Goddesses and Women of Mexico
Frida Kahlo
Hayden
Herrera, her biographer, says of Frida
in 1992:
"After
her death at the age of forty-seven in 1954, the Mexican painter
Frida Kahlo became first a legend,
then a myth, and now a cult figure."
Born in Mexico
City of European and Mexican parents in 1907, Frida
began painting in 1925, at the age of 18, while
recovering from bus accident which
severely injured her spine, pelvis, abdomen and right foot, and
left her permanently disabled.
During the course of her life, and as a result of this accident,
she was forced to undergo over 30 operations and withstand periods
of great pain, both physical and emotional.
 Frida
Kahlo met Diego Rivera
in 1928 and they were wedded in 1929. They shared similarity of
interest both in the art and heritage
of their native Mexico and in their political and cultural
viewpoints.
In the figure
of Frida Kahlo, Arq. Macias presents
us with a view based on one of her self-portraits, titled "The
Broken Column", in which her broken and disabled body
appears strapped and pieced together after her accident. Frida's
spine, painfully exposed through a wide rift running the length
of her torso, is formed of a classical column
which had been part of a 16th c. sculpture of a saint, property
of the artist.
Her face and
abdomen are pierced with spikes in a vivid representation
of the intense personal suffering and anguish that
held her hostage throughout her life.
March 2004:
Frida Kahlo now resides in the personal collection of Alison
and Colin MacArther, Toronto, Canada. |
