Thursday, March 31, 2011

ARE YOU A FRIDA-PHILE?

Wanted to share with all you Frida-philes the new book I got. 


This large, hardback book uses photos from the Museo Frida Kahlo in Mexico City.  When Frida died, Diego Rivera had her dressing room and bedroom closed off - for 50 years.  When the opened the rooms, they discovered treasures of dresses, skirts, blouses, ribbons, etc. and made a book out of it.

What I find interesting is you can see the outfits Frida wears in many of her self-portraits or her photographs.  And you get a bit of history of the Mexican women who wore those outfits.  If you're a Frida-phile, you'll enjoy perusing this and reading a bit about the clothing.  Frida was only 5'2" tall and wore the long dresses to cover her damaged leg but also as a statement of her culture and history as a Mexican woman.

Here are some photos from the book:







It's a must for any of those who are into Frida and want to know more - great photos in the book, too, that I'd not seen before.


This afternoon, I take my painting of crows to the Women's Art Club of Cincinnati and try to get it in their juried show.  Won't know either way until April so I've got to keep my fingers crossed until then - and it's very hard to paint when your fingers are crossed!

5 comments:

mimi torchia boothby watercolors said...

thanks for the heads up about this book, Frida has always fascinated me.
I can't find your crow paintings. I would enjoy seeing them. I have devoted some time to painting crows as well, they are one of my favorite birds.

Barb Sailor said...

Am I a Frida-phile? Most definitely! This book sounds very interesting and I was shocked to learn that she was only 5'2" - she had so much presence that she appeared to be much taller.
Good luck in the show with the crows!!!

RH Carpenter said...

Mimi, I was doing a series of crow paintings a few months ago or more - you should be able to find them on the blog if you search last year. I did 5 or 6. I do like crows and we now have 4 of them coming around (not my yard but trees in a neighbor's yard and sometimes cawing overhead as they go by). I wish they would stop and say hello :)

Bar, yes, she was a tiny thing - you can see why her mother said the marriage of Frida and Diego was like that between a dove and an elephant!

http://carolking.wordpress.com said...

Very cool post. A little creepy that Frida's bedroom was closed up for 50 years!

RH Carpenter said...

Carol, I think Diego wanted her things kept away from the public eye until the furor died down, I guess. I imagine it was a very moving and strange experience to finally be able to see and touch things she had collected and worn. And maybe he wanted to make sure it was closed until well after he was gone, too?