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Modernisms 1900-1980
Course: Modernisms 1900-1980 > Unit 7
Lesson 3: Surrealism in Latin America- Frida Kahlo, introduction
- Frida Kahlo, Frieda and Diego Rivera
- Kahlo, The Two Fridas (Las dos Fridas)
- Kahlo, The Two Fridas
- Frida Kahlo, Self-Portrait with Monkey
- Rosa Rolanda, Self-Portrait
- Wifredo Lam, The Eternal Presence
- Lam, The Jungle
- Lam, The Jungle
- Hector Hyppolite, Ogou Feray also known as Ogoun Ferraille
- Latin American Modernism
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Frida Kahlo, Self-Portrait with Monkey
Self-Portrait with Monkey, 1938, by Frida Kahlo is one of the most important works of art in the collection of the Albright-Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo, New York. Kahlo’s art embodies Mexicandad—the unique spirit and quality of being Mexican—combining the country’s indigenous heritage, colonial history and post-revolutionary future. Many of her works and self-portraits are also artistic expressions of the numerous challenges she faced in her lifetime. She was haunted by an unfulfilled desire to have children after surviving a bus accident when she was 18 and looked to her pets, such as her monkey Fulang-Chang, for comfort. She also included them in her works often. Learn more about “Self- Portrait with Monkey,” 1938, with Janne Sirén, the Peggy Pierce Elfvin Director of the Albright-Knox Art Gallery. Created by Smarthistory.
Video transcript
(Jazz music plays) Hello, I'm Janne Sirén, Peggy Pierce Elfvin Director of the Albright-Knox Art Gallery
in Buffalo, New York. Welcome to Bank of America's
Masterpiece Moment. Today I would like to talk
about one of my favorite works in our collection, Frida Kahlo's
"Self-Portrait with Monkey," and tell you why I think
it is truly a masterpiece. Although the
Albright-Knox Art Gallery is located in Buffalo, today we are at one
of our sister museums on the Great Lakes,
the Detroit Institute of Arts. Kahlo was thirty-one when
she painted this small but visually
super-charged image that is one of the
most beloved paintings in the Albright-Knox's
collection, inspiring viewers
around the world. Through its warm colors, the intensity of
its graphic detail and subject matter
that pokes our curiosity, it beckons the viewer to visually dive into
Kahlo's dynamic world, in which local and global
cultural trends collide and private and universal
aspects of life converge. Given that we are in Detroit, it is interesting to look
back to the early 1930s- the days of the
Great Depression, when Kahlo in fact lived here with her husband,
Diego Rivera, who at the time was working on the famous
"Detroit Industry" murals, the subject of a previous
episode of Masterpiece Moment, that still today frame
the interior courtyard of this museum. Frida was an interesting
individual already as a child. She planned to be a doctor,
but as fate would have it, she dedicated herself to art. Kahlo met painter and fellow progressive
activist Diego Rivera while still a schoolgirl, and theirs was
an unconventional, and often stormy, union. They married in 1929,
divorced in 1939 and remarried in 1940, and bonded over
a shared sense of humor, political outlook
and love for "Mexicanidad." The couple were collectors
of Mesoamerican artifacts and books about Aztec
people and culture. Kahlo's life was marked by
significant physical suffering. She contracted polio
at the age of five and suffered a catastrophic
trolley accident in 1925, which left her
with debilitating, life-altering injuries
at the age of eighteen. As a result of the accident, Kahlo was in and out of
hospitals throughout her life and subjected to numerous
painful surgeries. Many of her works were created
while she lay in bed recovering. A self-taught artist,
Kahlo created imagery that primarily focused
on personal stories, on love and its connection
to pain in her life. A common feature
in Kahlo's work is duality, for example: the body
she lost through injury and the body that remained; traditional and modern ways of
Mexican and European identity; the closeness of those she loved but also their betrayal; sadness and joy. Additionally, Kahlo was haunted by an unfulfilled
desire to have children and looked for comfort in pets. Kahlo was drawn to monkeys
for their symbolism and their playful,
childlike nature. Kahlo took a particular
interest in self-portraiture, creating fifty-five
self-portraits during her lifetime, comprising nearly one-third
of her known body of work. Frida Kahlo once said,
"I paint self-portraits because I am so often alone. I am the person I know best." Many of these self-portraits
feature the artist in the company of
her various pets. Featured here is her favorite
pet monkey, Fulang-Chang, who sits behind her right
shoulder with his arm lovingly and protectively
draped around her neck. The artist's dark brown
eyes stare directly out, arresting the viewer with the
intensity of her confident gaze. Around the monkey's
neck is a collar, a leash made of green ribbon. The end of the cord continues
off the painting's bottom edge but is presumably
in the artist's hand. Her lips are pursed,
and expression is set. Her choice to depict the
facial hair above her lip and along the left
side of her face gives her portrait an
intriguing combination of masculine and
feminine features. She wears a traditional
Mexican blouse and unusual, Mesoamerican-
inspired necklace made of segments of bone connected by a thin,
blood-red cord. In the background, a lush
curtain of leaves envelops her. The bright color
palette, vegetation and traditional
costume and jewelry featured in this painting reflect Kahlo's
interest in her heritage and native Mexican art. Throughout her life,
she would don the clothing and jewelry of
traditional Mexican culture as a form of
political statement. Frida Kahlo was
instrumental in the revival of traditional Mexican culture in the early twentieth century, and while this is
an important source of inspiration for her work, understanding Kahlo also
requires seeing her work within the context
of Mexico's history. I want to thank you for taking
the time to watch today, to learn more
about Frida Kahlo's "Self-Portrait with Monkey" from the collection of the
Albright-Knox Art Gallery. I encourage you to
join the conversation and discuss this piece
with friends and family. And please visit
the Bank of America Masterpiece Moment website to sign up for alerts and ensure
that you never miss a moment. To sign up to
receive notifications about new Bank of America
Masterpiece Moment videos, please visit: www.bankofamerica.com/
masterpiecemoment.