Frida Kahlo
dal 28/4/2010 al 8/8/2010
Segnalato da
28/4/2010
Frida Kahlo
Martin Gropius Bau, Berlin
The over 120 paintings and drawings on display will be the most extensive exhibition of Frida Kahlo's oeuvre to date, with works never before seen and assumed to be lost. A particular highlight will be the last work of the artist, on show for the first time. There will also be approximately 70 drawings, some of them hitherto unpublished, which reveal unknown aspects of the artist's personality. These will include landscapes that metamorphose into sexual fantasies and subtly humorous plays on words and images. The codes needed to decipher these conceits will be clearly explained.
curated by Helga Prignitz-Poda
From 30 April to 9 August 2010 Berlin’s Martin-Gropius-Bau will be devoting an extensive retrospective to the important Mexican artist Frida Kahlo.
Born in Coyoacán, Mexico City, Frida Kahlo is one of the great identification figures of Latin American art. She stands out as one of the most famous female artists of the first half of the 20th century.
Injured in a traffic accident on 17 September 1925 Frida Kahlo spent the rest of her life in pain as a consequence of her frequent operations. These profound experiences left their mark on her work and her world. Her acquaintanceships with such prominent figures of her day as Leon Trotsky, André Breton or Nicholas Murray influenced her eventful life. In 1929 she married the famous Mexican muralist Diego Rivera, who supported her in her artistic career.
Frida Kahlo’s works refer back to the early art of Mexico, that of the Aztecs and the Mayas, reflecting the social, political, and above all private aspects of her life. In 1938 /39 she had very successful one-person exhibitions in both New York and Paris. Later she was given a chair at the Mexican Ministry of Education’s School of Painting and Sculpture, known as “La Esmeralda”. She taught mural and easel painting, receiving the National Art Prize. She was able to sustain her teaching activities for some years before poor health forced her to abandon them.
The exhibition
The exhibition in the Martin-Gropius-Bau, curated by the art historian Helga Prignitz-Poda, will consist of about 150 works (paintings and drawings), making it the most comprehensive show of Frida Kahlo’s work ever staged. For the first time the two largest Kahlo collections will be on display in toto and together. To these must be added valuable loans from 30 Mexican and 15 North American museums and private collections.
Frida Kahlo’s artistic development from the New Objectivity (Neue Sachlichkeit) through Mexican Estridentism – an avant garde, interdisciplinary artistic movement that arose out of the Mexican Revolution – to Surrealism and her very own brand of realism, will be comprehensively presented. In addition to the famous paintings, works by Kahlo that are largely unknown or were believed to be lost will be on show. A particular highlight will be a collection of about 90 drawings, some previously unpublished, and her last works dating from 1954: The self-portrait in oils as a sunflower – a work previously believed to have been destroyed – and the self-portrait drawing will be seen in Europe for the first time. The drawings with surreal compositions reveal a hitherto undiscovered side of Frida Kahlo: her humour. These light-hearted and subtle verbal and visual puns at once conceal and express her thoughts.
Another section of the exhibition will be devoted to the small-format votive paintings which the artist executed in the Mexican ex voto style in the early 1930s. They express the artist’s yearnings for health, independence and fulfilment.
The photographs
In order to keep the biographical details as far as possible from the work context while at the same time granting the visitor insights into her life, the exhibition will be supplemented by an extensive collection of photos belonging to her family and close friends. This section will be curated by Cristina Kahlo, Frida Kahlo’s grandniece. The photos show scenes from the various phases in the life of this exceptional Mexican artist: Frida as a young girl, Frida with her husband Diego Rivera, Frida lying in bed painting her plaster corset, and various individual portraits presenting her as a fascinating woman with magnificent jewellery, traditional costume, and a confident gaze.
The exhibition will subsequently be on display at Kunstforum Wien.
A comprehensive catalogue will be published by Prestel-Verlag.
Museum edition: € 25.00, ISBN 978-3-7913-6264
Trade edition (German): € 39.95, ISBN 978-3-7913-5009-7
Trade edition (English): € 39.95, ISBN 978-3-7913-5010-3
Additional Programme Frida Kahlo
Friday, 30 April 2010 | 10:00–24:00
Long Martin-Gropius-Bau Night
Saturday, 1 May 2010 | 10:00–24:00
Long Martin-Gropius-Bau Night
Saturday, 1 May 2010 | 17:00
Carator’s Talk
with Cristina Kahlo, Helga Prignitz-Poda and Peter von Becker
Monday, 3 May 2010 | 20:00
Film: Frida, naturaleza viva (Mexico 1986)
Directed by Paul Leduc, Spanish OV with English subtitles
Venue: Cinema Babylon, Rosa-Luxemburg-Str. 30
Friday, 7 Ma 2010 | 19.30
Frida in Front of the Mirror
Panel discussion with Helga Prignitz-Poda and Patricia Mayayo
Venue: Instituto Cervantes Berlin, Rosenstr. 18–19
Wednesday, 26 May 2010 | 19:00
Frida Kahlo – Deutschland – Mexiko
Von Dürer über die Kahlo-Familie bis heute: Beziehungen zwischen Deutschland und Mexiko in der Kunst
Lecture by Dr. Gerhard Haupt [in German]
Venue: Ibero-American Institute, Potsdamer Str. 37
Tuesday, 15 June 2010 | 19:00
Blicke die ich sage. Interpretationen zum Mal- und Tagebuch von Frida Kahlo
Lecture by Prof. Dr. Renate Kroll and Kathrina Reschka [in German]
Venue: Ibero-American Institute, Potsdamer Str. 37
Monday, 12 July 2010 | 19:00
“Mexiko, so nah, so fern …” – Frida Kahlo und die poetischen Territorien der Surrealisten
Lectur by Prof. Dr. Susanne Klengel [in German]
Venue: Ibero-American Institute, Potsdamer Str. 37
Press Martin-Gropius-Bau:
Project-bound press work artpress – Ute Weingarten Tel.: +49 (0)30 / 25486-236, Fax: +49 (0)30 / 25486-235
e-Mail: presse@gropiusbau.de
Press preview April, 29th
Martin-Gropius-Bau
Niederkichnerstr. 7 - Berlin
Opening hours: Daily from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Long Gropius-Bau-Nights on the occasion of the Gallery Weekend Berlin: 29 April – 1 May 2010, from 10 a.m. until midnight
Admission: € 11 / € 8 reduced. Online ticket: € 12 / reduced € 9Groups (of 10 or more persons): € 8 per person. School and student groups (of 5 or more persons aged over 16): € 4 per person. Admission free for children up to the age of 16