Brooklyn Museum presents Frida Kahlo exhibition

The Brooklyn Museum announced the presentation of a major exhibition about the work and life of the iconic Mexican artist Frida Kahlo , showing for the first time in the United States personal items from the painter’s Blue House in Mexico City .

Entitled "Frida Kahlo: Appearances Can be Deceiving," the exhibition explores the life and work of the Mexican artist not only through her paintings and drawings but also through photographs, videos and personal objects such as letters, orthopedic items, clothing, jewelry, and cosmetics .

The exhibition, which is the largest devoted to Kahlo (1907-1954) in a decade in the United States , will be inaugurated on February 8, 2019 . The exhibition will feature 10 paintings and key drawings by the artist, as well as photographs from the Jacques collection and Natasha Gelman .

The exhibition, which will also include several articles of Mesoamerican art from the Brooklyn Museum , explores the way in which politics, gender, clothing, national identities, and disability defined how Kahlo presented herself in her life and work .

The exhibition, which will be based on the successful exhibition of the artist organized this year at the V & A Museum in London , will display more than a hundred personal objects that Kahlo used in her lifetime.

"These objects illustrate how Kahlo created her appearance, and shaped her personal and public identity to reflect her cultural heritage and political beliefs while addressing and incorporating her physical disabilities," according to the museum.

The museum will feature iconic works such as Self-Portrait with a Collar (1933), Self-Portrait with a Braid (1941), Self-portrait as a Tehuana, and Diego en mi Mente (1943), among others.

Furthermore, the exhibition will feature photographs of Kahlo, including portraits from her childhood taken by her father, photographer Guillermo Kahlo; images of the artist and her husband; and studies of teachers like Manuel Álvarez Bravo, Lola Álvarez Bravo, Gisele Freund, Nickolas Muray, and Edward Weston .

"We are absolutely delighted to present such an iconic and globally recognized artist at one of their largest exhibitions in New York City to date," said Anne Pasternak , director of the Brooklyn Museum.

Pasternak added that it was also “fundamental to build cultural bridges between the United States and Mexico."

For her part, curator Catherine Morris pointed out that although Kahlo was not recognized enough in life, the artist has become a feminist icon in the last four decades.

"The current vision that women define themselves too often because of their clothes, appearance and beauty was powerfully appropriated by Kahlo through the intentional and empowering decisions she made to create her own identity," Morris said.

The cultural transvestism of Frida Kahlo

dm