Frida: A Biography of Frida Kahlo - Hardcover

Herrera, Hayden

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0060118431 ISBN 13: 9780060118433

Publisher: HarperCollins, 1983

Synopsis

An in-depth biography of Mexican artist Frida Kahlo details her haunting and original painting style, her turbulent marriage to muralist Diego Rivera, her association with communism, and her love of Mexican culture and folklore

About this title

About the Author

Hayden Herrera is an art historian. She has lectured widely, curated several exhibitions of art, taught Latin American art at New York University, and has been awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship. She is the author of numerous articles and reviews for such publications as Art in America, Art Forum, Connoisseur, and the New York Times, among others. Her books include Frida: A Biography of Frida Kahlo; Mary Frank; and Matisse: A Portrait. She is working on a critical biography of Arshile Gorky. She lives in New York City.

Review

"A haunting, highly vivid biography." -- Ms. magazine

In Frida, art historian Hayden Herrera vividly portrays of a woman of strength, talent, humor, and endurance. Frida Kahlo (1907-54) was born in Mexico City, the child of a Mexican mother and a German father. Her early years were influenced by the turmoil of the Mexican Revolution and a bout with polio, but Frida remained spirited, resilient, and mischievous. Her father, a photographer, encouraged Frida's artistic interests, and her education at an elite school drew her to new ideas and to a group of irreverent radicals who would become some of Mexico's most respected intellectuals. When she was nineteen, Frida's life was transformed when the bus in which she was riding was hit by a trolley car. Pierced by a steel handrail and broken in many places, Frida entered a long period of convalescence during which she began to paint self-portraits. In 1928, at twenty-one, Frida joined the Communist party and came to know Diego Rivera. The forty-one-year-old Rivera, Mexico's most famous painter, was impressed by the force of Frida's personality and by the authenticity of her art, and the two soon married. Though they were devoted to each other, intermittent affairs on both sides, Frida's grief over her inability to bear a child, and her frequent illnesses made the marriage tumultuous. Hayden Herrera - combining biographical research, Frida's own letters, and analyses of Frida's paintings - illuminates and amplifies Frida Kahlo's life story, her importance as an artist, and her ultimate triumph over tragedy. -- For great reviews of books for girls, check out Let's Hear It for the Girls: 375 Great Books for Readers 2-14. -- From 500 Great Books by Women; review by Lynne Auld

Edition details

• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Publication date: 1983
• ISBN 10: 0060118431
• ISBN 13: 9780060118433
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 507