Most people identify Frida Kahlo with her self-portraits; however, her image also abounds due to the many photographs that were taken of her. While Frida was in San Francisco, Imogen Cunningham took several photographs of her. In my November 10th post, I included one from the same photo shoot as this one seen above on the right. For this photo above, Imogen moved in closer, highlighting Frida's face and upper body against a neutral background. The use of light and shadow on Frida's face creates a duality with half her face revealed and the other half concealed. Her dark, penetrating eyes seem to burn with an intensity, making me wonder what she's thinking and feeling.
In Jan Pitcher's beautifully rendered painting, seen above on the left, the shadow is removed, bringing Frida into the light, revealing her strong face and thoughtful eyes. Looking at these two images side by side, it symbolizes for me a shift from the Frida who was overshadowed by Diego's fame to the Frida who came into her own as a person and artist, ultimately eclipsing her husband's stature as an artist. I don't know if this was Jan's intention when she created the painting, but her statement below reveals a similar idea. Jan was commissioned to create this painting of Frida by Debra Peterson. Both Jan and Debra were kind enough to provide a statement about Frida and this creative endeavor. Debra Peterson: Jan Pitcher painted a portrait of Frida, which I asked her to create in sepia. Frida's image came from a postcard that was sent to me many years ago. After seeing the film in which Selma Hayek was cast as Frida, I was so inspired by Frida! The strength and conviction it took for her to recover and walk --when doctors told her she would never walk again -- just awe inspiring! Her art healed her-Frida was literally unstoppable! The Frida portrait reminds me that my own obstacles in life are nothing in comparison. I am inspired by Frida Kahlo every day. Her portrait is one of my prized possessions, and is even more special because my friend--- the amazing artist, Jan Pitcher, of Los Gatos, created it for me. Jan Pitcher: Before I made the Frida painting, I’d been a long-time admirer of Frida Kahlo, with a fascination and deep respect for her life-story and the person and artist she was. I’m most inspired and intrigued by her dozens and dozens of self-portraits, each sublime and earthy, searingly honest autobiographies in paint. After making my Frida painting, I gained a whole new appreciation for artists who can successfully, repeatedly, and so very artfully, paint a self-portrait. I learned that I am not a member of their ranks. Much of what I know about Frida comes from a long-ago excursion to Mexico, where I learned that her husband’s persona and art was what was revered back in the day, not so much Frida's. So, I love the poetic justice of something I heard many years ago, that since her death, Frida has stepped forward out of Diego's formidable shadow and now her self-portraits sell for something like $13,000,000 each. janpitcher.com
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It's fascinating to see how much has changed since Frida created the "marriage portrait," the painting I discussed in my last blog. In 1931, few people thought of her as an artist. Today, she is an international phenomenon, in part, because artists and teachers, like Marianne Bickett, keep Frida alive.
Here's what Marianne had to say about Frida: I have been a teacher for over 35 years, now retired doing artist residencies in the area. When I taught art, I often dressed up as different women artists, mainly Frida and Georgia O'Keeffe. Frida was the greatest hit, and I enjoyed 'being' Frida for the day. I portrayed Frida for children because I wanted them to understand she was, as all artists, a real person. Also, because Frida loved animals, I would show portraits of her with animals, such as, her monkey. She is a great role model for young girls to be who they are and not apologize for themselves (as I've always done). I think her work is fascinating, but not really appropriate for younger children. When I show my young students examples of her paintings, I am very careful with my choices. There are some powerful images that are obviously very erotic and disturbing. I've been to a few major exhibits of Frida's paintings and always come away with feeling like I've seen a tormented soul's work...lovely and terrible. What do I know about Frida Kahlo? I have read a few books about her, saw the movie (Salma Hayek), and have been to exhibits of her work. I felt the diary being published was a bit unfair to Frida, a bit invasive if you know what I mean. I certainly wouldn't want my diary published. But it was insightful and gave a clear picture of a vulnerable, struggling woman...like so many of us, full of insecurities and beauty. Frida's art is surreal and full of symbolism. I like how she mainly painted herself; her work tells stories of her life's journey and emotions. Of course, she had lots of time convalescing after surgeries, so why not do self-portraits? She's the epitome of self-awareness. And yet, did she really see she was the better artist (than Diego Rivera) who she passionately idolized? I wonder. Her obsession with him was a bit much, I think. All I know, really, about Frida Kahlo is that although she died fairly young, her work - like all art - lives on. I wonder what she'd think if she were to return (in spite of the fact that her last words were that she 'never return') and see how famous she is now. I think she'd be amazed. As in one of Mary Oliver's poems, she was truly a 'bride married to amazement.' Frida really lived. She is an inspiration because of the accident and all the pain she dealt with and yet she kept going. She kept painting. Thank goodness she did. Thank goodness she didn't shave her 'uni-brow'! Now that is a powerful statement! I am absolutely no expert on Frida Kahlo, but when I have dressed up as her, I get a sense of a very mysterious woman, full of passion, who was like all of us in the sense she wanted to be loved and leave her mark in the world... she dared to paint her soul on the canvas with no apologies. I like that about her. Gutsy, truly courageous. But vulnerable and very real. This past Halloween, a friend asked me to accompany her to an assisted living facility, so I resurrected Frida after not having portrayed her for some time. Viva Frida!! www.MariannArts.biz We're lucky to have this painting of Frida and Diego in the Bay Area. It is usually housed at SFMOMA; however, since the museum is closed for renovation, it is on loan right now to the Oakland Museum. Frida's painting is part of an exhibition called Fertile Ground: Art and Community in California. The exhibition shows how artists working in California were influenced by personal relationships and the historical/social context. It runs through April 12th. I haven't seen it yet, but I plan to go. I'll blog about the exhibition once I've seen it. Certainly, Frida's painting was influenced by how she was perceived in San Francisco as the wife of the famed Diego Rivera. He's presented as the artist with his palette and brushes prominently displayed. He also dominates the composition with his his large size; however, Frida shines in her beautiful emerald green dress highlighted by her striking red shawl, green jadeite necklace, gold earrings and beautiful hair tie. Notice how her hand is on top of his. Who's in control? She may have been perceived as the "wife," but let's not forget that she is the one who painted this double portrait, often referred to as the "marriage portrait." And, the ribbon in the dove's mouth that hovers above the couple reminds us that Frida is the painter. © Celia S. Stahr 2014 This is one of the first paintings Frida made in San Francisco. It's a portrait of Jean Wight, the wife of Clifford Wight, one of Diego's mural assistants. Jean posed for Frida at her studio in Ralph Stackpole's flat. In this 22 5/8 X 18 1/8” portrait, Frida connects Jean to both an indoor and outdoor space because a green curtain is pulled to the left side and held in place with a red tie, revealing a city scene with streamlined buildings and a light blue sky peeking through the top. While the smooth faced and brick buildings convey a city landscape, they are not of the popular Art Deco style; rather they are more modest, fitting for the Depression era. Yet, in front of these bland buildings sits Jean with her wavy short bobbed haircut, a throwback to the roaring twenties, long dangling gold earrings, and a red coral necklace. Jean’s face is slightly turned, while her torso faces forward. This slight angle allows Frida to create the illusion of a three-dimensional face. Jean’s high cheekbones, prominent jawline, deep-set eyes, and long thin nose, look naturalistic as Frida works with chiaroscuro, the modulating of light and dark tones, commonly employed in the Renaissance and Mannerist works of art that she admired. Frida also admired retablos, small paintings made on metal that are created to give thanks to Christ, Mary, or a saint for saving a loved one due to illness or an accident. These religious paintings, created in a “folk” style by untrained Mexican artists, have inscriptions at the bottom detailing various types of information, such as the loved one's name and misfortune as well as an expression of gratitude for the loved one's recovery. Frida refers to this tradition with her use of a grayish blue scroll that runs along the bottom of Jean’s portrait. Upon it Frida writes an inscription in Spanish with neat red cursive letters: “Portrait of Mrs. Jean Wight, painted in January, 1931 in the city of San Francisco, California by Frieda Kahlo.” © Celia S. Stahr 2014 Frida's love of Chinatown and the Chinese people is remarkable given the anti-Chinese sentiment in the United States. Chinese presence in San Francisco began in 1848 with the arrival of two Chinese men and one woman. Soon, more arrived as The Gold Rush lured the Chinese laborers from the Canton area to California or "Gold Mountain." Almost from the start there were tensions between the Chinese immigrants and the United States government, which sought to control and regulate people of Chinese descent through the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 (repealed in 1943 with the Magnuson Act). The cartoon above reveals the extent of the fear and hatred projected onto the Chinese people because even Communists, Socialists, and Hoodlum's were welcomed over the "Chinamen."
Despite these restrictive laws, by 1905, San Francisco’s Chinatown had grown to house 40,000 in a district that was demarcated from Sacramento to Pacific Avenue and from Kearny to Stockton Streets. Grant Avenue (at Bush Street) is one of the oldest streets in Chinatown. In the 1880s, known as Du Pont Street, it was part of the Barbary Coast trail with opium dens, sing-sing girls, gambling, and Tong wars. After the 1906 earthquake, the street’s image was cleaned up and given a new name to honor President Ulysses S. Grant; however, older members of the Chinese community might refer to the street as “Du Pon Gai.” Chinatown has helped the Chinese maintain their cultural practices and native language while living in a foreign environment that often barred them from schools, jobs, and neighborhoods. Until 1948, California law prohibited the intermarriage of Chinese and whites. Despite such actions to keep the Chinese people segregated from mainstream white society, in the 1930s, with the economic Depression, tourism was encouraged to supply needed income to the restaurants and businesses in Chinatown. San Franciscans were drawn to this enclave because it was viewed as exotic. For Frida, Chinatown felt more like home. The main source for this information came from Iris Chang's The Chinese in America. © Celia S. Stahr 2014 Frida had easy access to Chinatown, which she could enter either by walking up Jackson Street or taking Columbus to the Grant Street entrance. Crossing over into this district, Cantonese filled the airwaves while stores crammed with items packaged in cool turquoise, bright yellow, deep red, and emerald green encroached upon Frida’s field of vision. Strolling down Grant Street was electrifying with its gold dragon-entwined lampposts, red, gold, yellow, and green studded Chinese style architecture, its multitude of fragrant restaurants, markets with fruit and vegetable stands lining the sidewalk, and herb stores filled with large glass jars emitting that distinctive earthy smell. What Frida admired most, however, were the "beautiful" children.
© Celia S. Stahr 2014 The location of the Montgomery Street building that became Frida’s home away from home allowed her to easily explore the city on her own, either by foot or cable car. This area had been part of the infamous Barbary Coast section, where sexuality, alcohol, lewd dancing, and “hoodlums” were found in abundance between 1862 and 1917. Frida must have found it amusing that the building where she was staying had once been a brothel. In 1876, a local historian reveals the negative reputation the area had: “The Barbary Coast is the haunt of the low and the vile of every kind.”[1] This included writers and social activists, such as Mark Twain (1860s), Ambrose Bierce (1880s), Jack London, Robert Louis Stevenson, and Emma Goldman, who lived and worked in the top three floors of the massive four story Montgomery Block brick building, located down the street from Ralph Stackpole’s building (where Frida stayed).
By the 1920s, this Barbary Coast area had been cleaned up and an artists' community had blossomed beyond Montgomery Street. The Beat poet Kenneth Rexroth moved to the area in the late 1920s and he remembered it as “a tiny enclave in Italian North Beach in those days: a cooperative gallery that soon failed; a speak-easy;…a restaurant, the Casa Beguine; the Montgomery Block; a row of studios in the next block on Montgomery Street; and a few shacks scattered among the dirt roads and goats on Telegraph Hill.”[2] Frida liked this area with its seedy history, its artists' colony, and ethnic neighborhoods. Her favorite haunt was Chinatown. © Celia S. Stahr 2014 [1] Herbert Asbury, The Barbary Coast: An Informal History of the San Francisco Underworld, (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1933), 101. [2] Kenneth Rexroth, An Autobiographical Novel, (New York: Doubleday & Company, 1966), 365. Peter A. Juley and Son, photographic firm Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera, San Francisco, 1931 The sculptor Ralph Stackpole did everything in his power to ensure that Diego Rivera created murals in San Francisco. We're fortunate to have three murals: one is at the City Club, which is connected to the Pacific Stock Exchange building, one is at the San Francisco Art Institute, and one is at San Francisco City College. Ralph and his French wife Ginette also opened their home to Frida and Diego, which is seen in the photograph above. From the train station, Ralph and Ginette drove Frida and Diego to their flat. Arriving at the doorstep, the building, constructed from the hull of a schooner moored in 1849, did not look tall and imposing; however, when the door was opened, the fatigued couple glimpsed a long flight of dark stairs that lay before them. Once the trek to the top was complete, they continued down an even longer corridor; creaking sounds accompanied the rhythm of footsteps. Finally, silence. A wide door with a shiny new lock was opened and Frida stepped into her new home for the next six months. In the living room, there was a small old brick fireplace with one of Ralph’s sculptural reliefs of a reclining female nude over it. A clutter of objects covered the mantle such as candleholders, a covered jar, flowers in a vase, and two ceramic pots. This became the backdrop for the Peter A. Juley and Son photo that was reproduced in a Vanity Fair article on Diego. It makes sense then that the photographer made Diego the dominant figure. His height and weight contrast to Frida's petite seated body. Yet, I am drawn to Frida's facial expression. It's much more complex than Diego's. Her eyes have a depth that pull me in. I want to know what she's thinking. I can imagine having a fascinating conversation with her. Diego, on the other hand, appears uncomfortable with a slight smile that seems put on for the camera. Just look at his hand resting on Frida's shoulder. It's obviously posed. It makes sense that Frida would be more photogenic than her husband because, not only was she beautiful, but she grew up being photographed. Her father was a professional photographer who took numerous family photos. This same type of ease that Frida displays in the Juley photo can be glimpsed in the photo by Imogen Cunningham seen in my last post. What persona do you think Frida projects for the camera in these two photos? © Celia S. Stahr 2014 Imogen Cunningham, Frida Kahlo, 1930 Gelatin Silver Print, 10 x 8" Eighty-Four years ago today Frida arrived in San Francisco by train. As her feet touched down on foreign soil for the first time, she realized her dream of traveling outside of her beloved Mexican homeland. Just three years earlier, she stated in a letter: "My biggest dream for a very long time has been to travel." At the young age of 23, this observant woman with a sharp wit was still finding her way as a wife and artist, a challenging task when paired with an acclaimed, outspoken, and controversial artist like Diego Rivera. They were in San Francisco because Diego had received a mural commission for the Pacific Stock Exchange. It was an amazing feat since the artist was a communist. Actually, this commission, along with other factors, led to Diego's expulsion from the party. Nevertheless, securing Diego’s and Frida’s passage to the United States was a difficult task due to Diego’s former ties to the communist party and the increasing suspicion that Mexicans, known contemptuously as “greasers,” were taking needed jobs away from struggling Americans during these economic hard times when bread lines could be seen snaking their way down city streets. Even though Diego charmed the crowds at the Southern Pacific Railroad station, his presence in San Francisco angered some, especially the many artists who were desperately seeking employment. Just three days before Diego and Frida left Mexico, stock prices fell to a new low on the San Francisco Stock Exchange. To relieve the unemployed, on November 10, approximately 600 men were put to work on ten public projects in San Francisco, but they could only work three days a month, earning a total of fifteen dollars. Under such dire circumstances, it didn’t seem fair to hire a non-local artist to paint murals that would earn him large sums of money--$2, 500 for the Pacific Stock Exchange mural. Just like in Cuernavaca, Frida's life and identity were intimately connected to Diego's mural projects and the artists who flocked to be near the great painter. While there were some artists in San Francisco who resented Diego's presence, many embraced him and his new wife, Frieda (At this time, Frida spelled her name with the German "e"). © Celia S. Stahr 2014 Frida looks out with a penetrating gaze, but what is she looking at? In later self-portraits, she'll develop an even stronger direct gaze. Here, she turns her head slightly, even though her body faces forward. I think the slight turn makes her less confrontational. She sits on a plain wooden chair wearing a deep blue scoop-neck dress highlighted by red and gold earrings that make her look as if she is a middle-class Mexican woman. There is a simplicity to her clothing and the setting, yet her long neck conveys an elegance. Her joined eyebrows and pulled back hair, however, add an androgynous element because her eyebrows are not perfectly thinned out and her long hair isn't cascading down onto her shoulders. At twenty-three, Frida is just beginning to try out different ways of presenting herself in oil paint. Most likely, Frida created this painting while living in Cuernavaca with her new husband. Diego had received a mural commission from Dwight W. Morrow, the American ambassador to Mexico, to decorate the Palacio de Cortes (Cortes Palace). Here Diego painted the atrocities inflicted upon the indigenous people of Mexico at the hands of Cortes and his conquistadors as well as the triumphs of the Mexican Revolution from 1910-1920. Beginning in December of 1930, Frida and Diego stayed in the Morrows' house for approximately ten months. They had this lovely home to themselves because the Morrows were in London. Frida had dreamed of traveling while she was confined to her home recovering from the bus/trolley accident and now she was fifty miles away from Mexico City. It wasn't a long distance, but this small town was quite different from the bustling city. It was a lovely setting for the honeymooners, yet, all was not perfectly romantic. Diego had an affair with Ione Robinson, an American painter who was his mural assistant. Although Frida was not a traditional woman, she must have been hurt by Diego's insensitivity. It was their honeymoon. Did he have to begin his affairs so early in the marriage? Frida was in a vulnerable position because her friends and family were far away. Diego had his mural to focus on and an affair, but what did Frida have? She had her art. The challenges that Frida faced in Cuernavaca foreshadowed similar challenges ahead when she and Diego would live in the United States. © Celia S. Stahr 2014 |
Celia Stahr teaches art history at the University of San Francisco. She’s interested in women artists and artists who cross cultural boundaries. She fell in love with the power of Frida Kahlo's art in the 1980s, a feeling that has intensified over the years. Frida in America took 10 years to research and write, but Stahr never lost interest in this fascinating woman and artist.
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