexican culture.
Table of Contents
Background Information: Biography and Reputation
Synopsis of Hayden Herrera's "Frida: A Biography of FridaKahlo"
Objective Critique
From the Paper "Frida Kahlo was born on the 6th of July 1907 in Ciudad de Mexico as the third daughter of William Kahlo and Matilda Calderon. Her complete name was Magdalena Carmen Frida Kahlo Calderon. Her life was struck by misery ever since the beginning: in 1913, when she was six years old, she contracted poliomyelitis and her right leg was affected, appearing much thinner than the other throughout her life. She entered high school at the National Preparatory School, where she soon turned out to be the leader of a prank-oriented group of rebel teenagers. It was here that she came in contact with her future husband and soul mate, Diego Rivera, perhaps the greatest Mexican muralist who, at that time, was commissioned to paint a mural in the school auditorium."
Abstract This paper compares and contrasts FridaKahlo's exhibition: "Five Fridas" at the Bass Museum of Art and "Circling Around Abstraction" by Georgia O'Keefe. It attempts to show how a comparison of the works examined in these two exhibitions reveal a feminist iconography that uses vegetation and flowers to exude the beauty of female genitalia. It also discusses how these feminist iconographic images do not always coincide equally by the two artists, as Kahlo provides a contrasting dimension of Mexican nationalism and sensuality in her feminist approach in relation to O'Keefe.
From the Paper "The exhibition at the Norton Museum of Art entitled "Circling Around Abstraction" by Georgia O'Keefe provides a variety of different vegetative or flowery representations through abstract stylization. One example of this is found within the work: Grey Blue & Black--Pink Circle (1929) where O'Keefe provides what appears to be a flower with its interior pistils and stamens extending into where horticulturists define the ovary at its center. This entry point of the flower was often depicted in O'Keefe's paintings, especially due to the nature of the flowers seemingly similar reproductive organs in relation to the human female (Hoffman 45). "
Abstract The purpose of this essay is to show how FridaKahlo was ahead of her time in the women's movement, how she was politically active when most women had little to no voice in men's politics, and how her role as a woman helped shape the history of Mexican art, while at the same time having a strong influence on the Communist movement in the struggling nation.
From the Paper "When she was eighteen, Frida Kahlo was a victim in a very serious bus accident which left her bedridden because of a series of broken bones including her spinal column, collarbone, ribs, pelvis and more than ten separate fractures throughout her right leg. Her right foot had been completely crushed and her shoulders both were severely dislocated. For more than a month she had to be confined by wearing a heavy plaster casing to aid her body's healing. To stem off boredom, her family placed a large mirror at the top of her bed and provided her with her first paints."
Abstract This paper compares Rembrandt's 1659 self-portrait, "Self Portrait" to FridaKahlo's 1940 self-portraint, "Self Portrait with Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird". The paper notes that Rembrandt's painting is characteristic of the unadorned, spare style of portraiture that defined this Dutch artist's realistic style, whereas Kahlo's painting is a surrealist flight of fancy that aims to create a psychic, rather than a literal self-portrait. The paper compares the two portraits with respect to iconography, symbolism, composition, subject matter, complexity, realism and shading.
From the Paper "The two paintings may be self-portraits, but ultimately their iconography and subject matter is quite different. Rembrandt's expression, although difficult to interpret, is the showcase of the painting, and there is little else to focus on other than the artist, his face, and his craftsman's hands. Kahlo likewise looks somewhat distracted, as if in a state of psychic pain or remembrance, but her unrelenting, unembarrassed, unyielding gaze and fierce determination is not simply reflected in the face that forms the center of Rembrandt's self-portrait, rather her expression fans out to every leaf and animal in her creation, all of which are pregnant with meaning."
Abstract Describes how Sand and Kahlo both used their experiences of pain and love in their art and how their desire to equal the men in their fields expressed itself in uniquely liberating ways.
Abstract This book review depicts the life of FridaKahlo completely and with great introspection of what actually made the artist the wonder that she became.
Abstract Discusses the personality, personal health, artistic struggles, and style of FridaKahlo, her artistic recognition, her status as a cultural icon in recent years, and her marriage to muralist, Diego Rivera.
From the Paper "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..."
Examines the intersection of patriarchy, colonialism, and gender roles/relations in Frida von Bulow's "In the Land of Promise, A Colonial Novel About Carl Peters."
Abstract The essay begins by focusing on gender relations and character descriptions in the novel, "In the Land of Promise, A Colonial Novel About Carl Peters" by Frida von Bulow. It then focuses on the relationship between colonialism and gender and the ways in which the male/female relationship mimics the relationship of colonizer and "subject". Finally, the paper addresses the problem of whether the text supports traditional gender expectations or not.
From the Paper "As the central character in Frieda von Bulow's In the Land of Promise, A It is tempting to argue that von Bulow accepts and agrees with traditional gender roles. After all, she devotes much time to discussing the virtues of manhood and extrapolates upon relationships that are more or less patriarchal. The possibilities and potential of colonialism are also central themes, if not the central theme, and there are parallels between patriarchy and colonialism in the text. However, to make such an argument would mean overlooking the central role that the character of Maleen plays in challenging traditional views."
Abstract This paper explains that, by the early 1920s, Mexican Secretary of Education Vasconcelos ensured the creation of an artistic renaissance in which Mexican artists reinterpreted Mexican history in accord with revolutionary principles, locating major works of arts on the walls of public buildings and, thus, making them accessible to the most humble and unlettered of Mexicans. The author points out that Mexico became a destination of choice for Americans and Europeans with a wide variety of leftist views, ranging from liberalism to communism. The paper explores the work of Diego Rivera, unmistakably a major light in the Mexican Muralist Movement, and his wife FridaKahlo, who was not a muralist, but who retained some of the essential characteristics that defined the Mexican Muralist Movement.
Table of Contents
Background
Spiritual Revolution
Cross-Pollination via Admiration
A Different Sort of Revolution, a Different Sort of Art
Foundations of the New Art
Diego Rivera
FridaKahlo
From the Paper "Others besides Delpar regard this as "the most fascinating phase of the whole revolutionary movement".the attempt to readjust the spiritual and cultural background of an entire nation in accordance with the revolutionary changes that the machine age had produced.? Vasconcelos expanded cultural activities widely, including archaeology, ancient history of Mexico, religion, literature, music and the visual arts. Until then, none had ever been developed as integrated parts of the nation's cultural heritage. The most vital and strongest to emerge, and one that has been uniquely identified with Mexico, is mural painting."
From the Paper "The immense popularity of the work of Frida Kahlo (1907-1954) and the overwhelming public interest in her life may lead some observers to conclude that her small output of paintings has been over-praised and over-valued. But, while the cult based on Kahlo's perceived status as the feminist heroine of a romantic tragedy may be somewhat misguided, there are sound reasons for incorporating biography into the study of her paintings. Kahlo's history, emotions, politics, and self-image constituted her primary subject. In electing to adhere quite closely to this limited range Kahlo produced an iconography and style that drew on both European and Mexican culture but were, considered in themselves, a radical departure from centuries of male-centered art. Kahlo brought all her influences and personal material together in a body of work that makes a coherent statement about ..."
From the Paper "Frida Kahlo's art reflects a compelling stoicism with respect to the suffering with which her life was filled. She was born in 1907, died in 1954, and during her life she experienced an incredible array of serious health problems, including polio at the age of six, which left her right leg weakened permanently; a streetcar accident at the age of eighteen which left her seriously injured; severe internal bleeding and re-hospitalization at the age of twenty-five; spinal surgery at the age of 39; hospitalization four years later for recurring spinal problems; the amputation of her right leg because of gangrene three years later; bronchial pneumonia the same year (1954), the year she died. These are only the most extreme physical problems; she suffered on a daily basis from various chronic pains associated with her accidents and diseases. In addition to her physical..."
Abstract This paper examines portraiture and self-portraiture in the Western tradition. It describes historical and cultural aesthetics and the rhetorical content of portraiture. The author describes how a portrait captures a life. It mentions some noted portraiture artists including Jan van Eyck, Rembrandt, FridaKahlo.
Abstract The paper takes a look at how the relationship between male and female has been a defining constant for mankind and humanity ever since its birth. According to the paper, famous couples have concentrated the entire sex war, the immense complexity of the conflict between sexes, on the way a man and a woman could generate the immense energy that could give birth both to creation and creating processes, cultural, artistic or intellectual, and potential negative, destructive forces, evil and malefic influences.
Outline:
Sexuality
Politics
Artistic Practices and Values
The Legend
From the Paper "As previously mentioned, Frida and Diego's impossibility comes, in my opinion, from their sexual mismatch (despite this does not necessarily advocate a personality mismatch) rather than from a political stance. The political stance here contributes even stronger to sustaining the couple and promoting it on the level of intellectual nearness. Indeed, they are both supporter of Communism and here we are already talking about the mature period of Communist in its fight against the Imperialists (certainly, these are the same imperialists that would have paid Rivera for painting Rockefeller Centre) and the meeting between the couple and Trotsky is defining for the late phase of their relationship."
