DELMONICO BOOKS · PRESTEL | Munich London New York

DELMONICO BOOKS · PRESTEL | Munich London New York

This book accompanies the exhibition FRIDA KAHLO: Art, Garden, Life at The New York Botanical Garden.

Edited by Adriana Zavala, Mia D’Avanza, and Joanna L. Groarke

CONTENTS

foreword 7

acknowledgments 9

introduction 11

Frida Kahlo: Art, Garden, Life 15

ADRIANA ZAVALA

The Evolution of the Casa Azul: A Photographic Essay 41

JOANNA L. GROARKE

A Nahuatl Garden of Delights 49

JUAN RAFAEL CORONEL RIVERA

PLATES: ARTWORKS IN THE EXHIBITION 58

MIA D’AVANZA AND JOANNA L. GROARKE

Gardens and Landscapes of Frida Kahlo’s Mexico City 87

KATHRYN E. O’ROURKE

Creating the Illusion of the Countryside: Frida Kahlo’s Post-Revolutionary Mexican Suburban Domestic Garden 105

ROBERT BYE AND EDELMIRA LINARES

Making Frida Kahlo’s Garden in New York: The Conservatory Exhibition 113

KAREN DAUBMANN

plants in frida kahlo’s garden and art 120

chronology 123

notes 129

selected bibliography 134

contributors 135

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FOREWORD

Frida Kahlo is revered as one of the most significant artists of the 20th century

and celebrated as an international symbol of Mexican and feminist identity.

What is less known is that she also had a keen appreciation for the beauty and

variety found in the natural world. From May 16 to November 1, 2015, The New

York Botanical Garden is presenting FRIDA KAHLO: Art, Garden, Life. The first

solo exhibition on Kahlo in New York City in more than 10 years, it focuses on

the exquisite garden at her home in Mexico City, the Casa Azul (Blue House),

and explores the garden’s connection to her significant body of work, which

often probed the forms and meanings of plants.

The exhibition in the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory evokes the garden at the

Casa Azul, which Kahlo designed and expanded together with her husband,

Mexican muralist Diego Rivera. Fourteen of Kahlo’s original works are on dis-

play in the LuEsther T. Mertz Library’s Art Gallery. A rich suite of programming

complements the Conservatory and Library exhibitions, including a poetry

walk and poetry readings, film screenings, festival weekends, and live per-

formances of traditional Mexican music. In the Everett Children’s Adventure

Garden, young visitors can explore the art—and science—of Kahlo’s Mexico by

making self-portraits and identifying plants, animals, and colors. A new mobile

phone experience, produced in collaboration with the Museum of Modern Art,

allows visitors to explore the exhibition from anywhere in the world.

For their important contributions to the preparation of the exhibition

and the accompanying book, I wish to thank numerous individuals: Adriana

Zavala, PhD, guest curator, who accepted the challenge of bringing Kahlo to life

in a botanical garden; Mia D’Avanza and Joanna L. Groarke, exhibition coordi-

nators; Scott Pask, designer of the exhibition in the Conservatory; Alice Quinn,

Executive Director of the Poetry Society of America, the Garden’s longtime

partner in themed poetry walks and readings in conjunction with special exhi-

bitions; the lenders of the paintings, Galería Arvil, Mexico City; Museo Dolores

Olmedo, Xochimilco, Mexico; the Harry Ransom Center at The University

e

Nickolas Muray, Frida, Coyoacán, 1939.

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of Texas at Austin; Juan Rafael Coronel Rivera; the Museo de Arte Moderno,

Mexico City; numerous private collectors; and the public and private funders

without whose support FRIDA KAHLO: Art, Garden, Life would not have been

possible. I especially wish to thank our generous institutional partners: Carlos

Phillips Olmedo of the Museo Dolores Olmedo; Hilda Trujillo Soto of the Museo

Frida Kahlo; Armando Colina and Victor Acuña of Galería Arvil; and the Mexi-

can Cultural Institute in New York.

This groundbreaking exhibition would not be possible without the gener-

osity of our major funders, including MetLife Foundation, the National Endow-

ment for the Humanities, Bloomberg Philanthropies, the Institute of Museum

and Library Services, the Karen Katen Foundation, the National Endowment

for the Arts, and the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of

Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.

The New York Botanical Garden is uniquely positioned to organize an exhi-

bition featuring Kahlo’s garden and her artwork. I hope you will immerse your-

self in a little-known story of an artist whose face is recognized the world over,

and come away inspired by a new perspective on her fascinating body of work.

Gregory Long

Chief Executive OfficerThe William C. Steere Sr. President The New York Botanical Garden

eACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The New York Botanical Garden wishes to thank the following individuals and institutions for their assistance in the development of FRIDA KAHLO: Art, Garden, Life.

Adriana Zavala, PhD, Guest CuratorScott Pask, Conservatory Exhibition Designer

Museo Frida Kahlo: Hilda Trujillo Soto, Director; María Luisa Cárdenas Aburto; María Elena González Sepúlveda; and Humberto Spindola

Museo Casa Estudio Diego Rivera y Frida Kahlo: Luis Rius Caso, Director

Archives of American ArtCristina KahloConsulate General of Mexico in New York:

Amb. Sandra Fuentes-Berain, Consul GeneralMexican Cultural Institute of New York: Caterina Toscano,

Executive DirectorMimi Levitt-Muray, Nickolas Muray Photo ArchiveThe Museum of Modern Art, New YorkPoetry Society of AmericaThrockmorton Fine Arts

LENDERS TO THE EXHIBITIONMuseo Dolores Olmedo: Carlos Phillips Olmedo, Director;

and Adriana Jaramillo GarcíaGalería Arvil: Armando Colina and Victor Acuña, DirectorsMuseo de Arte Moderno, Mexico City: Sylvia Navarrete

Bouzard, Director; and Tania Puente GarcíaHarry Ransom Center, The University of Texas at Austin:

Stephen Enniss, PhD, Director; Sonja Reid; and Chelsea Weathers

Juan Rafael Coronel RiveraJon ShirleyAnonymous private collectors

EXHIBITION ADVISORY COMMITTEEGannit Ankori, PhDMichael Balick, PhDBertha Cea EcheniqueNancy Deffebach, PhD

PUBLICATION FUNDERS Estrellita and Daniel Brodsky The Jacques and Natasha Gelman Foundation National Endowment for the Arts

EXHIBITION FUNDERS

Support also provided by the Arthur F. and Alice E. Adams Charitable Foundation; Aeromexico; Allwin Family Foundation; Milton and Sally Avery Arts Foundation; The Kurt Berliner Foundation; Club Med; E.H.A. Foundation, Inc.; The Jacques and Natasha Gelman Foundation; Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Foundation; Mex-Am Cultural Foundation, Inc.; New York Council for the Humanities; and Pineda Covalin.

Exhibitions in the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory are made possible by the Estate of Enid A. Haupt.

Exhibitions in the Mertz Library are made possible by the LuEsther T. Mertz Charitable Trust.

Additional support has also been provided by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and by a Challenge Grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

This exhibition is supported by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities.

Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this exhibition do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Mobile Media supported byKaren Katen Foundation

New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.

Mary-Anne MartinJames Oles, PhDJuan Rafael Coronel RiveraEdward J. Sullivan, PhD

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INTRODUCTION

Frida Kahlo (1907–1954) was a painter and cultural figure of enormous talent

and influence. Her body of work, consisting of some 250 paintings and draw-

ings, is at once intensely personal and universal in its scope. She expressed her

unique world view in portraits, still lifes, and compositions that explore themes

of identity, loss, and renewal through imagery laden with symbolic meaning.

Many of these paintings are filled with colorful, compelling images of flowers,

foliage, and fruits.

Born on the cusp of the Mexican Revolution (1910–17), a civil war that brought

political and social upheaval as well as national transformation, Kahlo came of

age at a critical moment in her nation’s history. Her education in Mexico City

was rooted in science and positivism, and she was deeply influenced by the

political and intellectual climate of the post-Revolutionary era. At 18, she was

severely injured in a trolley accident that left her with at times debilitating pain

and serious lifelong health problems. While recovering, she began to paint from

her bed. She would go on to become one of the most important artists of the

20th century.

In 1929, Kahlo married Mexican muralist Diego Rivera (1886–1957). Their

tumultuous, unconventional partnership would have a profound effect on their

work. Twenty years older than Kahlo, Rivera was among the nation’s most prom-

inent artists, and his mural cycles already graced important public buildings

throughout Mexico City. Rivera and other muralists worked as part of a state-

funded “renaissance” intended to foster a national culture in the aftermath

of the Revolution. This cultural program was spurred by an embrace among

Mexican intellectuals of the country’s folk art, rural and indigenous traditions,

and pre-Hispanic Mesoamerican heritage. Kahlo and Rivera’s work was charac-

terized by a fascination with the culture and history of Mexico, but both were

also deeply engaged with the international art world. As the Mexican muralists

became known worldwide, the outspoken and often outrageous Rivera gained

international notoriety. Kahlo traveled with him as he painted murals and

e

Unidentified photographer, Rivera, Kahlo, and Dog, 1940s.

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mounted exhibitions in the United States. Her paintings, infused by a sharp wit

that made them simultaneously playful and direct, charming and challenging,

were also recognized during this time.

Kahlo’s work has often been interpreted in the context of her much- chronicled

biography. The exhibition at The New York Botanical Garden reveals her intense

interest in the natural world and its powerful presence in her paintings and

drawings. The beauty and diversity of plants, animals, and the Mexican land-

scape were integral to her work, from enchanting self-portraits and still lifes to

provocative depictions of the female experience. Kahlo’s use of botanical imag-

ery reflected the embrace of archetypal Mexican indigenous and natural ele-

ments that defined post-Revolutionary art. But her approach was hers alone. In

her paintings, she imbued plant imagery with cultural, spiritual, and personal

meanings in unexpected ways.

Over the course of their lives and careers, Kahlo and Rivera created a living

“cabinet of curiosities” that filled their house and garden. At the time of Kahlo’s

death in 1954, the property was overflowing with pre-Hispanic sculpture, folk

art, a menagerie of pets, and an extraordinarily diverse garden of tropical and

desert plants that epitomized the couple’s unique and intense way of expressing

their Mexican identity. Just a few years later, the house reopened as a state-run

museum. Today, a visitor to the Museo Frida Kahlo strolls the same garden paths

and traverses the same domestic spaces that Kahlo and Rivera once inhabited,

gaining unique insights into the ways in which this unusual space nourished

the creativity of two of the 20th century’s greatest artists. The Casa Azul stands

as a monument to the idiosyncratic, cosmopolitan passions of Frida Kahlo.

Adriana Zavala

Guest Curator

Mia D’Avanza

Joanna L. Groarke

Exhibition Coordinators

Nickolas Muray, Frida in Front of the Cactus Fence, San Ángel, 1938.