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Frida Kahlo's Spiritual World: The Influence of Mexican Retablo and Ex-voto Paintings on Her Art Author(s): María A. Castro-Sethness Source: Woman's Art Journal, Vol. 25, No. 2 (Autumn, 2004 - Winter, 2005), pp. 21-24 Published by: Woman's Art, Inc. Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3566513 . Accessed: 29/09/2011 09:26

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FRIDA KAHLO'SSPIRITUAL WORLD

The Influence of Mexican Retablo and Ex-voto Paintings on Her Art

By Maria A. Castro-Sethness

rida Kahlo's(1907-54) incorporationin her art of Mexican Kahlo's fascination with the power and symbolic content of her retablo and ex-voto images exhibits a complex dialectic be- beloved images that, in a magical way, transcended her own space tween the social dimension of these art forms, their intimate and became re-elaborations of a utopian dream. relationship to religion, the creation of art, the struggle to create life, Gloria Fraser Giffords distinguishes the European retablo from and the inevitability of death. This dialectic reflects the nature and the Mexican retablo and ex-voto. The word retablo comes from the character of retablo and ex-voto images, in both their private devo- Latin retro tabula ("behind the ").It was used in Spain and later tional functions and collectively shared traditions. in the Americas to describe the compendium of religious images, The nationalistic,intellectual, and artistic fervor born of the Mexi- paintings and , unified by means of an architectural frame, can Revolution (1910-20) sought to establish an indigenous cultural that decorated the back of the main altar (altar mayor) and the sub- identity through the revival of popular art forms. Fomented by the sidiary chapels (capillas menores) of churches and cathedrals. Paint- Minister of Education Jose Vasconcelos and his circle, the nationalists ed on wood or canvas, retablos served a strong didactic purpose, and sought the glorificationof ancient and pre-Colonial Mexico, especially contributed greatly to the understanding of the sacred texts as well as Aztec imagery, as a source of purity and honor in the construction of a honoring holy persons. In Mexico, a retablo or retablo refers to post-Revolutionary conscience. Kahlo also regarded Aztec imagery small oil paintings that portray a single saint, Christ, the Virgin Mary, with great respect, and incorporated it into her work. This or a group of holy personages. They can also be referred to as imd- political/aesthetic statement combined the utopian dream of a uni- genes pintadas (painted images), santos sobre hoja de lata (saints fied, independent Mexico-it was the Aztecs who had unified a large painted on tin), or laminas (plates).9 area of the Middle Americas-with a desire for beauty and harmony Due to the availabilityof tinned sheets, a medium that proved to through the nation'sreconnection to the Aztec cosmological vision.' be inexpensive and durable, retablos destined for home flour- Post-Revolutionary Mexican artists found a model of indigenous ished during the 19th century. The makers of these religious works expression and popular beliefs in the retablo and ex-voto paintings were not trained artists but devout believers. Either self-taught or that, although introduced in Colonial times, flourished during the members of a provincial workshop, they copied their works from re- 19th and early-20th centuries in rural Mexico. Interestingly, the re- ligious paintings and sculptures in Mexican rural churches or from naissance of these art forms and their political implications coincided woodcuts, etchings, and engravings contained in sacred books im- with Mexican independence from Spain in 1821. Several modern ported by the friars. Sold on the occasion of church festivities or Mexican painters, in their rejection of the centralized academicism commissioned by individuals, these images were thought to contain perpetuated since the Spanish Conquest, admired both the spiritual- miraculous powers and were invoked through prayer, meditation, ity of these religious paintings as well as their expressions of freedom and good deeds for problems of every sort, affecting any member of and self-determination. For example, Kahlo's contemporary Maria the family or community. Technically speaking, retablos exhibit an Izquierdo (1902-55) honored Mexican rural religiosity in her Retablo emotional quality that results not only in a naive conception of hu- de Dolores (1946), which pays homage to the Virgin Mary on Good man anatomy and perspective but also a powerful feeling for vibrant Friday.2Izquierdo reinterpreted the traditional Madonna and Child color and ornamentation. theme in Madonna (1943) and used the retablo of N. S., Refugio de Ex-voto paintings are also known as retablos ex-votos."1Most de- Pecadores as a model for her painting Invierno (1943).3 Guadalupe pict a miraculous cure through the portrayal of one or more persons Posada (1852-1913) incorporated the theme of miraculous appari- praying for the sick individual who is usually prostrate in bed. This tions in his engraving Second Apparition of "reality" special dimension or "earth realm" usually occupies the on the Hacienda de la Lechenra (1893), and the subject of group in- middle section of the composition. Above, in the "supernatural vocations to saints in his illustration to the ballad Pleas of the Lonely world," the painter represents one or more sacred personages re- Unmarried to Our Miraculous Saint Anthony of Padua (n.d.).4 sponsible for the healing through invocation of the faithful believers. Roberto Montenegro (1887-1968) wrote an informative book on The lower register of these painted images contains a written text in Mexican votive paintings' and integrated the naivety, simplicity, and which the donor explains the gravity and circumstances of the illness faith of the ex-voto manifestations in some of his paintings.6 and the miraculous cure through divine intervention, also expressing Frida Kahlo and (1886-1957) were passionate col- gratitude for the recovery. These commemorative works of art can al- lectors of .7The Blue House in Coyoacain,where Kahlo so depict an accident, criminal assault, imprisonment, or any incident was born and died, contains a large number of pre-Columbian arti- in which the victim escapes death, danger, or physical or moral suf- facts and Mexican folk art collected mostly by Rivera, as well as fering. Whereas in most ex-votos the three distinctive divisions ap- about 2,000 retablos gathered by Kahlo at Rivera's suggestion. The pear unequivocally, the holy and terrestrial realms sometimes do not objects are displayed in the dining room, inner patio, and entrance; follow a strict spatial differentiation due, possibly, to a rudimentary some were placed as decorative and spiritual elements in the bed- conception of perspective or a need to emphasize divine power chambers and within the stairwell.' The Blue House-now a muse- through size or proximity to the depicted event. um holding the collections of both artists-is a living document of Ex-votos also flourished in rural Mexico throughout the 19th and FALL2004 / WINTER2005 0 into the 20th centurybecause of the promotionof an independent to crucify Jesus; wheat ("Then he took a piece of bread, gave thanks spiritualforce within the indigenousrural populations after centuries to God, broke it, and gave it to them, saying, This is my body, which of imposedColonial rule. Ex-votoswere usuallymade by untrained is given for you: do this in remembrance of me," Luke, 22:19); the artistsfrom the community,and in some cases by the individualwho scourge he was beaten with; the spear that was plunged into his experiencedthe miracle.Unlike the retablos,which interpretedtra- sides; and the hyssop used to wet his lips. Her hands in prayer refer ditionaliconographic sources, the ex-votopictorial narratives of di- to Jesus praying at the Mount of Olives and the Garden of Gethse- vine aid displaygreat imaginative power. The artist'suse of a specific mane before his arrest. situationallowed for a statementthat truly reflectedthe spirituality Other Mater Dolorosa retablo images have included the seven and faithof the Mexicanvillagers and was an importantdocument of sorrows of the Virgin Mary, with seven swords or daggers appearing theirlives, sorrows, hopes, and fears.Technically speaking, the ex-vo- in her breast, thereby intensifying her expression of pathos. Since tos reveal a concern for directnessand emotion, resultingin vivid, Mary'ssuffering is often considered as important as Christ'sown pas- simplifiedforms and dramaticcolor contrasts. sion, the Mater Dolorosa is among the most popular retablo images Althoughmany Kahlo scholars, among them SalomonGrimberg, of Mary. She was invoked in times of pain, sorrow, loss of a child, or EmmanuelPeroud, and JohnYau, have recognizedthe influenceof at the hour of death. retablosand ex-votosin her art,"none havedone anyextensive analy- Kahlo'sHenry Ford Hospital (1932; P1. 13) exhibits the direct in- sis or preciselyidentified her iconographicalsources. First, the pres- fluence of the Mater Dolorosa image and symbolism. In April of ence of ex-votosas objectsof dailycontemplation in her home and 1932, Kahlo and Rivera traveled to Detroit, where he was commis- studiowas certainlya powerfulcultural and aestheticsource of inspi- sioned to paint murals on the subject of modem industry for the De- ration.Second, the processof her incorporationof such religiousob- troit Institute of Arts. That July Kahlo had a miscarriageand was tak- jects establishesan emotionallink between Kahlo'spresent and past, en to Henry Ford Hospital. This painting represents the tragic death her identificationwith the Mexicannation, and her privatesuffering. of her unborn child, and commemorates her unbearable suffering of Third,the profoundspirituality of the retablosand ex-votopaintings separation and isolation. In this small work, painted on tin, Kahlo de- can be viewedas decisiveforces that allowedfor the existenceof the picts herself naked on a hospital bed, bleeding and holding, through supernaturaland religiousdimension in her art. Her use of specific vein shaped ribbons, emblematic objects that portray her suffering: a retabloand ex-votoiconographical sources in her paintingscan be re- masculine fetus-her unborn son; a snail-symbol of conception, lated to the traumaticbus accidentthat occurredon September17, pregnancy, and birth in some Indian cultures; an orchid regarded in 1925,when she was 18 yearsold. Kahlo'sinjuries were so severethat antiquity as an aphrodisiac and fertility symbol; a pelvis; a machine the doctorsthought she might not survive.Her spinalcolumn and used to make casts; and an anatomical model of the lower part of a fe- pelvishad been brokenand she was confinedto bed, immobilizedin male body. The identification with the Mater Dolorosa is twofold: the a series of plaster casts. The enormousphysical and psychological surreal objects connected to her recall the symbols of the Passion that pain that resultedfrom these injuriesstayed with her throughouther often accompany representations of the Mater Dolorosa, and her face life and was transformedthrough sublimation and mysticisminto an in the painting reveals a striking similarity-in features, expression, artisticproduction that reveals the profoundrelationship between her and positioning-with the faces in many 19th-century Mater Do- perceptionof sufferingand power to expressit. lorosa retablo images. In one of her letters she called herself "Virgen Throughher persistentuse of self-imagery,Kahlo meticulously ex- Lacrimorum"(Virgin of the Tears),l3an unequivocal sign of her per- aminedher agony.Because of her longconfinements and isolation, she sonal identification with the Virgin Mary represented with tears enteredinto a spiritualrealm that inevitablyled, consciouslyand un- streaming down her face. In Henry Ford Hospital Kahlo confronts consciously,to the incorporationof the Christianbeliefs and iconogra- her maternal reality;she is dispossessed of her ultimate desire to have phy rooted in her culturalheritage and upbringing.Her mother, a child. This agonizing loss of her son is another factor in this process MatildeCalderon, a devoutCatholic, instructed her threedaughters in of iconographic and spiritualapproximation to the Mater Dolorosa. the principlesand doctrineof the churchand educatedthem in reli- Henry Ford Hospital also shows the considerable influence of ex- giousschools. Although her fatherGuillermo was a GermanJew and voto paintings. According to Herrera, Rivera suggested that Kahlo she was a declaredatheist, Frida never abandonedCatholic imagery. paint on metal, that she paint her life in the ex-voto format.l4Henry That she retainedCatholic beliefs and ritualisticpractices throughout Ford Hospital is one of the first compositions she did in that medium, her life is evidentin some of her letters.Using this line of analysis,Sa- and, like most ex-votos, is small, only 12" x 15". Other ex-voto-like lomon Grimbergpointed out the parallelsbetween SaintTeresa of characteristics include the directness of the scene, simplification of Avila'sTransverberation, or "thepiercing of her heartby the arrowof pictorial means, emphasis on feeling and emotional distress, and isola- divine love,"and Frida Kahlo's1937 paintingMemory. In his view, tion of the victim. Kahlo appears in bed in a vast empty room, alone Kahloidentified herself with the Spanishsaint for multiplereasons, and in pain. The explicit absence of holy figures in the space normally amongthem the sufferingof the Carmelites,members of SaintTere- reserved for the supernaturalrealm has resulted in a secular interpre- sa'sreligious order, who injuredtheir feet by walkingbarefoot. Most tation of her pictorial statement.15 However, although elliptic and important,he speculatesabout the artist'sreligiosity.1' transferred to her body-and more specifically, her face-the reli- One of the most influentialtraditional Mexican retablo and ex-vo- gious symbolismhere is apparent.Henry Ford Hospital commemorates to icons in Kahlo'sart is the MaterDolorosa or NuestraSenora de los the miracle of Kahlo'scontinual defeat of death through the unbearable Dolores (19th c.; Fig.1).Thispainting represents the Blessed Virgin experience of miscarriage. mourningthe sufferingand crucifixionof Christ.The swordat her Kahlo'spainting My Birth (1932) is also rooted in the Mater Do- heartsymbolizes the piercingof her heartwith sorrow.The image is lorosa symbolism: religious syncretism is clearly present. On the one based upon the Gospelverse in which,upon presentingJesus at the hand, Kahlo's representation of the act of giving birth is believed to Temple,Simeon says to Mary:"Yea, a swordshall pierce thoughthy have been drawn from the Aztec of the goddess Tlazolteotl, own soul also, that the thoughtsof many hearts may be revealed" an image that also appears in Rivera'smural The History of Medicine (Luke, 2:35), referring to the crucifixion. The figure of the Virgin in a in Mexico: The People'sDemandfor Better Health, created in 1953 for red gown and black cloak is surrounded by the sacred heart and the the Hospital de la Raza in Mexico City. According to Dina Comis- symbols of Christ'sPassion: the crown of thorns, the three nails used arenco, Tlazolteotl was an important source of inspiration for both 0 WOMAN'S ARTJOURNAL Fig.1. Anonymous,Mater Dolorosa or Fig. 2. Anonymous,Ecce Homo (19th c.), Fig. 3. Anonymous,The Eucharistic Man Nuestra Senora de los Dolores (19th c.), oil on metal, 13" x 8". of Sorrows (19th c.), oil on tin, 14" x 10". oil on metal, 63/4" x 43/4" .

Kahloand Rivera.'6On the otherhand, the MaterDolorosa image on of humanand divineredemption. The Ecce Homois one in a series the wallabove the bed in My Birthgives the paintingChristian signif- of representationsof the Passionof Christ.Related scenes equally icance.Created at the time of the death of her mother,the painting popularin retabloart include The Lord of the Scourges,Our Lordof portrayslife and death simultaneously-hermother's death and her the Hardships,and Christ at the Column,images that could have own birth.In this sense, the Mexicanpre-Colonial myths of creation, servedas secondarysources of inspirationfor TheBroken Column. in whichlife comesout of deathand sacrifice, are present in this com- If Kahlowas not familiarwith this Ecce Homo retablo,she cer- position.Similarly, in the MaterDolorosa the Virgincontemplates the tainlyhad access to similarworks. Christ here is presentedfrontally, deathof her son as well as the spiritualrenewal of humanitythrough his naked torso draped in a red mantle that extends to his lower Christ'ssacrifice. At the same time, the MaterDolorosa acts as a pro- body. He wearsthe crownof thornsand a long knottedcord hangs tective and consoling holy figure, both watching over the soul of from his neck. His stoic face denies the bleeding wounds on his Kahlo'sdeparted mother and identifyingwith the pain of her labor body. He denouncesthe physicalagony of his martyrdom,inviting and delivery.In a magicaland surrealisticdimension, the Virgin'sin- the viewerto feel empathyand spiritualcommunion. Similarly, The fluenceextends to the objectsin the room:the blue of the veil seems Broken Columnpresents a frontalview of a figure tormented by to have invadednot only the wall but also the pillowand bed sheets, physicalsuffering, with a nakedtorso and a mantlecovering her low- and the pleatsof the veil echo the pleatsof the sheet that coversthe er body.Clearly a self-portraitrecalling her own passion,she shows mother'shead. Thus My Birthidentifies at once with women during herselfwith an impassiveand unalterablefacial expression. The nails childbirth,the explicitsubject of the painting,and the stoic accep- penetratingher body and face revealthe same bloodyspots as in the tanceof a child'sdeath, the painting'simplicit meaning.'7 Ecce Homo and refer to the crucifixion;the knotted cord in the My Birth also relatesto ex-votopaintings. Done in oil on metal Christimage relates to the Qrthopediccorset that confines Kahlo's and only 12"x 133/4",it portraysa womanin a difficultsituation- in torso;and both figuresare isolatedagainst a negativebackground- the act of givingbirth-accompanied by a Christianimage. Formally Kahloin a barren,cataclysmic landscape and Christbefore a dark, speaking,reduction to essentialdetails to conveypathos and intense ominoussky-contributing to the overallfeeling of calamityand dis- emotion followsthe ex-votoformat, and the miraculousevent-the tressexpressed in bothpaintings.' continuityof life throughbirth-is presentthrough the sacredinter- Kahlo'sItzcuintli Dog with Me (1938; P1. 14) also drawson the vention of the Mater Dolorosa.The absence of the traditionalin- Ecce Homo retablo.Both paintingspresent an isolated figure in a scriptionat the bottom of the paintingexplaining the miraclecould frontalposition, seated againsta cloudybackground. The position- testifyto Kahlo'sparadoxical vision of her own life-her tormented ing of armsand handsis strikinglysimilar, and the facialexpressions existenceand her desireto sublimateher painthrough her art.18 reveal the same stoic acceptanceof sufferingand loneliness. The The Ecce Homo("Behold the Man"'9)(Fig. 2) retabloimages also Christfigure's semi-nakedness has been replacedwith a long, tradi- served as an iconographicalsource in Kahlo'sart, especiallyin rela- tionalMexican dress that, in a catharticway, masks her wounds.The tion to The BrokenColumn (1944). Because of the emotionalem- very explicitelement of confinement,the knottedcord that also ties phasis on suffering,an essentialcomponent of medievalEuropean Christ'shands, has been transformedinto a golden necklace;the sacredimages, the Passionscenes had great appealin Mexico.The knot has been replacedby a stone or antiquecoin at her neck. The spiritof sufferingwas deeplyrooted in the spiritof the nativepeople, crown of thorns has become a braid adornedwith a blue ribbon. whose own civilizationand religioussystem were based on the belief The sinister dark sky of the Ecce Homo paintinghas been trans- FALL2004 / WINTER2005 0 formedinto a neutralwhite andlight blue background.21These mod- los Remedios.Gloria Fraser Giffords, in MexicanFolk Retablos ified images indicate Kahlo'sdesire to sublimateher physicaland (Albuquerque:University of Arizona,1974), 62, statesthat the copy of the psychologicalpain through beauty, adornment, and light. Yet, in spite originalpainting of thistheme was broughtto Mexicoin 1719 by a Jesuit of all these alterations,Kahlo's self-portrait is still disturbing.Even missionaryand placed in the cityof Zacatecas,where N.S., Refugiode with the presenceof the dog, the feelingof alienationand isolation is Pecadores(Our Lady, Refuge of Sinners)became patron. pervasive;the colorsconvey sadness and detachment,and she seems 4. Forreproduction see AnitaBenner, Idols BehindAltars (New York: to be floatingin a surrealspace between earth and sky.22 Paysonand Clark,1929), 156 and 185, respectively. Anotherpossible iconographical source in FridaKahlo's paintings 5. RobertoMontenegro, Retablos de M6xico (Mexico:Ediciones is the retablo representationof The EucharisticMan of Sorrows Mexicanas, 1950). (19th c.; Fig. 3), particularlyin connectionwith Roots (1943;P1. 15). 6. McKinleyHelm, in Moder MexicanPainters (New York: Dover, 1974), The religiousimage of The EucharisticMan of Sorrowsdoes not 165, statesthat Montenegro's Surrealism has itsorigins in retablopainting. representany specificnarrative cycle and is based upon a postcruci- 7. HaydenHerrera, in FridaKahlo: The Paintings (New York:Harper- fixion devotion taken from mysticalcontemplation. The figure of Collins,1991), 48, says thatKahlo and Riveraextolled and collectedindige- Christwith a grapevinecoming out of his side,with his bloodfeeding nousforms of visualart; Erica Billeter, in "FritzHenle Photographs: Frida the lambsgathered around him, is a Eucharisticsymbol. Of all plants Kahloand Diego Rivera,"The Blue House: The World of FridaKahlo (Seattle: used in Christianart, the vine is the most universal.In Christ'sown Universityof Washington,1993), 49, statesthat Kahlo collected pre- words:"I am the vine, ye are the branches.He that abidethin me, Columbianidols and objectsof artfor hermental stimulation; Salomon Grim- and I in him, the same bearethmuch fruit,for withoutme you can berg pointsout the artisticimportance of theircollection of retablosin "Frida do nothing,"and '"Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinkethmy blood, Kahlo'sMemory: The Piercing of theArrow of DivineLove," WAJ hatheternal life; and I will raisehim up at the last day"(John 54). (F90/W91), 2. The grapevinemotif is interpretedin Roots as leafy branches 8. AliceAdams, "Frida Kahlo's Passion," Art andAntiques (January 1989), 65. born out of the artist'sopen torso.Similar to the retablo,in an act of 9. GloriaFraser Giffords, in TheArt of PrivateDevotion: Retablo Painting of propitiationand homage to nature, Kahlo'sblood, like roots that Mexico(Fort Worth: Intercultura and theMeadows Museum, 1991), 33, and sproutfrom the leaves, nourishesthe barrenearth, recreatingthe in MexicanFolk Retablos, 2. Giffordsdiscusses Kahlo's use of retabloimages. Eucharisticritual of salvationthrough her sacrificialoffering. In 10. WhereasGiffords uses the termsretablo and ex-votoin MexicanFolk both compositionsthe figures are centered and surroundedby a Retablosfrom 1974, she uses retablosanto and retabloex-voto in TheArt of backgroundthat echoes the cycles of creationand destruction-the PrivateDevotion. divisionbetween day and night and light and darknessin The Eu- 11. See Grimberg,"Frida Kahlo's Memory," 3; EmmanuelPernoud, "Une charisticMan of Sorrows,and the cataclysmicvision of the earth's AutobiographieMystique: La Peinture de FridaKahlo," Gazette de BeauxArts crust tempered by the appearanceof incipient life in Roots. The (January1983), 44; JohnYau, "The Phoenix of the Self,"Artforum (April Christianidentification with renewalin Rootsis anotherexample of 1989), 150. the permanenceof Catholicimagery in Kahlo'sart: a mystical,su- 12. Grimberg,"Frida Kahlo's Memory," 3-7. pernaturalforce unites life and death and perpetuatesthem in a cir- 13. Letterto AlejandroArias, August 21, 1926, publishedin Billeter,The cular,harmonious motion. This indivisibleunity, central in ancient BlueHouse, 185. Mexicanphilosophy, is intermixedwith the Christianbelief of death 14. Herrera,Frida Kahlo: The Paintings, 73-74. Allthe imagesdiscussed as redemptionas earthand humanity'srebirth. hereare reproducedin colorin thisbook. The vine motif also appearsin Kahlo'sThe Dream (1940). The 15. Pernaud,"Une autobiographie mystique," 46. paintingshows Kahlosleeping in a bed floatingamong clouds. The 16. DinaComisarenco, "Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera,and Tlazolteotl,"WAJ leaves on the vine growing out of the yellow bedspread protect (S/S 96), 14. See p. 14 forreproduction. Kahlo'sdream. On the bed'scanopy, echoing Kahlo'sposition, rests 17. Ibid.,16. Comisarencohas also recognizedthe importanceof the a skeletonin the form of a papier-macheJudas. Instead of a vine, MaterDolorosa in thispainting. She interpretsher inclusion as a symbolof the skeletonholds a floralarrangement from which growwires con- mourningof the motherduring childbirth. nected to explosives.In TheDream we encountera surrealisticfeel- 18. Ibid.Comisarenco believes that the emptyspace traditionallydevoted ing of transformationand sublimation:the spiritualpresence of to the inscriptionrobs the imageof any devotionalconnotation. death and resurrection-the skeleton,and the grapevinemotif and 19. John19:5 "WhenJesus came outwearing the crownof thornsand the the ascendingmovement conveyed by the painting,respectively- purplerobe, Pilatesaid to them,'Here is the man!'" are united in a cycle that assuresthe continuationof life throughre- 20. Anotherpossible source for Kahlo'sBroken Column could be a Zapotec birthand renewal. terracottapolychromed vase in the formof a vertebralcolumn, from Monte The influenceof the retabloand ex-voto paintings on FridaKahlo's Alb6n,Oaxaca. SharynUdall, in "FridaKahlo's Mexican Body," WAJ artisticvision is confinednot only to a dialoguebased on formaland (F03/W04), makesthis connection. See Fig. 1, p. 11. Forcolor reproduction stylisticterms, it is rootedalso in the veryMexican soul, in its religious of BrokenColumn, see PI.7. spirit,and its vision of Holy Omnipotence.This identificationrein- 21. GannitAnkori, in Imagingher Selves: Frida Kahlo's Poetics of Identity forcesthe mysticismin her work.By her incorporationof sacredchar- and Fragmentation(Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 2002), classifiesa acteristicsor intrinsicelements of holy persons, Kahloproduced a seriesof Kahlo'sself-portraits as ImitatioChristi self-portraits. bodyof workthat has a placein the religioustradition of Mexicanart.* 22. Kahloowned severalof the smallItzcuintli dogs. TheAztecs believed theyhad mysticalhealing powers. They are affectionatedogs, thoughtto pro- NOTES vide comfortto theirowners. The Aztecs also thoughtthey were a guideto the 1. JaniceHelland, in "Aztec Imagery in FridaKahlo's Paintings," WAJ dead, the spiritlink to the living.Whatever the need Kahlohad forthese (F90/W91),8-13, discusses the political component of Azteciconography in dogs, it is notclear in thispainting. Kahlo'swork. 2. Forreproduction, see MargaritaMichelana, et al., MariaIzquierdo Maria Angeles Castro-Sethness is a Visiting Assistant Professor in (Guadalajara:D.R. Departamento de BellasArtes, 1985), 90. the Modern Languages Department at Claremont Mckenna College, 3. Izquierdo'sInvierno is similarto the retablorepresentation of N.S, de California. 0 WOMAN'S ARTJOURNAL *1 1*Ais A I- I

PI. 13. FridaKahlo, HenryFord Hospital (1932), oil on metal, 12'/4"x 15'/2". Collection PI. 14. FridaKahlo, ItzcuintliDog with Me (1938), oil on canvas, Dolores Olmedo, Mexico City. 1 1" x 8". PrivateCollection, Dallas.

PI. 15. FridaKahlo, Roots (1943), oil on metal, 113/4"x 14/2". PrivateCollection, Houston,Texas.

PI. 16. Frida Kahlo, X6chitl (1938), oil on metal, 7/1i6" x 33/4". PrivateCollection, Mexico City. Photo:Scott Metcalfe