There's More to Frida than Meets the Eye

 

"Frida in Flames" (Self-portrait inside a Sunflower), 1953-54,  a powerful late painting (Credit: Private Collection, USA. Photo courtesy of Mary-Anne Martin Fine Art New York, printed by Taschen publishing.

                  

                                                                         

There's a new book out about Frida Kahlo's hidden, less well-known works, 152 of them, seldom exhibited, seldom seen. "Frida Kahlo: The Complete Paintings," by art historian Luis-Harlan Lozano, with Andrea Kettermann and Maria Vazquez Ramos, offers "the first ever survey of her entire oeuvre." 

I was excited to come across an article by art historian Holly Williams, cited below, that reviews the book. I went to order it on Amazon but it costs $200, and I hesitated. Still, how fascinating to catch glimpses of those 152 paintings. They are not the large dazzling self-portraits that we know and love, inspired by the artifacts, landscapes, folklife, clothing, adornments and decorative arts of  Mexico. They are not surrealism or magical realism. 

The cover of the new book on Kahlo, 
published by Taschen. It's surprising that
it's one of the self-portraits that we
 know her by, but then, it will sell books.  

They are portraits of people she knew from here in the US and in Mexico. They are in style, composition, and format different from those we are used to seeing in a Frida Kahlo. They show her range of seeing, her attention to art trends, and some different aspects of her life. They seem to have been  painted early in her life, or toward the end of her life. She died in 1954. She was only 47 years old. These works present interesting facets of her short but often flamboyant and emotionally charged life, her thinking, political passions, range of interests. 

Holly Williams presents an interesting analysis of the painting that begins this blog, "Frida in Flames."

"It's very interesting in terms of aesthetics – when your body is not working anymore, when your brain is not enough to portray what you want to paint, the only source she's left with is to deconstruct the image. This is a very contemporary, conceptual position about art: that the painting exists not only in its craft, but also what I think the painting stands for./  We are left with a painting that is imperfect, certainly a world away from the fine, smooth surfaces and attention to detail of Kahlo's more famous self-portraits – but it nonetheless is an astonishingly powerful work that deserves to be known. There is something tremendously poignant in an artist so well-known for crafting their own image using their final creative act to deliberately destroy that image. Even in obliterating herself, Kahlo made her work speak loudly to us."

Spoken like a true art historian, insightful, penetrating, in cultural and historical context for understanding what this self-portrait might mean. Most of us art appreciators can't claim this kind of expertise, but we are energized just looking at these varied paintings. Some of them are re-printed in Holly Williams' BBC Culture article, and they are fascinating. 

Here's a style, roses in a small blue vase, 1935, that reminds
me, or makes me think of, many other women artists who painted flowers. It's lovely.
It has not been exhibited since 1954 and, according to art historian Holly Williams, 
it shows the influence of the artist's father. I didn't know he was also an artist, a well-known photographer. This painting is not "ethnic," not magic realism, not those large Calla lilies. More traditional it seems, in the western art tradition that her father apparently embraced.    
(Private collection. Courtesy Sotheby's, New York)

Si Adelita (Los Cachuchas), c1927, is another of the lost works.
 "It's sharp Modernist lines are striking."
This one depicts an experience Kahlo no doubt had in NYC,
at a gathering around a game (?) table, artists, poets, surely jazz musicians,
in formal black and white, strong angles and poses.
I think I see Langston Hughes or WEB DuBois or somewhat-familiar jazz musicians.
There's the invitation, a domino, a music score, a woman peering out with a frightened or confused look on her face, maybe Frida feeling like an outsider.  All the subjects look very serious. It's a slice of Frida's life, attentive to detail, emotions, the times.  

Pancho Villa and Adelita (unfinished), warriors for an independent Mexico,
reflecting Frida's strong political interest, painted in 1927.
Holly Williams notes its "avant-garde" style:
 "It indicates Kahlo's interest in Mexican art trends
 before she met Diego Rivera." (Credit: akg-images)

   A still life with white dove, which Holly Williams wrote appeared often
in her late life paintings, this one from 1953/1954, just before Kahlo's death.
I was surprised to learn that she didn't have her first exhibit in Mexico until 1953,
and her art then was hidden in anonymity and neglect until the late 1970s and into the 1990s.    
"Kahlo included the Mexican flag and the dove as motifs in her later work,'
such as this colorful still life, "Long Live Life."
 (Credit: Rafael Doniz/ Banco de Mexico/ VG Bild-Kunst)

Sources:

*https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20210719-the-unseen-masterpieces-of-frida-kahlo? review article by Holly Williams. "Lost or little-known works by the Mexican artist provide fresh insights on her life and work. Holly Williams explores the rarely seen art included in a new book of the complete paintings."

* https://news.artnet.com/art-world/frida-kahlo-complete-paintings-taschen-1993532

** https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-frida-kahlo-georgia-okeeffes-formative-friendship, interesting article, and great juxtaposition of Frida paintings and O'Keeffe paintings.