Kahlo

Description

The arresting pictures of Frida Kahlo (1907-54) were in many ways expressions of trauma. Through a near-fatal road accident at the age of 18, failing health, a turbulent marriage, miscarriage and childlessness, she transformed the afflictions into revolutionary art. In literal or metaphorical self-portraiture, Kahlo looks out at the viewer with an audacious glare, rejecting her destiny as a passive victim and rather intertwining expressions of her experience into a hybrid real-surreal language of living: hair, roots, veins, vines, tendrils and fallopian tubes. Many of her works also explore the Communist political ideals which Kahlo shared with her husband Diego Rivera. The artist described her paintings as "the most sincere and real thing that I could do in order to express what I felt inside and outside of myself." This book introduces the rich body of Kahlo's work to explore her unremitting determination as an artist, and her significance as a painter, feminist icon, and a pioneer of Latin American culture. About the series Born back in 1985, the Basic Art Series has evolved into the best-selling art book collection ever published. Each book in TASCHEN's Basic Art series features: a detailed chronological summary of the life and oeuvre of the artist, covering his or her cultural and historical importance a concise biography approximately 100 illustrations with explanatory captions Les toiles captivantes de Frida Kahlo (1907-1954) etaient a bien des egards l'expression d'un traumatisme. Tres grave accident de la route a 18 ans, sante fragile, mariage houleux, fausse couche et absence d'enfant, elle transforma toutes ses souffrances en art revolutionnaire. Dans ses autoportraits fideles ou metaphoriques, Kahlo pose sur le spectateur un regard brulant d'audace, elle rejette son destin de victime passive et prefere entrelacer les expressions de son experience pour faconner un lexique vital hybride ou se melent reel et surreel: cheveux, racines, veines, tendons et trompes uterines. Nombre de ses oeuvres explorent aussi les ideaux politiques communistes qu'elle partage avec Rivera. Elle decrivit ses toiles comme "la chose la plus sincere et la plus reelle que je pouvais faire pour exprimer ce que je ressentais a l'interieur et a l'exterieur de moi-meme". Ce livre presente l'oeuvre foisonnante de Frida Kahlo et explore sa determination sans faille en tant qu'artiste, son importance en tant que peintre, icone feministe et pionniere de la culture latino-americaine. A propos de la collection Chaque volume de la Basic Art Series de TASCHEN contient: une chronologique detaillee de la vie et de l'oeuvre de l'artiste qui rend compte de son importance culturelle et artistique une biographie concise une centaine d'illustrations couleur accompagnees de legendes explicatives

Andrea Kettenmann studied art history in Goettingen and Hamburg before joining the art history department of the University of Hamburg. She has published widely on Frida Kahlo and has contributed to numerous exhibitions and catalogues. She works as a freelance art historian in Mexico City, where she has lived for many years.