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Frida Kahlo: Arts
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Some feminist art historians have struggled against such reworkings of women artists, but Kahlo's pop-culture mania revives it with a vengeance. Kahlo certainly facilitated this process by painting herself as the quietly suffering female. In every possible sense, the mass-culture Kahlo embodies that now-poisonous term: victimhood. She was the victim of patriarchal culture, victim of an unfaithful husband, and simply the victim of a horrific accident. But that's probably one reason why she's so popular. "People like to see women as victims," says Mary Garrard, a professor of art history at American University.
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A close look at Kahlo's art ... reveals that alongside the Mexican persona, numerous other identities exist. Kahlo portrayed herself in alternative roles, appearing as an androgynous creature, a crowned nun, the Hindu goddess Parvati, a little deer, and as a Jew.
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This little treasure box features a Portrait of Frida Kahlo. Each box has been handmade and hand painted and découpaged by a traditional Mexican artisan. The image features Frida wearing a red rebozo shawl or scarf and is distressed for a vintage feel.
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The self-portrait Thinking of Death, 1943, deals explicitly with Kahlo's preoccupation with mortality and the fragility of her body - the legacy of polio in childhood and a near-fatal bus accident. She drew on many different types of funerary imagery in her paintings, including Aztec art and Mexican folk traditions. Later, she extended her range of sources to include Eastern religions. In this work, the third eye chakra in the centre of the forehead, which denotes wisdom or spiritual truth according to Indian Yogic beliefs, has been supplanted with a death's head.
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It's entirely possible that Kahlo was conflicted, experiencing both longing for motherhood and relief at not having to endure it--a sentiment many women surely recognize. Yet that view would detract from the hagiography. "If [Kahlo's] paintings were looked at closely, she would become a dangerous woman," says Lindauer, explaining that Kahlo's paintings actually challenge lots of feminine ideals. If they really took a good look at her art, she adds, "People would be less comfortable buying her fridge magnets."
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The commodification of Kahlo has been brutal. She has become a doll, a perfume, a brand of tequila, a line of clothing (Frida jeans), designer sneakers (Converse), even a pizza parlor in San Francisco's Mission District ("Frida's Pizza.") The Bellas Artes centennial is dotted with booths vending Frida pins and Frida lighters and display cases glittering with Frida accessories.
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