Frida Kahlo: Perspectives

ROMA: Scuderie del Quirinale FRIDA KAHLO (20 marzo 2014- 31 August 2014)

Frida Khalo: Perspectives

    

Self Portrait with Monkey, 1938, oil on masonite, Albright Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo                         
 Itzcuintli Dog and Me, 1938, private collection, Dallas.

Frida Kahlo is an artist that some argue emerged during the feminist movement as women turned their attention to female artists. Though this theory does not explain Frida’s international popularity. She is the highest selling female exhibition artist worldwide. Frida will unfortunately not be aware of her international fame. When she painted, she was not famous and she has been quoted for even saying she paints for herself. Whether scholars and critics agree to her insertion into the history of art, her paintings are an expression of Mexican culture, during a time of transition, through the interpretive eyes of a flamboyant and unique female artist. She has significantly helped bring art of Central America into the category of modern art and the field of western art history. The artist grew up in the early 1920s during Mexico’s revolution, when the government was forming a new identity that relied heavily on its working class and ethnically ‘indigenous’ peoples. The ‘Mexicanization’ of the country occured right after the end of the revolution and art provided a visual source for the new cultural and political identity of Mexico. (Bakewell, 1993, p. 170) Frida was ‘part of a group of artists and intellectuals in Mexico during the first part of [20th ] century who were both proud of their Mexian heritage and wedded to social reforms through Communism’. (Garber, 1992, p. 42) Frida’s art is connected not only to her role as a female artist practicing in the time, but also related to the political ideologies emerging amonst artists and intellectuals. She was able to create a recognizable persona and her self-portraits opened ‘a small window onto her world, a kind of case study methodology’. (Bakewell, 1993, p. 171) Her works focused on the vision of mexicanness, colonization, and sexuality. (Bakewell, 1993, p. 177)

  

Self Portrait as a Tehuana, 1943, oil on masonite, Gelman Collection, Mexico City. 

Self portrait with Braid. 1941, Jacques and Natasha Gelman collection, Mexico City.

Portrait of Diego Rivera, 1937, oil on wood, Gelman collection, Mexico City

Her figures and colors utilized in her paintings appear ‘deliberately naive’ (Garber, 1992, p. 42), Frida’s paintings were expressions of interior turmoil effected by injury, infertility, and marital stress. Gloria Orenstein, in 1973, writes ‘Frida Khalo: Paintings for Miracles’ in order to combine icongraphical and psychological analyze of the artist’s life represented in her paintings. This approach is often called ‘female sensibility’. (Garber, 1992, p. 43) According to Orenstein, the fact that Frida is a woman automatically establishes a condition of expressing femaleness in her art; and by default different from the dominant male painters. In this case, her role as a woman transforms the artistic expression of her art. Whitney Chadwich in 1985 explains further that Frida’s role as a female artist practicing in surrealist style separates her from her male peers. The artist articulates the female consciousness unique to her sexuality, biologically different from men who represent the movement and style globally. (Garber, 1992, p. 44) Hayden Herrera takes the analysis one step further in 1983 to include a psychological profile of the artist in ‘Frida Kahlo: The Palette, The Pain, and The Painter’. (Garber, 1992, p. 46) Rather than expressing a difference for simply being a woman, Herrera singles out the artist for her ability to use painting as a type of therapy, a means to healing inner termoil. Although being a woman is important to the analysis, Herrera relies on her forms of expression within her art as a way of discussing the psychology of the expression, the direction of art therapy. Each discourse utilizes Frida in diverse feminist theories of art analysis. The fact that Frida is a woman cannot be negated in her art. Critics and scholars battle the limitations of the approaches used to explain the artist’s paintings.

  

Portrait of a Woman in White, 1930, oil on canvas, private collection, Berlin.

Self Portrait, 1940, oil on canvas, Harry Ranson Humanitie Research Center, Austin.

Self-Portrait Along the Border Line Between Mexico and the United States, 1932, oil on metal, Maria Rodriquez de Reyero Collection, NYC.

Rebecca Block and Lynda Hoffman-Jeep in ‘Fashioning National Identity: Frida Kahlo in ‘Gringolandia’, written in 1999, look to the political statement of the artist’s painting in a post-revolutionary ideology. According to their analysis, Frida’ s use of traditional dress identifies with the government’s new programs to cultivate a Mexican nationalism. Part of their idea was to bring forth the country’s uniqueness identified by its indigenous culture, once socially and politically isolated. Frida’s Mexican ‘look’ consciously utilizes symbols in both ancient and contemporary cultures as she paints her self-a well known public figure, to her physical handicaps. Her art no doubt illustrates her phases of self-examination and self-definition (Block and Hoffmann-Jeep, 1999, p. 11) which connects to the political, social and cultural phase of Mexico, a country developing an identity after a revolution. Frida knew how to utilise dress in order to communicate her ideologies. Not only did she become a symbol herself, dressing in the manner of her portraits, but knew how to utilize their attributes to create meanings that also portray international connotations.

The Love Embrace the Universe, the Earth (Mexico), Me and Senor Xolotil, 1949, oil on canvas.

Frida’s art is filled with color, symbols, techniques, and subjects that make it an appealing to scholars and critics as a study of a diverse theories of art. It is interesting to look to her art in order to understand the culturally specific period to which they belong. Her works draw a fine line between politics, culture and feminism. Currently, her works represent a way of depicting and representing a personal identiy, a way of being singled out from the mainstream and yet being able to appeal and communicate cross culturally.

For more on Frida: 

Frida Kahlo in Rome: http://english.scuderiequirinale.it/Home.aspx
Frida Kahlo fan page: http://www.fridakahlofans.com/
Frida Kahlo foundation: http://www.frida-kahlo-foundation.org/biography.html

Self Portrait, 1926, oil on canvas, private collection, Mexico City.

The Broken Column, 1944, Collection of Dolores Olmedo PatiñoMexico City, Mexico

Bibliography

1. i. Bakewell, Liza. ‘Frida Kahlo: A Contemporary Feminist Reading’ in A Journal of Women Studies, Vol. 13, No. 3, (1993), pp. 165-189.
2. ii. ‘Biography’ in Frida Khalo Foundation (online) http://www.frida-kahlo-foundation.org/biography.html last access: 30/3/2014]
3. Block, Rebecca, and Hoffman- Jeep, Lynda. ‘Fashioning National Identity: Frida Kahlo in ‘Gringolandia’’ in Woman’s Art Journal, Vol. 19, No. 2 (Autumn, 1998- Winter, 1999), pp. 8-12
4. iii. ‘Chronology’ in Frida Khalo (online), http://www.fridakahlo.com/chronology [last access: 18:30, 30/3/2014]
5. iv. ‘Frida Khalo’ in Artachive, http://www.artchive.com/artchive/K/kahlo.html [last access: 18:50, 30/3/201]
6. v. ‘Frida Khalo (1907~1954): Biography ~~a Woman in Rebellion’ in YouTube (online). Project Dystopia, 2012, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5c7Sp9iy4A [last access: 18:20, 30/3/2014]
7. vi. ‘Frida Khalo’ in Scuderia del Quirinale, curated by Helga Prignitz-Poda, 20 March - 31 August 2014. http://english.scuderiequirinale.it/categorie/exhibition-frida-kahlo [last access: 19:00, 30/3/2014]
8. Garber, Elizabeth. ‘Art Critics on Frida Kahlo: A Comparison of Feminist and Non-Feminist Voices’ in Art Education, Vol. 45, No. 2 (March, 1992), pp. 42-48
9. vii. Lucie-Smith, Edward. Lives of the Great 20th Century Artists, 2nd Edn., (London: Thames & Hudson,1999)
10. Miller, Carol. ‘Self-Portrait on the Border Line between Mexico and the United States, Frida Kahlo, 1932’ in A Journal of Women Studies, Vol. 17, No. 3 (1996), p. 101

Andy Warhol

http://www.warholroma.it/

'Once you 'got' Pop, you could never see a sign again the same way again. And once you thought Pop, you could never see American the same way again.'- Andy Warhol

'Isn't life a series of images that change as they repeat themselves?'- Andy Warhol

The man who changed ‘art’ in art history: Andy Warhol

Andy Warhol is considered to be an artist with a ‘reputation as one of the greatest artists of the second half of the twentieth century’(Dyer, 33). He is famous for works such as Mao, Marilyn, Jackie, and Diamond Dust Shoes produced in 1980, Cow Wallpaper of 1966, and Brillow Boxes of 1964. His canvases helped redefine the term ‘art’. Utilizing the so-called ‘ready-made’, assigned to Marcel Duchamp, in an original process. While Duchamp’s approach, for example, signed urinals to change the object into ‘art’, Warhol transformed famous commercial products and portrait pictures. The iconography of his work can appear ‘arbitrary and meaningless’ (Dyer, 34) because their commercial aesthetic appears as a commodity for sale. As Simon Watney argues, Warhol simply represents a new type of artist who produces works, that seem effortless and irrational, that are studied and deliberate. Thomas Crow analyzes the fame of the images he transforms as a way to communicate to the viewer. This effective connection between images already understood by the viewer forces the analysis of a new perspective. The artworks are not as simple and straight forward as they appear.


 Warhol’s pop art is not just a collection of a series of colorful images. They can been analyzed as critiquing capitalist culture where pictures of Marilyn, Brillow Boxes, Twelve Electric Chairs, and Most Wanted Men challenge traditional art and provide a medium for new interpretation (Dyer, 35). The canvases of Marilyn printed in a series with a variety of variations can be looked at as the modern Monalisa. She is identified with the new face of a period where Hollywood stars represent the emerging American pop culture. The Marilyns silkscreens seem a simple technique of an amateur artist. The canvases were colored before the silkscreen medium. This required the artist to have prior intentions of color placement. Warhol applied color to correspond carefully to the areas of the lips, eyelids, background, clothing, etc. The colors were not an accident but intentional. They were not applied over the silkscreen image, but rendered in advance.

Brillow Boxes represent and redefine the term ‘commodity’ and its association with modern culture and the field of art. The daily art of the modern world is found on supermarket shelves. The commonplace products are in fact produced by a different artist: the graphic designer who formed the logo, the packaging designer who create their formal presentation, etc. The viewer is associated within the consumer society to which they belong to and interpret the works with such an affiliation. Warhol produced what he say and forced the public to study their daily life. Arthur Danto argues that Brillow Boxes changed the entire philosophy of art by actually questioning it. ‘How is it possible for something to be a work of art when something else, which resembles it to whatever degree of exactitude is merely a thing, or an artifact, but not an artwork?’ (Mattick, 967) In defense, everything ‘resembles everything else to some degree’ (Mattick, 967). After all, the European Renaissance is about trying to render reality the most authentic manner. The ideology was based on such concepts as mastering colore, manniera, invenzione, and disegno within studied architectural spaces with linear perspective views. The objects were to produce the ideal world in the most ‘real way’.

Twelve Electric Chairs and Most Wanted Men communicate the dark satirical side of Warhol. He produces the same image in different hues of the electric chair forcing the viewer to take a stand on the death penalty. Warhol’s personal opinion is not evident. His neutrality provides a certain freedom to decide the value of the piece of furniture with the American social-political structure. Ironically, Warhol produces a grim torture chair as a sellable artwork, which may say something about the culture to which it was purchased by. Most Wanted Men has an absurd story to accompany it. Warhol was commissioned for to produce canvases for the walls of the New York Pavilion at the New York World Fair of 1964. The pavilion architect was Philip Johnson, especially known for his postmodern works and the design for his own house called Glass House in 1949. The public exhibit of Most Wanted Men created controversy. Their removal was not only due to the manner in which they questioned artistic value (Lancaster, 199). It is said that the men in the images had Italian names. The could lead to the conclusion that the pavilion wanted to avoid social issues that the works could possibly produce. American society, being the global melting pot, is race sensitive. There is also a theory that their removal was due to the fact that the men who were considered ‘wanted’ were no longer in such a status during the world fair. This made their portraits offensive to the persons to which they identify with.

Warhol was a well-known commercial artist in the 1950's and 1960's. His art is inspired by Jasper Johns and Roy Lichenstein (Lancaster, 200). Warhol’s minimalism relied on ‘graphic sensibility, direction of thought, and mode of production combined to make’ (Mattick, 971) his work recognizable. It is difficult to forge a Warhol because it bears a brand name (Mattick, 971). Warhol cleverly brought the daily commercial images into popular perception and forced it to be publically recognized within the art culture. Warhol’s repetition, and color of his images were uniquely and inexplicably impersonal. His art changed the institution because, with absent identifiable intentions, established a dialogue between art and viewer. The artist’s physical appearance is also considered to be a tool to fame. The iconographical success of his art ranks equal with the iconographical realization of his personal image. By 1968, Warhol’s appearance became a part of his art because ‘he was famous for looking the way he looked’ (Lancaster, 202). In fact, his image was marketable and profitable. His face was well-known and he appeared in commercials, movies, and magazines (Lancaster, 202). Even his persona revealed an artistic understanding and awareness of the culture he belonged, exhibited, and sold to. In fact, Arthur Danto insists that in order to analyze Warhol’s art is to look at the media-oriented culture at the particular moment in history when they were produced.

The Marilyn:

The series is believe to unite two concepts important and recurrent to Warhol canvases. Death and glamour are close to the world of the artist.

Mao:

The over-sized portrait is actually a re-interpreted copy of a famous picture. The canvas is not considered to reflect an political artistic view. The artwork is in fact considered to be important because it plays between reality and artificiality (Rorimer, 4)

Ladies and Gentlemen (series), 1975

Acrylic polymer and silkscreen ink on canvas

Flowers (series), 1964

Acrylic and silkscreen

Campbell Soup Can (series), 1962

Acrylic and silkscreen

Thirty is Better than One, 1963

synthetic polymer paint and silkscreen ink on canvas

Andy Warhol in Rome (18 April-25 September, 2014): 

In dedication to Pop Art:

Bibliography

i. Dyer, Jennifer. ‘The Metaphysics of the Mundane: Understanding Andy Warhol’s Serial Imagery’ in Artibus et Historiae, Vol. 25, No. 49 (2004), pp. 33-47

ii. Lancaster, Mark. ‘Andy Warhol Rembered’ in The Burlington Magazine, Vol. 131, No. 1032 (Mar. 1989), pp. 198-202
iii. Mattick, Paul. ‘The Andy Warhol of Philosophy and the Philosophy of Andy Warhol’ in Critical Inquiry, Vol. 24, No. 4 (Summer 1998), pp. 965-987.
iv. Rorimer, Anne. ‘Andy Warhol’s Mao, 1973’ in Bulletin of the Art Institute of Chicago, (1973-82), Vol. 69, No. 3 (May- June 1975), pp. 4-7