Frida Kahlo cover art

Frida Kahlo

Studies in World Art, Book 29

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Frida Kahlo

By: Edward Lucie-Smith
Narrated by: Willis Miller
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About this listen

Going to the Frida Kahlo exhibition current at Tate Modern in London is like entering the shrine of a secular saint. The rooms are thronged. People peer closely at the paintings, many of them very small. They seem afraid to talk much above a whisper.

There are a number of reasons for this reaction. One is Hayden Herrera’s highly readable biography of the artist, first published in 1983, and now established as a classic feminist text. Another is the feminist movement’s general need for heroines, which has had a similar effect on the posthumous reputation of Georgia O’Keeffe. A third, probably the most powerful, reason is Kahlo’s own personality, which combined self-assertion, defiance and masochism in almost equal proportions. In this respect Kahlo can be compared with a slightly later generation of English-language poets, male and female. Prominent among them are Robert Lowell, John Berryman, Sylvia Plath and Anne Sexton.

©2012, 2017 Cv Publications (P)2017 Cv Publications Art World
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Whilst this critique points out largely that her success was due more to her husband's success than her own this may well still have been a sign of the times with women less praised on their own merits. However a short and interesting appraisal which gave insight into her background other than her own self-perceived and proclaimed artistic view, and limits to her artistic style of work, along with her undoubted lifelong suffering with pain. 7 minutes was enough commentary though enticed me to look into her life again, as we probably should do with anyone artistically or otherwise prominent that we have an interest in,

Interesting critique on her "status"

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