Exhibitions in the UK

Who says all the best Mexican events take place in London?

The University of Essex near Colchester is currently showing works by a number of Mexican women painters - some of whom were more famous than a certain Frida Kahlo in their day, says Elizabeth Mistry.

Frida Kahlo may be the name on everyone’s lips right now but she was just one of several women painters working in pre-war Mexico - and a new exhibition at the small-but-perfectly-formed Gallery at the University of Essex puts them firmly under the spotlight.

I had barely heard of Alice Rahon before I ventured out to the tiny, one room gallery space at Essex University last week.

Squashed between a bookshop and the arts centre (where the pre-colombian group Tunkul played an excellent lunchtime concert), I left utterly bowled over by the works on show.

Valerie Fraser and Dawn Ades, experts in 20th century Latin American art, have assembled a jewel of a show.

Corazón egoísta – Olga Costa – 1951

Among the works on display are Corazon Egoista, Olga Costa’s stark depiction of a heart-shaped nopal pierced by a dagger. Kahlo fans will note some similarities.

But without a doubt the highlight is Alice Rahon’s extraordinary The Ballard of Frida Kahlo, an ethereal fairground set against a backdrop of soft yet luminous blue and turquoise hues.

If I could choose one painting in the world at the moment it would be this - I haven’t been able to get it out of my head since seeing it; lastima that the colour reproduction in the helpful catalogue accompanying the show doesn’t do it justice.

Also on public display are works by Leonora Carrington, Lola Cueto, Maria Izquierdo and Rosa Rolanda…who was married to Miguel Covarrubias.

And to bring the muestra right up to date - the gallery commissioned a new work to complement the show.

Local artist Jane Frederick’s commanding Nicola - Red is an eyecatching portrait that draws the viewer in. The picture’s vast scope and details such as the material of the subject’s dress are such that it almost compels one to reach out and touch it.

EM

Frida’s Contemporaries is at the University of Essex gallery until November 5th. There are some interesting essays on the website.

Opening Times: Mon-Fri; 11-5 and Sat 1-4.30. Admission free.

Nearest stations Colchester (buses to the university take about 20 mins) or Wyvenhoe.

For more information call 01206 872074.

UPDATED: 10 October 2005
Tate Modern tell me that about 340,000 people visited Frida Kahlo, making this one of its most successful shows.

Why is this exhibition so important?

The life and work of Frida Kahlo gives us a unique introduction to Mexico.

This is the first major UK exhibition of Kahlo’s work in over 20 years – since 23 of her works were exhibited at the Whitechapel Gallery in London’s East End in 1982 where they were displayed alongside the work of her friend, the photographer Tina Modotti.

Frida Kahlo at Tate Modern

Today, a whole new audience is hungry to be exposed to her work.

Frida Kahlo is also the first solo exhibition by any Latin American artist to be held at Tate Modern.

Kahlo was rediscovered by art collectors in the 1980s. Since then there has been a steady revival of her work, which has gained new respect among the artistic community.

Kahlo is now recognised as one of the great artists of the 20th century.

Frida is now the world’s most coveted woman artist, consistently smashing international auction records. Her paintings now sell for millions of dollars – more than any other artist from Latin America.

A Taste For Mexican Art – The Telegraph
A report on the resurgence of interest in art from Mexico.

Her face is everywhere. In 2001, the US Postal Service even issued a Frida Kahlo 34-cent commemorative stamp – the first time an Hispanic woman has been honoured in this way.

Is Madonna lending any works from her collection?

Yes, pop icon Madonna has lent two of of her favourite paintings from her own art collection to Tate Modern. Self-Portrait with Monkey (1940) and My Birth.

Madonna previously lent Self Portrait with Monkey to Tate Modern in 2001, where it was a highlight of the Surrealism: Desire Unbound exhibition. Commenting on the loan at that time, Madonna said: “Loaning my Frida to Tate is like letting go of one of my precious children.”

Can you tell me a little about Kahlo?

There is lots to tell. Kate Braverman begins her 2001 novel…

“I was born in rain and I will die in rain.”

In fact, she was born in the Casa Azul located in the (then) Mexico City suburb of Coyoacan.

She died there on 13 July 1954, a week after her 47th birthday – a example of circularity Frida would likely have appreciated. See Chronology.

Frida Kahlo gallery

Frida Kahlo / Tate Modern - Film and Talks programme

Where did she learn her art?

Kahlo was self-taught – an autodidact, is how a curator would put it.

She wanted to become a doctor but turned to art in 1925 after a tram accident left her temporarily bedridden.

She killed time by painting in bed during her many convalescences, with a specially adapted easel.

Is this The Accident of which everyone speaks?

Yes. I’ve used upper case deliberately, as the accident has taken on almost mythical status among many of Frida’s new fans. She sustained multiple injuries from which she never fully recovered – and was in and out of hospital for the rest of her life.

What about the famously stormy marriage?

Frida met and fell in love with celebrated muralist Diego Rivera in 1927, but, the couple always had a complex and stormy relationship. They married in 1929, divorced in 1939, only to remarry the following year.

Frida lived in the shadow of her more famous painter husband during her lifetime. Together, they were a memorably incongruous couple – an “elephant” matched with a “dove”. But if Diego dwarfed Frida in stature, he no longer does in fame.

Isn’t her work difficult to look at?

Much of Frida’s work is violent, painful, passionate, expressive and dangerous. To the average observer, her paintings will often appear to be very dark. But an understanding of her life gives her imagery a wider dimension, reflecting the psychological and physical pain she endured through her tortured relationship with Rivera and countless failed surgeries.

Frida herself said that her painting “carries with it the message of pain.”

Patron Saint of Lipstick and Lavender Feminism - I’m not a huge fan of Germaine Greer, but I’ve read so many articles about Frida Kahlo recently that go over the same ground; at last, a refreshing and well-written essay on the woman and her art.  

What works will be on display at Tate Modern?

A little over half Kahlo’s surviving life’s work feature in the Tate show.

She produced around 140 oil paintings in her lifetime, 60 of which are on display at the Tate. A further 20 works on paper are also on show.

Completely memorable works such as The Broken Column (1944), which depicts Kahlo’s broken body strapped and pinned with nails, are on display for the first time in the UK.

My Birth (1932), the second painting on loan from Madonna, depicts a woman giving birth to Frida.

One of the most important pictures, the tiny still life Fruits of the Earth, is being loaned by the Banco Nacional de Mexico.

What will be the highlights?

The exhibition includes the two paintings Frida painted specially for the International Exhibition of Surrealism held in 1940 in Mexico City.

The two works are among her most well-known – The Two Fridas and The Wounded Table.

A framed poster of her Frida and Diego ‘wedding portrait’ hangs in my bedroom. I saw this displayed in San Francisco and will personally look forward to seeing it again.

The curators at the Tate hope to hang a dozen of Kahlo’s iconic self-portraits in a single room. This would be unique – and alone worth the £10 admission charge.

No fee for under-18s at Tate show

Many of Frida’s paintings are in private hands and so rarely exhibited publicly. Some negotiations have been prolonged but in the end the security and kudos the Tate offers usually wins people over. Another good reason why you should try to get to the Tate to see this exhibition.

I can’t get to London – where can see Frida’s work?

Follow this link for a comprehensive list of where to find Frida’s paintings.

Frida Kahlo was the first Latin American woman to have a painting in the Louvre. Her work caused a storm in Paris in 1939 (at an exhibition entitled Méxique), and the surrealists claimed it as supremely illustrative of their ideas.

At the time, poet André Breton described the art of the volatile Kahlo “a ribbon around a bomb”.

Where can I find out more about Frida’s life and her work?

The relationship between Kahlo and Rivera was explored in Frida, the underrated 2002 biopic of the artist which won Mexican actress Salma Hayek an Oscar nomination.

Hayden Herrera’s Frida: A Biography of Frida Kahlo remains the best book written on her life.

An exhibition of 50 photographic portraits of Frida Kahlo opens on 3 February at the National Portrait Gallery in London. Admission is free.

The portraits, all taken from the collection of gallerist Spencer Throckmorton, span the life of the artist. They begin with a photograph of a 4 year-old Frida and end with the image of the artist on her deathbed in the Casa Azul a mere 47 years later.

This ‘must see’ exhibition follows Frida’s transition from precocious child to famous artist, documented by photographers including Kahlo’s relatives, lovers and friends, many of whom were also accomplished photographers – Edward Weston, Imogen Cunningham and Manuel Alvarez Bravo among them. Also included are portraits by those who knew Kahlo well, among them her father Guillermo and Nickolas Muray.

The selection of black and white images, and some previously unexhibited works in colour, bring into focus the painter, the paintings, the patient, the wife, the daughter, the lover and the friend. They permit us to peer into Kahlo’s bedroom, sit at her table, visit her hospital room, wander into her garden, view her collections and play with her pets.

The exhibition is accompanied by a fully illustrated hardback book, Frida Kahlo: Portraits of an Icon, with text by Margaret Hook. It definitely falls within the fine art price bracket – published by Bloomsbury, £40. Alternatively, buy it from Amazon.co.uk who are selling it for £28.

Frida Kahlo: Portraits of an Icon; NPG, 3 February – 26 June 2005 [Editor: extended until 24 July]

Photo: ©Bernard Silberstein, 1940. Reproduction authorized by the estate of the artist

As part of the 42nd Belfast Festival, our good friend Chloë Sayer has brought two members of the internationally acclaimed Linares family over to N.Ireland. The masters’ creations can be seen at the Naughton Gallery at Queen’s University. The exhibition continues until 11 December.

Following on from the successful Tina Modotti and Edward Weston show at the Barbican earlier this year, a new exhibition by one of Mexico’s best known photojournalists offers a compelling record of recent events, says Elizabeth Mistry.

Araceli Herrera likes to joke that she “learned to be a photographer in 15 minutes”. One of only a handful of women working as a newspaper photographer in Mexico today, she has spent the past two decades honing her craft, still using the same Nikon camera, nicknamed ‘La Tomasa’ that she bought with her first wages.

Born in Mexico City, the daughter of a Zapotec woman from the Sierra de Oaxaca, Herrera’s work is notable for her interest in and commitment to those on the fringes of society.

At fifteen she left school to work as a receptionist in a picture agency but her employers were reluctant to teach her their craft until one day her boss took her aside, told her they were “a man short” and gave her a run of the basics. He then sent her out – to cover the inauguration of President Miguel de la Madrid.

The next day her work featured in seven national newspapers.

Herrera’s first UK exhibition, at the Oxo Gallery in London, covers 20 years of social and political upheaval. She has photographed earthquakes, elections and, as one of the first graphic reporters to reach Chiapas in January 1994, the nascent Zapatista uprising.

But it is her images of Coyul, a Mixtecan village in Guerrero that are the highlight of the show. Her extended stay, during which she also worked as a literacy teacher, enabled her to show a side of that community rarely captured. The portrait of a family fresh from their temazcal, stands out as one of my favourites for its sheer joyfulness and spontaneity.

Rather than creating ‘perfect pictures’, her mission, she says to chronicle Mexican life as she sees it. Curator Miriam Haddu, lecturer in Hispanic Visual Arts at Royal Holloway, says that Herrera’s work represents a new phase in Mexican photography, going beyond the pioneering work of Mariana Yampolsky, to create a very different record of contemporary Mexico.

To select just 40 prints from two decades of work is a hugely difficult task but Haddu has pulled together a remarkable show – offering images across the spectrum from a portrait of a pensive Octavio Paz to the unrestrained laughter of a group of Purepecha women during a brief stop as they march to Mexico City.

Mexico Through The Lens: 20 Years of Political, Social and Historic Change 1983- 2003.
the.gallery@oxo, Oxo Tower Wharf, South Bank, London. Open daily 11am-6pm, admission free. Until 24 October.

‘Time Zones’ is the first major exhibition at Tate Modern devoted exclusively to film and video. It brings together works by ten international artists who, using a range of different techniques to mimic the passing of time, examine and describe the specific tempo of a particular place at a particular time. The exhibition concludes with Francis Alÿs’ “Zócalo”, which over 12 hours of uninterrupted footage records the coming and goings on Mexico City’s vast main plaza, where a central flagpole offers a constantly changing strip of shade: as the sun moves, the line of people standing in the flagpole’s shadow shifts around the huge square creating a giant human sundial.

Alÿs is a situationist artist who has lived and worked in Mexico City since the late 1980s. He continually challenges and stretches the definition of art by performing deeds which are usually centered around the act of walking in the city streets.

In a 1996-work, Turista, Alÿs stood with a sign, amongst workers with handwritten signs advertising their trades such as plumber or electrician, looking for a job in their traditional spot in one corner of the zócalo. Alÿs appears as someone looking to be employed in his specialist trade of ‘tourist’.

‘Time Zones: Recent Film and Video’ is at Tate Modern, London SE1, from 6 Oct – 2 Jan 2005.

All-in-wrestling, known in Mexico as lucha libre (literally ‘free fight’), is more than a sport. Seven nights a week Mexican arenas fill with fans of all ages who come in search of excitement, visual splendour, black humour and daring acrobatic displays. Wrestlers are national heroes with a larger following than most bull-fighters or pop-stars.

Some of this spectacle comes to a corner of the UK this week, with Arena Mexico, a celebration of Mexican wrestling at the University of Essex from 4-8 October.

The programme includes an exhibition of prints by Oaxacan artist Demián Flores Cortés, live Mexican wrestling featuring El Hijo del Santo vs Blue Panther, film screenings and talks. Kudos to the UECLAA for bringing all this together. Wonderful.
Illustration © Hector Javier Dinorin Gutiérrez

Witty Gabriel Orozco’s multifarious exhibition at London’s Serpentine Gallery features a complete selection of sculptures, drawings and photographs that give the public a broad view of the artist’s conceptual talents. Born in Xalapa, Veracruz in 1962, Orozco now divides his time between Mexico City, Paris and New York, working without a formal studio, instead responding to the places, situations and materials at hand.

He’s a clever chap, says Adrian Searle in The Guardian.

As part of a collaboration with Platform for Art, Orozco has designed a poster (left) that will appear randomly throughout the London Underground during the summer.

Gabriel Orozco is at the Serpentine Gallery, London, until 30 August.

Photo credits: [TOP] Black Kites (Papalotes negros) 1997; Photo courtesy of the artist and Marian Goodman Gallery, New York © Gabriel Orozco. [BOTTOM] Vitral (Afternoon Kites in Jaipur) 1998 © Gabriel Orozco. Published with permission.

When Tina Modotti died in Mexico in 1942, she left a vast number of photographs which were, for many years, left languishing while the work of her former partner and teacher, the American photographer Edward Weston, was more sought after.

Modotti’s eye for detail and texture, the shadow of a maguey, the shape of a mouth or the furry skin of a chayote, was one of her great strengths. Prior to her taking up her first Graflex camera, she had worked as an actress, and was clearly already aware of the potential and power of lens.

The images on show at the newly-reopened Barbican Gallery – work spanning the four years that the pair spent together, on and off, in Mexico from 1923 – offer a remarkable view of the country just when it was undergoing some of the most fundamental changes, socially and politically, of the 20th century.

Tomoko Sato, assistant curator at the Barbican believes that it was not until after Modotti’s death that her work came to be re-evaluated. “It is true that she was not completely unknown but it was the case for a long time that her images were only well known in certain circles.

But by the time Sotheby’s sold her 1924 shot “Roses”, in 1991 for US$165,000 – at that time the highest figure ever achieved for a single photographic image – her work had begun to reach wider audiences. It now features in museums and collections around the world.

Tina’s life was no less international. She was born in the Italian city of Udine in 1896 and, at the age of thirteen left for San Francisco to join her father. She followed poet Robo de l’Abrie Richey, whom she called her husband even though it is disputed as to whether they were actually married, to Mexico where he died of smallpox shortly after. Modotti later returned with Weston with whom she had been having an affair and she ran his studio in return for help with technique.

“She had no formal training, says Sato, “and some critics have been a little bit prejudiced, but by showing their work together, I think we can see what we couldn’t see before, that in fact although Tina arrived in Mexico as an amateur who was to learn much from Weston, she herself exerted an influence, and went on to have an input in Weston’s development. Certainly his pictorialist style prior to their going to Mexico is really quite different to his later work.”

In addition to “Rosas”, the curator Sarah M. Lowe has brought to the Barbican several thoughtful portraits such as “Aztec Mother and Child” and “Manuel Hernandez Galvan” which were commissioned for the billingual magazine Mexican Folkways.

Also worth a second glance is the proud profile of Julio Mella, who ironically for the student activist and founder of the Cuban Communist Party, appears very much the patrician. Modotti was to enjoy a short but intense relationship with Mella, a former athlete whose physique contributed to a large part of Modotti’s own body of work. She was by his side when he was assassinated in 1929 – presumably by agents of the Cuban president Gerardo Machado.

Following the killing, the Mexican government arrested Tina and she was accused of the shooting. The muralist Diego Rivera, who used her as a model for when he painted the murals in the chapel at Chapingo, was one of her staunchest defenders during the subsequent trial.

Silent film

Among the pictures on show at the Barbican, Modotti herself features prominently, in a series of portraits and nudes taken by Weston, and also, in a coup for Lowe, a rare chance to see one of the films she made before swapping life in front of the lens for the challenge of working behind the camera. “The Tiger’s Coat” is a silent melodrama in which she plays, in a strange twist, a young Mexican woman abandoned by her lover when he discovers her background.

When her other passion, her commitment to the Mexican Communist Party, caused her to be expelled from the country in 1930, she entered yet another phase that saw her photographic output reduced as she threw her energies into political activism. In later years she was to undertake several trips to the Soviet Union and Spain where she all but renounced photography to work as a nurse in Catalunya during the last days of the Republic.

Mysterious death

Her death was the subject of much controversy – some claimed she had been poisoned by her last lover and former comrade, Vidali Vittorio but, says Elena Poniatowska, the acclaimed Mexican chronicler, in “Tinisima”, a novelized account of Modotti’s life, this was unlikely and it is now believed that she died of heart disease. Tina Modotti is buried in the Panteon de Dolores in Mexico City.

Tina Modotti and Edward Weston: The Mexican Years is on at The Barbican Gallery, London until 1 August 2004. The gallery stays open until 9pm on Wednesdays.

For more information on the accompanying series of talks and events and a short season of contemporary Mexican films telephone 020 7638 8891 or visit www.barbican.org.uk

Further reading:
Tinisima by Elena Poniatowska, Faber and Faber
Tina Modotti: Between Art and Revolution by Letizia Argenteri, Yale University Press
Tina Modotti: Masters of Photography Photographs by Tina Modotti; Essay by Margaret Hooks, Aperture Books

After an 11-month, £1m refurbishment, the Barbican Art Gallery in London re-opens on 29 April with a greatly enhanced and more flexible gallery space. The upper level of the gallery will show a collection of rare photographs by Tina Modotti and Edward Weston.

The exhibition, Tina Modotti and Edward Weston: The Mexico Years, runs from 29 April to 1 August 2004, and brings together, for the first time, over 150 images, many rarely exhibited, by the two key figures of Mexican Modernist photography.

The exhibition will demonstrate how each artist responded to, and participated in, The Mexican Renaissance in post-Revolutionary Mexico during the 1920s. Works by Manuel Álvarez Bravo (1902-2002) and Mariana Yampolsky (1925-2002) – Mexican photographers who were directly influenced by the work of Modotti and Weston will complement the display.

Photo credits: TOP: Tina Modotti – Illustration for a Mexican Song, 1927; BOTTOM: Tina Modotti – Woman with a Flag, 1928; Printed by Richard Benson, 1982; Courtesy of Isabel Carbajal Bolandi. Photos: Digital images © 2003 The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Reproduced with permission.