 Frida, 15 June 1919, by Guillermo Kahlo, 15 June 1919. Banco de México Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo Museums Trust. (my photo of photo) |  Frida Kahlo, c.1926. Museo Frida Kahlo. © Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo Archives, Banco de México, Fiduciary of the Trust of the Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo Museums. |  Frida Kahlo in blue satin blouse, 1939, photograph by Nickolas Muray © Nickolas Muray Photo Archives. |
'I suffered two grave accidents in my life. One in which a streetcar knocked me down… The other is Diego.’ Frida Kahlo, 1951
After Frida Kahlo died in 1954 her husband, Diego Rivera, had her clothes, jewellery, makeup, photographs, letters and other personal possessions sealed inside the bathroom of Frida’s home, the Casa Azul (Blue House). In 2004, half a century later, the room was opened, and cataloguing and conservation began. In the decades since her death Kahlo has been recognised as an important artist in her own right, not just an appendage to Rivera, and has become a global icon. The V&A’s exhibition, curated by Circe Henestrosa* and Claire Wilcox, is a fascinating and moving insight into her life and style.
After Frida Kahlo died in 1954 her husband, Diego Rivera, had her clothes, jewellery, makeup, photographs, letters and other personal possessions sealed inside the bathroom of Frida’s home, the Casa Azul (Blue House). In 2004, half a century later, the room was opened, and cataloguing and conservation began. In the decades since her death Kahlo has been recognised as an important artist in her own right, not just an appendage to Rivera, and has become a global icon. The V&A’s exhibition, curated by Circe Henestrosa* and Claire Wilcox, is a fascinating and moving insight into her life and style.
 Wedding Portrait of Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo, 1929 by Victor Reyes. Banco de México Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo Museums Trust. She's wearing a rebozo, a traditional Mexican shawl. (My photo of photo) |  Revlon compact and powderpuff with blusher in 'Clear Red' and Revlon lipstick in 'Everything's Rosy'; emery boards and eyebrow pencil in 'Ebony'. Before 1954. Photograph Javier Hinojosa. © Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo Archives, Banco de México, Fiduciary of the Trust of the Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo Museums. |
‘They thought I was a Surrealist, but I wasn’t. I never painted dreams. I painted my own reality.’ Frida Kahlo, 1953
Used to sitting for her photographer father, Frida became her own muse. Her art was her life and her life was her art. Her pride in her cultural identity, her injuries, her inability to have children, her communism, her problematic marriage, her sense of fun – all are expressed in her work and in this show. Frida shocked people, she challenged expectations, and she lived her life in glorious colour and texture, with an earthy realness.
Used to sitting for her photographer father, Frida became her own muse. Her art was her life and her life was her art. Her pride in her cultural identity, her injuries, her inability to have children, her communism, her problematic marriage, her sense of fun – all are expressed in her work and in this show. Frida shocked people, she challenged expectations, and she lived her life in glorious colour and texture, with an earthy realness.
 Four poster bed-style display case containing plaster corsets. |  'Appearances can be deceiving', Frida Kahlo, 1944-54. Charcoal and coloured pencil on paper. Banco de México Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo Museums Trust. (my photo of drawing). Frida illustrating Tehuana dress as a disguise and distraction from her infirmities. |  Frida Kahlo at the American British Cowdray (ABC) Hospital. Juan Guzmán, 1951. ©Juan Guzmán. Courtesy of Throckmorton Fine Art. (My photo of photo). Using a hand mirror to paint her plaster corset. |
‘I am not sick, I am broken. But I am happy to be alive as long as I can paint.’ Frida Kahlo, 1953
Kahlo lived with disability for most of her life, first as a result of polio when she was six, then from the bus accident when she was 18. It’s one thing to know that, but another thing to see the three dimensional evidence of it up close. In one dreamily-eerie room her orthopaedic corsets and built-up boots are displayed in cases resembling the four poster bed she spent so much time immobilised in. It makes this woman’s body of work and passion for life even more extraordinary. Her paintings are commemorations of what her body and soul have been through, and these items add even more layers to them.
She suffered pain, indignity and heartbreak and she turned it into art.
Kahlo lived with disability for most of her life, first as a result of polio when she was six, then from the bus accident when she was 18. It’s one thing to know that, but another thing to see the three dimensional evidence of it up close. In one dreamily-eerie room her orthopaedic corsets and built-up boots are displayed in cases resembling the four poster bed she spent so much time immobilised in. It makes this woman’s body of work and passion for life even more extraordinary. Her paintings are commemorations of what her body and soul have been through, and these items add even more layers to them.
She suffered pain, indignity and heartbreak and she turned it into art.
 Plaster corset with a painting of her 'broken column' spine, 1944. |  Front half of plaster corset with holes in - possibly for ventilation, the large hole is possibly a reference to the near-fatal miscarriage Kahlo suffered in 1932. |  Orthopaedic corset, fabric-covered steel, 1944. Possibly the one shown in her painting 'The Broken Column', 1944. |
 Ankle boots, one with a built-up heel, 1948-52. Due to polio, Frida's right leg was shorter than her left. |  Prosthetic leg with lace-up boots, 1953-4. Red leather with Chinese silk panels, and bells. Frida's right leg - damaged by polio, then sustaining a fracture to the foot in the bus crash - had to be amputated below the knee in 1953. |  Detail of Kahlo's red leather boots. |
I don’t think a single visit is enough to process all that’s in this exhibition; if possible, go and see it, buy the (excellent) exhibition catalogue and have a good perusal, then go back and see the exhibition again. I’m going back this week – I’d already booked my ticket before I went to the preview – I’m a Frida fan and a textiles fan, and this exhibition is hugely satisfying for both!
Frida Kahlo: Making Her Self Up, 16 June – 4 November 2018.
Sponsored by Grosvenor Britain & Ireland, Aeromexico, Art Mentor Foundation Lucerne and GRoW @ Anneberg.
www.vam.ac.uk/exhibitions/frida-kahlo-making-her-self-up
*Circe Henestrosa also curated ‘Appearances Can Be Deceiving: The dresses of Frida Kahlo’ at Museo Frida Kahlo in 2012:
www.museofridakahlo.org.mx/esp/1/exposiciones/los-vestidos-de-frida-kahlo
Part 2 coming later this week.
Frida Kahlo: Making Her Self Up, 16 June – 4 November 2018.
Sponsored by Grosvenor Britain & Ireland, Aeromexico, Art Mentor Foundation Lucerne and GRoW @ Anneberg.
www.vam.ac.uk/exhibitions/frida-kahlo-making-her-self-up
*Circe Henestrosa also curated ‘Appearances Can Be Deceiving: The dresses of Frida Kahlo’ at Museo Frida Kahlo in 2012:
www.museofridakahlo.org.mx/esp/1/exposiciones/los-vestidos-de-frida-kahlo
Part 2 coming later this week.
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