Frida Kahlo and Arte Popular - (Hardcover)

Product Description

About the Book

"The visionary and supremely self-fashioning artist Frida Kahlo drew inspiration throughout her career from arte popular--painted ceramics, embroidered textiles, religious votives, effigies and children's toys, and other objects created in Mexico's rural and Indigenous communities. The hundreds of folk art objects that filled her home and studio attest to her nationalist politics and fascination with the work of carvers, weavers, sculptors of papier-mãachâe, and vernacular painters. She depicted these objects in her paintings and adopted elements of traditional dress and ornament in her own self-presentation, playing on modernist fascination with folk culture and on her own relation to layered Mexican identity. This bilingual book, the first in-depth exploration of Kahlo's varied and sophisticated responses to arte popular, situates her within the broad artistic and intellectual movements of her time, examines her professional ambitions, and illuminates the innovative techniques she used in her lifelong encounter, both playful and powerful, with the folk art of Mexico"--

Book Synopsis

How Kahlo collected, celebrated and depicted Mexican folk arts in both her painting and her persona

The visionary and supremely self-fashioning artist Frida Kahlo (1907-54) drew inspiration throughout her career from arte popular--painted ceramics, embroidered textiles, religious votives, effigies and children's toys, and other objects created in Mexico's rural and Indigenous communities. The hundreds of folk-art objects that filled her home and studio attest to her nationalist politics and her fascination with the work of carvers, weavers, sculptors of papier-mâché and vernacular painters. She depicted these objects in her paintings and adopted elements of traditional dress and ornament in her own self-presentation, playing on modernist fascination with folk culture and on her own relation to layered Mexican identity.
This bilingual book, the first in-depth exploration of Kahlo's varied and sophisticated responses to arte popular, situates her within the broad artistic and intellectual movements of her time, examines her professional ambitions and illuminates the innovative techniques she used in her lifelong encounter, both playful and powerful, with the folk art of Mexico.

Review Quotes

[A] much needed and deserved look into her inspirations -- namely, Mexican folk art.--Kaylee S. Kim "The Harvard Crimson"

[Sees] Kahlo's work as representative of the period of art history in which she lived, and 'as an early way of thinking about the personal as also something that's political, ' a theme well-suited to bringing Kahlo's work into modern-day conversation.--Lexa Krajewski "Boston Magazine"

[Separates] her mythic reputation from the reality of her practice. The result is an informative look into the world around Kahlo and how it influenced her work and her carefully prepared self-image.--Celina Colby "The Bay State Banner"

What floors me about Kahlo's work is the enduring power of her political voice. At the MFA, the exhibition begins with "Dos Mujeres," the painting owned by the MFA. [...] It marks a seminal momen [...] it's so clear she has something to say: The poor, the indigenous deserve to be painted with dignity.--Maria Garcia "WBUR"

Product Highlights

• How Kahlo collected, celebrated and depicted Mexican folk arts in both her painting and her personaThe visionary and supremely self-fashioning artist Frida Kahlo (1907-54) drew inspiration throughout her career from arte popular--painted ceramics, embroidered textiles, religious votives, effigies and children's toys, and other objects created in Mexico's rural and Indigenous communities.
• Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Awards (Art) 2022 3rd Winner
• 240 Pages
• Art, Individual Artists