From Library Journal
Frida Kahlo's extraordinary life and revolutionary art continue to bear fruit with two superb new books, coming quickly on the heels of Martha Zamora's acclaimed Frida Kahlo: The Brush of Anguish ( LJ 1/91). Lowe's biography, the first in a promising new series on women artists, is a succinct, insightful profile of the Mexican painter, combining a biographical chapter with an extended discussion of the self-portraits that make up the core of her oeuvre. Without becoming mired in florid language, Lowe cogently describes the biographical contexts of individual paintings and draws our attention to Kahlo's frequent employment of pre-Columbian symbolism. Lowe goes on to separate Kahlo's art from her biography in an extended analysis of the art historical setting within which she worked. This approach revitalizes the paintings, placing Kahlo's work in such explicitly Latin American traditions as retablo iconography and agitprop from the Left and also demonstrating the obsession of European Surrealists with "primitive" art. Herrera's ( Frida , LJ 1/83) beautifully produced book is laden with large color plates and dozens of photos of Kahlo, Diego Rivera, and their cronies. It improves upon Zamora by providing perhaps the most direct analysis of Kahlo's life and art within one volume to date. The two books are essential for any library without a Kahlo monograph, and for those having already purchased Zamora's biography, Lowe's economical paperback is an excellent supplementary text.- Douglas F. Smith, Oakland P.L., Cal.Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.


Wall Street Journal
"Engaging and well illustrated."


Library Journal
"Perhaps the most direct analysis of Frida Kahlo's life and art within one volume to date."


Book Description
In small, stunningly rendered self-portraits, Mexican artist Frida Kahlo painted herself cracked open, hemorrhaging during a miscarriage, anesthetized on a hospital gurney, and weeping beside her own extracted heart. Her works are so incendiary in emotion and subject matter that one art critic suggested the walls of an exhibition be covered with asbestos.In this beautiful book, art historian Hayden Herrera brings together numerous paintings and sketches by the amazing Mexican artist, documenting each with explanatory text that probes the influences in Kahlo's life and their meaning for her work. Included among the illustrations are more than eighty full-color paintings, as well as dozens of black-and-white pictures and line illustrations. Among the famous and little-known works included in Frida Kahlo: The Paintings are The Two Fridas, Self-Portrait as a Tehuana, Without Hope, The Dream, The Little Deer, Diego and I, Henry Ford Hospital, My Birth, and My Nurse and I. Here, too, are documentary photographs of Frida Kahlo and her world that help to illuminate the various stages of her life.


About the Author
Hayden Herrera is an art historian. She has lectured widely, curated several exhibitions of art, taught Latin American art at New York University, and has been awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship. She is the author of numerous articles and reviews for such publications as Art in America, Art Forum, Connoisseur, and the New York Times, among others. Her books include Frida: A Biography of Frida Kahlo; Mary Frank; and Matisse: A Portrait. She is working on a critical biography of Arshile Gorky. She lives in New York City.

FROM OUR EDITORS

In recent years, Frida Kahlo, previously an obscure Mexican painter best known for being Diego Rivera's wife, has been championed as a feminist icon. In order to better understand the work behind Kahlo's amazing story, the author of the bestselling biography Frida now presents a beautifully produced book of Kahlo's most important paintings. Of general interest to the uninitiated, it's also a good companion to the existing literature on Kahlo. With more than 286 photographs, 87 of which are in color.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

By the leading expert on Frida Kahlo and the author of the bestselling biography Frida (more than 100,000 copies sold), a lavishly illustrated and sumptuously produced collection of her hauntingly beautiful paintings.

SYNOPSIS

In recent years, Frida Kahlo, previously an obscure Mexican painter best known for being Diego Rivera's wife, has been championed as a feminist icon. In order to better understand the work behind Kahlo's amazing story, the author of the bestselling biography Frida now presents a beautifully produced book of Kahlo's most important paintings. Of general interest to the uninitiated, it's also a good companion to the existing literature on Kahlo. With more than 286 photographs, 87 of which are in color.

FROM THE CRITICS

Wall Street Journal