Frida Kahlo

Frida Kahlo was born in 1907 in Coyoacan, Mexico to a father who was a German Jew and a mother who was Spanish and indigenous (Guerilla Girls 78). Kahlo was always close to her father as a child then her mother. She eventually married the famous painter and muralist, Diego Rivera. Their marriage was filled with tempestuous turns (Guerilla Girls 78). When she turned eighteen, Kahlo become part of a horrific bus accident that left her immobilized for much of her life. The accident caused a great deal of pain for Kahlo, her pelvis was smashed, her spinal cord was mangled and she had a total of thirty-two operations in twenty-nine years (Guerilla Girls 78). After the accident, Kahlo turned her attention away from the study of medicine to begin a full time painting career (Frida Kahlo). Much of her work consists of self-portraits which depict her pain and suffering. Kahlo never fully recovered from the accident and suffered many miscarriages therefore never bore a child.

Merely three years after Kahlo’s birth was the outbreak of the Mexican Revolution. The Revolution was a time of political chaos and constant battles (The Life and Times of Frida Kahlo). The Mexican Revolution became recognized as the first major political, social and cultural revolution of the 20^th century (National Endowment for the Humanities). It was brought about by the Mexican people who became tired of the dictatorship of President Porfino Diaz. Under his rule, Diaz gave power to selected landowners which left the working class in great poverty. The working class was living impoverished conditions with low wages, inflation and deficient social services (The Mexican Revolution). During this time, Kahlo witnessed violent armed struggles in the streets of Mexico City as the Revolution continued (Frida Kahlo).

Kahlo’s paintings focus on her self-portraits which was symbolic of the traumatic experience from the accident. The duality of Kahlo’s life- an exterior persona constantly reinvented with costume and ornament, and an interior image nourished on the pain of a body crippled in a trolley accident when she was an adolescent-invests her painting with a haunting complexity and a narrative quality disturbing in its ambiguity (Chadwick 313). Painting was something that helped keep her preoccupied during her bed rest. Her mother made a special easel where she could paint in bed and her father gave her a box of oil paints and brushes. Kahlo states “I paint myself because I am often alone and I am the subject I know best” (Frida Kahlo). She used painting as a means of exploring the reality of her own body and her consciousness of its vulnerability (Chadwick 314). The symbolism that appeared in her portraits showed her pain was very physical and psychological.

The Broken Column, 1944

In the Broken Column, Kahlo paints what appears to be a tattered column that serves as the spine of her body. The column has many cracks on it which symbolizes the damage her spinal cord suffered due to the accident. There are nails all over her body show the constant pain she endured throughout her life. The biggest nail is placed where her heart is located and the tears flowing from her eyes indicate the much sadness she felt. Kahlo’s isolation is seen in the vast emptiness she is standing in. This piece definitely shows the intense emotions Kahlo became overcome with. In addition, Kahlo’s rocky relationship with Diego Rivera also had an impact on her emotional health. After her divorce with Rivera, Kahlo created the piece Two Fridas which shows her sadness in losing him. The Frida on the left shows the heart broken and damaged by Rivera. In her hand, she is holding scissors which has severed an artery and bleeding out. This shows her attempt to sever all emotional ties with Rivera. It is known Frida once said to Diego, “My blood is the miracle that travels in the veins of the air from my heart to yours” (The Life and Times of Frida Kahlo). The Frida on the right symbolizes the one that is still being loved by Rivera as signified by the heart that remains a whole. She is holding a miniature portrait of Diego connected to a long vein which shows Diego is not only her lover but her child as well. This is significant since Kahlo suffered multiple miscarriages throughout her life and never was able to bear a child. Kahlo was able to create powerful images but incorporating symbols into her self-portraits. 

Two Fridas, 1939

During a time of revolution and political battles, Kahlo's ability to establish herself as an artist is definitely of significance. Kahlo was unlike any other artist, she was powerful not only within her paintings but as an individual. The pain and suffering she experienced was unique in itself. By translating this into her paintings, Kahlo left behind a legacy that contemporary artists could learn from. She serves as the symbol of great strength being that she never gave up on life no matter the struggles.

Here is a link to a video that contains an archive of more that five thousand images which was part of a temporary exhibition. It reflects major the artist's major interests over the course of her turbulent life: her family, her love for Diego and her other loves, her damaged body, art, politics, and science.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrarwLecjVs

Works Cited

Chadwick, Whitney. Women, Art, and Society. 4th Edition. United Kingdom: Thames and Hudson Ltd., 1990.

The Guerrilla Girls. The Guerrilla Girls' Bedside Companion to the History of Western Art. New York: Penguin, 1998

The Life and Times of Frida Kahlo". PBS. November 19, 2012.  <http://www.pbs.org/weta/fridakahlo/life/index.html >

"Frida Kahlo". The Complete Works. November 19, 2012. < http://www.frida-kahlo-foundation.org>

"The Mexican Revolution".  National Endowment for the Humanities. <http://edsitement.neh.gov/feature/mexican-revolution-november-20th-1910>

 

Shahzia Sikander, 20th Century Artist

The Scroll, 1991-1992

Shahzia Sikander, born in Pakistan and now lives in New York.  She has pushed the boundaries exploring her identity and challenging the idea of what it means to be a Muslim.  Her goals behind the creation of her work is to change the current views and stereotypes of Muslim women in particular. 

Known for her miniature paintings, she says in her Art21 interview, they are a form of manuscript painting and that it is an old art form.  She also states that to create the miniature paintings they require at least 10 to 20 layers of colors and if too much water is on the brush, the layers previously painted may be lifted off.  These miniature paintings play an important part of her culture and historical and religious tradition.

One of her most famous works, The Scroll, can be described as a semi-autobiographical work. 

"She adopted the formal style of manuscript painting, with its broken and varied perspectives and simultaneous views of multiple events, to depict a family's intricate domestic life and rituals through images that manipulate cultural, familial, and geographic traditions." (Chadwick 445)

Living in a home with a supportive family that encouraged her and the other women in the family to have a career.  Which was somewhat atypical for Muslim women at the time, and still is.  This theme of sexism along with the issues of displacement and identity is illustrated throughout her work and many other artists during the 20th century.

Who's Veiled Anyway? 1997

By using her memory, and experiences and incorporating them into her miniature paintings, it's almost like she is writing, or re-writing history when creating her works.  

Sikander said, "The minute you bring the word veil into the equation, it connects you to a Muslim identity or a woman's identity."

One of her pieces titled, "Who's Veiled Anyway?," illustrated a man wearing a veil, which is the reverse in her religion where the female usually covers herself with a veil.  The statement that she makes challenges the viewer to think for themselves, on whether the veil is on the figure in the painting or is it on those who are ignorant of her culture and history?  Being from Pakistan and from the middle east, comes with a stereotype, especially after 9/11.  This painting may have more meaning now than it did when it was first created.

Pleasure Pillars, 2001

In many of Sikander's works, images from the Hindu and Muslim religion are juxtaposed.  Her personal experience of growing up as a Muslim in Pakistan, she states that she did not know much about the Hindu mythology but she was interested in it.  By incorporating both religions into one picture plane, her piece, "Pleasure Pillars," does just that.  

Depending on the context of which her pieces are viewed, the reactions she receives varies.  When showing her work in the United States compared to Pakistan, Sikander says, "That work may be seen different in different situations."  

She also states that her work in the mid-nineties dealt a lot with identity, because she herself became important to the viewers which also changed on how she dealt with her work, making art to create commentary on what was commented on.

Works Cited

Chadwick, Whitney. Women, Art, and Society. New York, NY: Thames and Hudson, 1990. Print.

http://www.massart.edu/About_MassArt/News/Shahzia_Sikander.html

http://www.moma.org/interactives/redstudio/interviews/shahzia/shahzia.html

http://www.pbs.org/art21/artists/shahzia-sikander

Post 3 - Judy Chicago - Vladimir Ventura

Judy Chicago: Moving Women Forward

            After having faced centuries of discrimination, women in the early twentieth century started a feminist movement. Feminism included, but was not limited to: protests against female exclusion from exhibitions, institutions, and employment; spreading awareness of female discrimination (e.g. female art works represented only 1% of the works on display at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Chadwick 355); and creating female social welfare programs. In a time when women were continuously objectified and undervalued, and men were highly over-praised, many women believed that women’s personal experiences needed to be reinserted into art;  they sought to valorize women’s personal experience (Chadwick 356). Even if their male counterparts did not support them, the feminist movement was powerful enough to distribute and spread news about female art through publications.

Name Change Ad, Artforum, Oct., 1970

            Judy Chicago was one artist at the forefront of the feminist movement. Chicago was born with the name Judy Cohen, and after marriage her name changed to Judy Gerowitz. After her husband’s death, when she was 23, Chicago felt nameless (recall the feelings of Nameless and Friendless by Rebecca Solomon; these sentiments were still real and present at the time). In 1971, about nine years later, Chicago officially changes her name to Judy Chicago, signifying her participation in the feminist movement, and a radical change in her artwork (Chicago). Chicago taught the first feminist art course at the California State University, Fresno in 1970. Held in the belief that she should try to valorize women’s experiences by inserting them into her artwork, Chicago encouraged her female students to do the same; she taught her female students to be proud of their uniqueness (Chadwick 357).

Judy Chicago, Domes, 1968

Judy Chicago, Pasadena Lifesavers, 1970

            To that end, Chicago’s artwork revolved around the female anatomy: breasts, belly, and most notably, the vagina. For example, Domes and Pasadena Lifesavers, created from plexiglass, were abstracts that explored female sexuality (notice how the domes are alike to breasts; the Pasadena Lifesavers have central openings, suggesting the vulva, Chadwick 357). Chicago also practiced a particular style, the “central core” form, which would represent the female genitalia. This form consisted of images with open, central shapes, and layered, often petal-like images (Chadwick 358). Female Rejection Drawing is a perfect example of her form.  The central core is also used in The Dinner Party, a tribute to women artists of the past. Chicago believed that, by including her imagery, she was reclaiming and celebrating women’s “otherness”; she believed that her artwork did away with the female notion of inferiority, and replaced it with pride (Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art: The Dinner Party).

Judy Chicago, Female Rejection Drawing, from Rejection Quintet, 1974

            Although Chicago placed a huge emphasis on the biological aspect of a woman to show her uniqueness, she did not want the female experience to be solely based on biology. In other words, she did not want people to believe that a female’s experience is solely determined by her physical state – far from it, she believed that her social and cultural status shaped her experiences. She believed that the “womb art” was to be a framework, or a basis, in order to identify and reverse devaluations of female anatomy in patriarchical culture (Chadwick 358-359). For example, Whitney Chadwick, in her book Women, Art, and Society, points out that the “male gaze” is under harsh critique during the 1970's, more than ever before (Chadwick 377); the male gaze allowed for propagating female inferiority and  female objectification. Now, women can show themselves, as themselves, by their own rules – as retaliation against what the men have done to devalue women.

            Chicago was a key figure in the feminist movement; she protested against female exclusion through her artwork, and advocated for female welfare. Her artwork, particularly The Dinner Party, is a huge attack against male superiority; it is not enough for women to reclaim history, and reinsert key women figures who have been overlooked due to patriarchy – they need to be shown with pride and dignity, for their accomplishments have been great.

Works Cited

Chadwick, Whitney. Women, Art, and Society. Fourth Edition. London: Thames and Hudson Ltd., 2007. Print. 

Chicago, Judy, and Donald Woodman. JudyChicago. Judy Chicago, 2012. Web. 20 Nov. 2012. http://www.judychicago.com.

"Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art: The Dinner Party." BrooklynMuseum.org. Brooklyn Museum, 2011. Web. 20 Nov. 2012. <http://www.brooklynmuseum.org/eascfa/dinner_party/core_imagery.php>.