News 2009

31 December 2009

	November 20th, 2009 - Exhibition of Mexican Modern Painting at Singapore Art Museum The Singapore Art Museum and the Embassy of Mexico proudly presents "Camino a la Modernidad, The Path to Modernity: Mexican Modern Painting". The exhibition examines the myriad artistic languages that constitute the formation of Mexican modernism. Camino a la Modernidad, "The Path to Modernity: Mexican Modern Painting" is the largest Mexican art exhibition ever held in Singapore and Southeast Asia. "Camino a la Modernidad, The Path to Modernity: Mexican Modern Painting" traces major developments in Mexican art from the 1900s to the 1950s, where Mexican society underwent tremendous changes in social and political spheres that impacted much of its artistic expression. The Mexican Revolution (1910) laid the foundation for a new artistic movement, Mexican Mural Renaissance, which attempted to bridge the class divide in the construction of a national identity and aesthetic, through bringing art to the masses in the form of highly accessible, outdoor public art murals. The exhibition features over 70 works from important Mexican public and private collections, including works by renowned mural artists Diego Rivera, David Alfaro Siqueiros, José Clemente Orozco, Roberto Montenegro, Rufino Tamayo, Maria Izquierdo and Frida Kahlo. Singapore Art Museum, 71 Bras Basah Road, Singapore 15th November 2009 - 3rd January 2010 artdaily link

	November 20th, 2009 - Frida in Kingsolver's new book Barbara Kingsolver's new novel, "The Lacuna," is the story of a man who spends his youth among legendary Mexican figures Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera, then grows reclusive in older age. Journals from his tumultuous early life illustrate history in an unique way. Harrison Shepherd is a "bookish boy (his loneliness compounded by his attraction to men) that becomes involved with towering personalities: first as plaster-maker for the volatile muralist Diego Rivera, then as cook to Rivera's wife, the indomitable Frida Kahlo, and finally as secretary to Lev Trotsky, who's fleeing the murderous Stalinist regime. Young Harrison grows close to each, imprinted by their natures. Kingsolver renders these figures on a winningly human scale, if a bit predictably: Rivera's an obsessed sybarite, Kahlo a flamboyant, gritty crusader, Trotsky a gentle, courageous believer. In a plot whose delicious currents and confluences at first feel effortless, Harrison eventually migrates to Asheville, N.C., where he acquires a devoted helpmeet, the good widow Violet Brown, and commences his real work: writing novels. Kingsolver's exploration (through all five senses) of Mexican and American geographies, weather, people, food, cultures, politics, languages and era-bound events - Hoover through World War II, Truman, Nagasaki - is masterful, and a reader receives the great gift of entering not one but several worlds. In the bargain, Kingsolver mulls the lonely rhythms of an artist's life, including the mind-bending haplessness of enduring both rave and ruinous reviews. Frida counsels Harrison:"Listen, don't ever become famous. It's killing. You should see what they wrote in the papers, those reviewers. ... They write what they think you should be painting." ...." (taken from a review of The San Francisco Chronicle) read an interesting interview to Barbara Kingsolver

	September 27th, 2009 - Frida in Manchester (UK) among the "Angels of Anarchy" "Angels of Anarchy" is the first major exhibition in Europe to focus on women artists’ crucial role in the Surrealist art movement. 150 beautiful, powerful, though-provoking and sometimes shocking works of art. 32 revolutionary artists from around the globe, including Frida Kahlo, Lee Miller and Meret Oppenheim. The most ambitious exhibition ever mounted by the gallery with loans from MOMA New York, Tate, Centre Georges Pompidou, Museo De Arte Moderno Mexico, the Fine Arts Museum San Francisco, the Israel Museum in Jerusalem and many private collections. Explore work by these artists and what made them radically different to their male counterparts, work that spoke of their experiences as women and as artists. It is the only chance to catch this exhibition in the UK before it tours to one other European venue and with the fragility of many of the works it will be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see these artists all together in one exhibition. The Angels are coming to Manchester. Don’t miss them. Mosley Street, Manchester M2 3JL (UK) 26th September 2009 10th January 2010 go to the exhibition web site watch the exhibition promo video

	September 26th, 2009 - U.S. Prosecutors in Mexico Probe Possible Kahlo Fakes The controversy over the authenticity of a collection of work attributed by some to Frida Kahlo has now drawn the attention of the attorney general’s office in Mexico. The Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo Trust has filed a complaint that claims that works attributed to Kahlo in two new books about the artist, Finding Frida Kahlo and The Labyrinth of Frida Kahlo, are actually forgeries, the office says, and Mexican federal prosecutors are now investigating. The works in question are owned by Carlos and Leticia Noyola, Mexican antiques dealers, who claim that Kahlo originally gave the set of papers, paintings, and ephemera to a carpenter friend in the late 1970s. The battle over the works' authenticity has been raging for many months, with each side accusing the other of trying to exploit the legacy of an artist revered by many in Mexico as its most important 20th-century painter. read an article by the LAtin American Herald Tribune

	August 22nd, 2009 - Forthcoming Kahlo Book Accused of Containing Forgeries "Finding Frida Kahlo" is the title of a book, due Nov. 1 2009 from Princeton Architectural Press, that contains reproductions of paintings; drawings; and letters, diaries, notes, trinkets, and other ephemera attributed to the artist. The publisher describes it as “an astonishing lost archive of one of the 20th century's most revered artists” — but some scholars are vigorously denouncing that claim. The supposed trove, which belongs to a Mexican couple, has been known about since December 2005; Mexican art historians and collectors have previously declared that the works are not authentic. Recently, a group of leading Kahlo scholars issued a letter to the press and to Mexican culture officials declaring that “all of the documents and works in [the collection] are fakes.” According to the publisher, such doubts “are explored directly in the book,” but art experts are still outraged about the impending publication. “This is a perversion of Frida Kahlo,” says art historian James Oles. “It’s just like the Hitler diaries.” More info at: The Guardian - UK The Art Newspaper

	June 6th, 2009 - "Self-portrait with Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird" back to The Harry Ransom Center The Harry Ransom Center, a humanities research library and museum at The University of Texas at Austin, celebrates the homecoming of one of its most famous and frequently borrowed art works, the Frida Kahlo's "Self-portrait with Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird" (1940) on Cinco de Mayo, May 5. The painting will be on display through Jan. 3, 2010. Since 1990 the painting has been on almost continuous loan, featured in exhibitions in more than 25 museums in the United States and around the world, in countries such as Australia, Canada, France and Spain. The painting was most recently part of "Frida Kahlo," a traveling retrospective exhibition organized by the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the artist's birth. go to the museum web site watch a very interesting video about this portrait

	May 30th, 2009 - Germany donates $70,000 to Frida Kahlo Museum MEXICO CITY (AP) — Germany is donating $70,000 to restore paintings, photographs and sculptures produced and collected by Mexican artist Frida Kahlo and her husband Diego Rivera. German Ambassador to Mexico Ronald Wegener says the donation to the Frida Kahlo Museum in Mexico City will "deepen cultural dialogue." Frida's father, Wilhem Kahlo, immigrated to Mexico from Germany at age 19, becoming one of its best known photographers. Museum director Hilsa Trujillo welcomed Germany's donation on Thursday, noting that museum attendance is down 90 percent since the swine flu stalled tourism, leaving the museum "in crisis." The donation will help restore 14 oil paintings, five sculptures and 189 small votive pieces that the couple collected. go to Frida Kahlo museum web site

	May 27th, 2009 - Frida's self-portrait "The Frame" at elles@centrepompidou Centre Pompidou Dedicates a huge Exhibition to Women, titled elles@centrepompidou, and Frida's portrait has been selected among the 500 works by more than 200 women artists, from the early twentieth century to our own day, that will be shown in this thematic exhibition. Drawn from the museum historical collection, the work of such emblematic figures as Sonia Delaunay, Frida Kahlo, Dorothea Tanning, Joan Mitchell and Maria-Elena Vieira da Silva, among many others, will hang alongside the productions of major contemporary women artists, notably Sophie Calle, Annette Messager and Louise Bourgeois, all recently the subjects of monographic exhibitions at the Centre Pompidou. Within the exhibition, women artists will speak for themselves, with their observations on their own work cited in the extended labels, while the wall texts are given over to the reflections of women writers, philosophers, novelists and historians. Many of the artists will also address the public directly, in talks and discussions. Paris May 27,2009 - May 24, 2010. go to the museum web site

	April 9th, 2009 - " Frida", a co-production of California Stage and Teatro Espejo This biographical play on the life of Frida (Diana Tercero) is primarily concerned with her relationship to Diego Rivera (Richard Falcón), the passionate and collaborative love that framed her life. It also incorporates Mexican folk art into the story, using a Judas figure (Diana Mandujano) to dramatize Kahlo’s inner conflicts—and to offer ribald commentary on all the human flaws of the players. Tercero is intense and determined as Kahlo, although at times she seems too young to hold her own against Falcón’s larger-than-life Rivera. His emotional—and macho—outbursts overwhelm in intensity. But Tercero aptly portrays the burden of physical pain that the disabled and chronically ill Kahlo carried, and Mandujano’s Judas is an antic delight, offering comfort and provocation in equal measure while reminding us that great art, unfortunately, seems often to follow great suffering. The play will be performed in English and Spanish on alternate weekends in Sacramento (CA) at the Wilkerson Theatre, 2509 R Street. In English April 16-19, 30 and May 1; in Spanish April 9-12, 23-26 and May 2-3. Through May 3. taken from newsreviews

	April 9th, 2009 - Frida Kahlo: Through the Lens of Nickolas Muray An exhibition of photographs of Frida taken by her friend and lover, the internationally renowned portrait photographer Nickolas Muray (1892-1965), will be on view at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery from May 8 through July 5, 2009. Frida Kahlo: Through the Lens of Nickolas Muray, From the Collection of the Nickolas Muray Archives celebrates Kahlo’s life and work and comprises approximately fifty color and black-and-white photographs, along with archival material, including excerpts from letters between Kahlo and Muray. The installation in Buffalo will feature Frida Kahlo’s Self- Portrait with Monkey, 1938, from the Albright-Knox Art Gallery’s Permanent Collection. Albright-Knox Art Gallery 1285 Elmwood Avenue Buffalo, New York 14222-1096 go to the Gallery web site

	February 19th, 2009 - " Frida'paintings replicas shown in Baden-Baden Germany Frida had a special relationship with Germany, as her father was born in Germany and grew up in Baden-Baden. As most of Frida’s works are spread around the world, and are in the hands of private collectors, The Kunstmuseum Gehrke-Remund exhibition, titled Frida Kahlo "A Ribbon around a Bomb", will show over 100 oil paintings which are licensed replicas from © Banco de México Diego Rivera & Frida Kahlo Museums Trust / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2008. These unique replicas have been painted exclusively for the Kunstmuseum Gehrke-Remund by master artists, and can be found exclusively in the Kunstmuseum Gehrke-Remund in Baden-Baden. They are painted in the original size, with the original materials (oil on canvas, oil on wood/metal or glas), and in exactly the same style as Frida Kahlo painted them. In addition to her work, the exhibition will show clothes and jewelry. Moreover, the Kunstmueseum have recreated the garden of the Casa Azul (The blue house: the family house of Frida Kahlo) with its Aztec pyramid and pre-Columbian figures. Opening on Feb. 28, 2009 Kunstmuseum Gehrke-Remund Industriestraße 9a, 76532 Baden-Baden, Germany more details and images at the museum web site

	February 16th, 2009 - " "Self-Portrait", a solo work dedicated to Frida On Feb. 13th Miro Dance Theatre presented "Self-Portrait" at the Bryn Mawr College Performing Arts Series (Pennsylvania), in a shared program with BalletX.” A solo work combining dance, live animation, elaborate set design, and video, "Self-Portrait" is deeply inspired by Frida Kahlo’s paintings and diaries, reflecting on both the artist’s struggles with illness and her penchant for self-expression. A constant theme in the work of Kahlo, the idea of self-portraiture (or “the self-portrait”) is timeless and universal. The notion of constantly looking at oneself and continuously exploring ones identity, and the ways in which we reinvent and integrate our experiences has become of great interest to Miro Dance Theatre as a company "Self-Portrait" was originally commissioned by Art After 5 in conjunction with the Philadelphia Museum of Art’s Frida Kahlo retrospective the World Premiere performance was held at the Museum of Art in May 2008. In November 2008, Miro traveled to Poland to present the European Premiere of Self-Portrait at the Lublin Dance Theatre Festival to a sold-out, standing room only crowd. “We are finding that Self-Portrait really resonates with people, both here in Philadelphia and in Eastern Europe where we recently performed it,” says Amanda Miller. “The idea of self, and also the importance of Frida as an artist to a generation young and old makes this piece very special and each time we perform it, the production grows richer and more developed.” more details and images

	February 16th, 2009 - " Frida Kahlo among Vezzoli's Eau de Faux" women portraits On February 6th the Gagosian Gallery in Rome presented the project: “GREED, A New Fragrance" by Francesco Vezzoli. The piece is directly inspired by Marcel Duchamp’s readymade “Belle Haleine: Eau de Violette” (Beautiful Breath: Veil Water) perfume bottle, which the Dadaist created in 1921 with Man Ray. For his contemporary update of the Rigaud perfume bottle, Vezzoli - who was born in Brescia, in 1971 and lives in Milan - called on fashion photographer Francesco Scavullo to capture his moment in drag. A short commercial for the perfume directed by Roman Polanski stars Natalie Portman and Michelle Williams duking it out over a bottle of the fragrance. It can be seen online here. Vezzoli’s perfume label reads “Eau de Larmes” (Tears Water) and he has adorned ten large portraits of famous female artists and icons including Frida Kahlo, Georgia O’Keeffe and Tina Modotti with bold tears embroidered using various materials.” read a review

	February 14th, 2009 - " "Frida" by Buglisi Dance Thetre On February 3-8 Buglisi’s company celebrated its 15th anniversary at the Joyce Theater (New York) with two programs, two premieres, and three other repertory works Among these, the trio work titled "Frida", inspired by Frida’s work, love, and suffering. A romantic Arvo Pärt score and spoken word from Frida’s texts create a cinematic and documentary-like experience for this work. see the video from YouTube Buglisi Dance Theatre

	January 4th, 2009 - " Frida Kahlo: Through the Lens of Nickolas Muray" This intimate exhibition features photographs of Frida , taken by Nickolas Muray during their close relationship. His photos pose Frida in native costumes and with the artists Diego Rivera and Miguel Covarrubias. Many of the photos are in the lush color process favored by Muray Wichita Art Museum 1400 West Museum Boulevard, Wichita, Kansas December 21, 2008 - February 1, 2009

	January 4th, 2009 - "Blake to Kahlo to Warhol: Masterworks from the Harry Ransom Center" "Blake to Kahlo to Warhol" exhibition includes European, Mexican and American masterworks from the 19th and 20th centuries by well known artists such as William Blake, Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo, Tom Lea, Robert Rauschenberg and Andy Warhol. El Paso Museum of Art One Arts Festival Plaza, El Paso, TX 79901 November 16, 2008 - March 29, 2009