Of course, there is no one truth; however, a problem that arises in art history, as well as other scholarly fields, is that one narrative dominates the literature. Usually, this narrative can be traced back to one or two particular scholars who provided groundbreaking research. Other scholars coming into the field later accept the narrative and continue to promote it. We're all dependent upon what others have written, but when researching a book, it is paramount that we step back and try to see things anew with fresh eyes. It's not as easy as it sounds.
JJ in your comment you mention that you'd like to know how Frida's art was viewed in her time period. I always tell my students that we have to time travel and try, as best as we can, to put ourselves in the mindset and visual environment of the period and culture we're studying. Part of this process involves reading what the critics had to say about a particular work of art. In Frida's case, this is a bit more difficult in the 1920s and 1930s because she didn't have a solo exhibition until 1938. If a photograph of her portrait of Miguel Lira was reproduced in Panorama, then there might be some commentary that accompanied it. Without art criticism to provide a bit of insight into how Frida's work of the 1920s and 1930s was perceived, we can look to letters to see if any of her contemporaries commented on her work and we can look to histories of Mexican art in the 1920s and 1930s to see if her subjects and styles coincide with other artists' works. My posts right now are focused on Frida's letters of the 1920s in order to gain a better understanding of her development as a person and artist while recovering from the bus/trolley accident, but I intend to expand upon Frida's inner world by looking more closely at the paintings she created in the late 20s while still in Mexico. Then, we'll travel with Frida to the United States to see how this experience affected her on a personal and creative level.
1 Comment
JJ
10/8/2014 04:46:20 am
Concerning what was going on in the art scene in Mexico of the 1920s and 1930s, I came across the book In Excess: Sergei Eisenstein's Mexico by Masha Salazkina. It is about the little over a year starting in December 1930 of the renowned Soviet director Sergei Eisenstein’s time in Mexico photographing his controversial film ¡Que Viva Mexico! The author states on pg. 15, “[the film] is more than just another European’s vision of the exotic land, but rather provides textual evidence of an intense dialogue between the Soviet filmmaker and some of the main figures of the Mexican art scene. The film is rich in intertextuality both on the visual level, often referring us to the works of the Mexican muralists and the photographers Agustin Jimenez and Tina Modotti.”
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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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