Sunday, June 13, 2010
















Fulang-Chang and I by Frida Kahlo at MOMA.
Here is the label copy describing this particular work:

"Fulang-Chang and I depicts Kahlo with one of her pet monkeys, interpreted by many as surrogates for the children she and Diego Rivera were unable to conceive. The painting was included in the first major exhibition of her work, held at Julien Levy Gallery in New York in 1938. In the essay that accompanied the show, the Surrealist leader AndrĂ© Breton described Kahlo's work as "a ribbon around a bomb" and hailed her as a self-created Surrealist painter. Although she appreciated his enthusiasm for her work, Kahlo did not agree with his assessment: "They thought I was a Surrealist but I wasn’t. I never painted dreams. I painted my own reality." Kahlo later gave this painting to her close friend Mary Sklar, attaching a mirror to it so that, if Sklar chose, the two friends could be together."

The mirror next to the painting affords some great reflections, but a more subtle -though obvious- connection is made when you look into the mirror and see a painting by Diego Rivera on the opposite wall.

Below is a picture of a painting by Diego Rivera at the Dallas Museum of Art, Portrait of Dr. Otto Ruhle.

No comments:

Post a Comment