Essays discuss the Mexican painter's self-portraits, artistic influences on her work, her role in the artistic community in Mexico City in the 1920s, and her place in Mexican art.
"Algum tempo atrás, talvez uns dias, eu era uma moça caminhando por um mundo de cores, com formas claras e tangíveis. Tudo era misterioso e havia algo oculto; adivinhar-lhe a natureza era um jogo para mim. Se você soubesse como é terrível obter o conhecimento de repente - como um relâmpago iluminando a Terra! Agora, vivo num planeta dolorido, transparente como gelo. É como se houvesse aprendido tudo de uma vez, numa questão de segundos. Minhas amigas e colegas tornaram-se mulheres lentamente. Eu envelheci em instantes e agora tudo está embotado e plano. Sei que não há nada escondido; se houvesse, eu veria."
Frida is absolutely an icon for boldness. Viva Frida Kahlo! Her art is incredibly frank, her statements painfully candid. Frida is a symbol of strength through vulnerability, for the suffering of humanity and the striving of humanity to break free from it's bonds.
The plates are beautiful, and thorough, but the outstanding essays and analyses really make this worth reading for anyone interested in Kahlo’s work. Of particular interest was the section detailing the meaning behind the recurring symbols in her painting, which really opened a new door into her already captivating pieces.
Es la primera bibliografía que he leído entera y me ha parecido apasionante conocer la vida de una de las mujeres más revolucionarias de la historia, y una figura tan importante para el feminismo actual.
No tuvo una vida nada fácil, desde el accidente de autobús comprueba lo mal que lo pasó en la recuperación y como la pintura nacio en ella como un reclamo de expresar toda su brillante inteligencia y como superación de las limitaciones que tenía mientras se recuperaba postrada en una cama. Es increíble acompañarla en sus reflexiones y en su historia y te acerca mucho más a lo que fue y a lo que consiguió con esfuerzo y valentía.
Una mujer ejemplo a pesar de la época que le tocó vivir, tenía claro que no iba a estar supeditada a ningún hombre. Estoy realmente emocionada de haber elegido su biografía por que me ha dado una visión más cercana de como fue su vida y de cómo es posible que afloren los sentimientos a través de la pintura. Y que si crees en ti misma, nada ni nadie puede frenar tus ganas de crear. Creo que deberíamos leer más bibliografías de vez en cuándo para adentrarnos más en los personajes históricos que nos representan a diario o que seguimos desde hace tiempo y admiramos profundamente, por que me ha servido para admirar la mucho más la verdad, además esta escrito en primera persona y hace que sea sencillo contextualizar cada momento de su vida.
I wanted to know more about iconic women after reading one of Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s biographies and this one was an easy pick. We all know she painted self portraits but I didn’t know that she had been afflicted with illness for most of her life. She had polio as a child and then was in a car accident at 18 that left her with lifelong pain and medical problems. During her recovery she started painting and abandoned the idea of medical school. I also never put together that the way she dressed was not how everyone else around her was dressing. Her main inspiration was Mexican folk culture and she dressed in traditional indigenous Mexican peasant clothing to emphasize her mestiza ancestry, express her feminist and anti-colonial views, and hide her limp. For a long time she was only known as the wife of famous painter Diego Rivera (who was 42 when she met him at 21, and he was also a self proclaimed womanizer) yet she continued to paint until she gained the recognition she deserved. If you have even a slight interest in Frida you should read more about her amazing and tumultuous life. This book was a little dry and I think the title is just Frida Kahlo (?) but I’m glad I picked it up.
“You deserve a lover who wants you disheveled, with everything and all the reasons that wake you up in a haste and the demons that won’t let you sleep." - Frida Kahlo
This line was all I needed to read to know that I would adore this woman's writing.