Kahlo, Frida (1907-1954) (original) (raw)

Frida Kahlo and the imagery of tragedy

2005

The Mexican artist Frida Kahlo was born in Mexico City on Saturday 6th July 1907 and died in the house in the background of this photograph, aged 47, just one week after her birthday, on Tuesday 13th July 1954. For a long time the details of Frida Kahlo’s life and work were generally not well known. They have recently become prominent mainly through the work of the Mexican art historian Hayden Herrera, the emergence of Feminist-based scholarship and the staging of a retrospective exhibition in London in 1982, which was the first major Kahlo exhibition for over thirty years.

The Emergence of an Icon: The Frida Kahlo Cult

1997

An abstract of the thesis of Teresa Neva Tate for the Master of Arts in History presented April 9, 1997. Title: The Emergence of an Icon: The Frida Kahlo Cult. At her death in 1954, Frida Kahlo was known as little more than the wife of muralist Diego Rivera. Since then her art and personae have taken on a cult-like following and she has become an icon of popular culture. Thus far Frida's repute has stretched across three decades, from the 1970s, 1980s, and into the 1990s. Frida's popularity is viewed as primarily emerging from the Women's Movement of the 1970s. However, interest from many other groups have carried her image into the 1980s and 1990s. Aside from the Women's Movement, Frida's popularity reflects a growing interest in Mexico, specifically the "romanticized" image of Mexico, in the wake of rising international relations between Mexico and the United States. Each subsequent exhibit of Frida's work brought with it a plethora of articles an...

Frida Kahlo’s Self-Identity: An Analysis of Self-Portrait on the Borderline Between Mexico and the United States

International Journal of Social Science Studies, 2020

Self-Portrait on the Borderline Between Mexico and the United States by the Mexican artist Frida Kahlo reveals a multitude of insights. This paper assesses how the nuances embodied in the painting serve as critical clues to comprehend Frida Kahlo’s personal experiences, Mexican culture, and the approach of discovering the contextual background through the work of art. Beginning with a detailed formal analysis of the portrait, this paper further explores it by making connections with contextual evidence. Through timely reference to Frida Kahlo’s political stance, cultural identity, and health, the paper demonstrates how the painting proffers insight into both the artist’s life and Aztec culture.