AN ICON SEEN IN A NEW LIGHT
Given the extent to which Frida Kahlo has proved irresistible to scholars, novelists and filmmakers since her death in 1954, it’s surprising to learn of a part of her biography that remains relatively unexplored.
Frida Kahlo: Her Photos is a travelling exhibition that sets out to establish the importance of photography in her life and in her artistic development. The show draws on Kahlo’s collection of 6,500 images that were locked away in the Casa Azul (Blue House) in 1954. The exhibition launched in 2007, but its upcoming stop at the Glenbow Museum will be the first time it has been seen in Canada.
The show consists of 240 images owned by Kahlo. Some are portraits of her, while others capture her loved ones and scenes of Mexican culture and history.
“The photos aren’t new but they do shed light on Frida—her career and development as an artist,” says Melanie Kjorlien, VP of access, collections and exhibitions at the Glenbow. “When you look at the pictures of Frida as a child, you begin to see that she had an incredible sense of herself. Even as a child, she carried herself with self-confidence. As she gazes into the camera there is an intensity and an intent.”
Many of those early portraits were taken by her father. Guillermo Kahlo was a photographer whose interests ran to architecture and street scenes as well as more commercial projects. Crucially for Frida, he also shot portraits and experimented with self-portraits. Kjorlien says her father’s influence can be seen in the self-portraits Kahlo created in the 1940s.
The exhibition also serves to validate Kahlo’s curatorial eye. Her collection includes work by her contemporary female artists, including Gisèle Freund and Lola Álvarez Bravo. But, for Kjorlien, the exhibition’s most poignant images come following the horrific injuries Kahlo suffered in a traffic accident when she was 18. “There are later photos in the exhibit when she is lying in hospital beds or recuperating from various surgeries,” Kjorlien says. “In some she is playful and communicative with those around her. In others, she is sad. Knowing the pain she went through, these are hard to look at.”
Frida Kahlo: Her Photos: Feb. 3 to May 21 at the Glenbow Museum.