Frida Kahlo: The Still Lifes

by Salomon Grimberg, Hayden Herrera (Foreword)

The Mexican painter Frida Kahlo (1907-1954) is considered to be one of the greatest women artists of all time, and her vibrantly colorful work remains hugely popular today. She is best known for her striking self-portraits, through which she depicted her psychological and physical pain after an accident at the age of eighteen left her disabled and unable to bear children. Until now, Kahlo's remarkable still lifes - of which she completed about forty, compared to eighty or so self-portraits - have not been subjected to close scrutiny, despite the fact that they comprised a major part of her creative output.
In this groundbreaking study, Kahlo scholar Salomon Grimberg explores in detail all of the artist's documented still lifes, including some that have come to light only recently. Grimberg, a psychiatrist as well as an art historian, offers provocative new perspectives on Kahlo's creative process, and shows how her still lifes both complement her famous self-portraits and serve to reveal her true self. Full of symbolic imagery drawn from pre-Hispanic Mexico and other cultures and belief systems, these stunning works are illustrative of Kahlo's private musings about herself - her loneliness and her preoccupation with death - and the world around her. With beautiful reproductions of all the still lifes, as well as other relevant paintings and drawings by Kahlo and personal photographs, this compelling book is indispensable to understanding the dramatic life and work of an extraordinary woman.

Genres: Art, Biography

175 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 2008

Reviews

[Diane D · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've been rather fascinated by Frida Kahlo's art ever since I had read a biography about her, and after I had seen the movie Frida starring Salma Hayek as Frida.

Frida Kahlo did not have an easy life, and her art seemed to reflect her inner most thoughts and her private pain. It has been reported that much of her art is representative of the loneliness she experienced in her life. She also had a morbid preoccupation with death, and one of her last diary entries read, "I hope the end is joyful -- and I hope I never come back".. She was just 47 years old when she died (1907-1954), yet she was one of the most influential Mexican painters of the mid-20th century.

At age 6, Frida contracted polio which left her with a thinner right leg. At the age of 18, a horrible accident left her with a broken spine and pelvis, and as a result she was unable to have children. She married the love of her life, Mexican painter Diego Rivera, but that marriage was a disaster. However, it was during this time that her art seemed to evolve.

There are so many other great paintings in this 175 page book. Approximately 40 still life paintings which are discussed in detail. For anyone who enjoys Mexican art, and more specifically Kahlo's unique style.

In Frida Kahlo: The Still Lifes, the author, Salomon Grimberg, is a psychoanalytic art historian, who has written extensively about Frida Kahlo.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Frida Kahlo was an extraordinary artist and lived a fascinating life. So much is written of her self-portraits, it was refreshing to read a take on another collection of her work. I love the symbolism of her work and how each object, its position, it's purpose, and at times, personifications add to the deeply personal and complex meanings behind the still life. I do think a background of her life and art as a whole is a good basis for taking on this book, as her life was quite full and complicated and this book, while thorough, could only go so deep. I highly recommend Hayden Herrera's biography of Frida Kahlo as a starting point.

[James Kinsley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Refreshing to have a book focus on a lesser examined area of Kahlo's art, her still lifes. Interesting, and with all the paintings beautifully reproduced. Definitely recommend it to fellow Frida obsessives (despite the age old art book trick of contriving to rarely have any individual painting on the same page it's bring discussed on, resulting in constant flicking back and forth...)

[Aimee Nicole · Rating 4 out of 5]

Only marked down because of the strange interpretations by the author here which are opinionated. The art is absolutely gorgeous and not included in many of her other compilations.

[diarhafsari · Rating 3 out of 5]

Saya hanya tahu tentang pelukis Mexico, Frida Kahlo, secara sekilas dari bagaimana referensi tentang dirinya disebut-sebut dalam sejumlah buku dan film. Kesan saya, Frida dan karya lukisnya 'terdengar berwarna-warni'. Karenanya, saya cukup penasaran dengan buku ini, terlebih karena lukisan di sampul depannya yang mengingatkan pada referensi Frida dalam film animasi "Coco".

Siapa sangka, terlepas dari lukisan-lukisan surealisnya yang penuh warna, jalan kehidupan pribadi seorang Frida Kahlo ternyata penuh nestapa, apalagi kehidupan pernikahannya dengan pelukis Diego Rivera. Bagi penikmat seni yang sebetulnya tak paham seni seperti saya, menakjubkan rasanya bagaimana kisah-kisah sedih dalam hidup Frida mampu dia alegorikan ke dalam lukisan-lukisan penuh warna, termasuk sekitar 20 lukisan jenis "still life" yang mayoritasnya berupa lukisan bunga dan buah. Walau banyak pembahasan teknik dan teori seni lukis di dalam buku ini cukup sulit untuk dipahami, buku ini tetap sangat menginspirasi.

[Alice Hammonds · Rating 4 out of 5]

Personal interpretations taken a little too far at times but otherwise an accurate and relatively unique treatment of an understudied body of work and an understudied genre overall.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book had a great visual collection of Kahlo's works, some having been lost over the years from private collections. This book also provides fascinating biographical information about Kahlo and people related to her work.

[Pablo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Worth reading.

[Tyrran · Rating 4 out of 5]

I used this more as a reference guide rather than as a book that I read from page to page.