Fashioning National Identity: Frida Kahlo in "Gringolandia" Author(S): Rebecca Block and Lynda Hoffman-Jeep Reviewed Work(S): Source: Woman's Art Journal, Vol
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Woman's Art Inc. Fashioning National Identity: Frida Kahlo in "Gringolandia" Author(s): Rebecca Block and Lynda Hoffman-Jeep Reviewed work(s): Source: Woman's Art Journal, Vol. 19, No. 2 (Autumn, 1998 - Winter, 1999), pp. 8-12 Published by: Woman's Art Inc. Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1358399 . Accessed: 09/01/2013 20:24 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. Woman's Art Inc. is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Woman's Art Journal. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded on Wed, 9 Jan 2013 20:24:06 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions FASHIONINGNATIONAL IDENTITY Frida Kahlo in "Gringolandia" By Rebecca Block and Lynda I loffmun-Jeep F rida Kahlo'sadoption of Mexicanindigenous dress began A particularlypoignant example of the (ab)use of lo indigena on the day of her marriageto Diego Rivera, August 21, was the case of la India Bonita, a beauty contest that took place in 1929, when she borroweda skirt,blouse, and rebozo from Mexico City in 1921,10sponsored by the periodicalEl Universal a maid to wear to the ceremony in the city hall in Coyoacan.' Ilustrado.Young women arrayedin their indigenousfinery posed HeretoforeKahlo's wearing of native clothingmost frequentlyhas for photographersand promenadedin front of the judges, whose been attributedto her desire to please her husbandand hide phys- job it was to select "lamas bella"(the most beautiful).The winner ical deficiencies.2However, this dress can also be seen as a politi- was describedin El UniversalIlustrado: cal statement:Kahlo's sartorial endorsement of postrevolutionary ideology. Photographsof her in native dress when she and Rivera She arrivedhere accompaniedby her grandmother,a pure "meschi- first visited San Francisco, from November 1930 to June 1931, ca" Indian,who doesn'tspeak any Spanish.She comesfrom the communicatedMexican revolutionary cultural tenets as clearlyas highlandswhere she was bornand lives and she'seven wearinga did Rivera'smurals.3 "huipal"tied at the waist. Todayshe's received three million pesos Afterthe revolution,a ten-yearstruggle that ended in 1920, po- and an enormousamount of attention....Her nameis MariaBibiana litical leaders consciouslydeveloped programsto cultivate Mexi- Uribeand she's 18 years old." can nationalismin educationand the arts. The school system was expandedto serve indigenousand ruralpopulations, and there was MariaBibiana Uribe then had "fiveo'clock tea" with AlbertoPani, a surge in commissionsof muralsportraying the contributionsof Secretaryof Foreign Relations,and other dignitaries,and her na- Mexico'sindigenous peoples, past and present. Folkloricelements tive beauty was exploited to push "el Jab6n Flores del Campo" were rediscoveredby composers,and architectsreturned to forms (WildflowerSoap).'2 Other than this, there was no attempton the and materialsfrom the past, exudinga spiritof nationalism.4From part of the competition organizersto assimilate the indigenous the outset the governmentexalted contemporary manifestations of culturethey had wished to exaltand honor. Mexico'spre-Hispanic past while simultaneouslydirecting atten- By contrast,when the young, vibrant, native-Mexican-attired tion to the rich diversityinherent in Mexicanculture.5 This glorifi- Frida Kahlo accompaniedher husband to San Franciscoin mid- cation of indigenous peoples evolved into what Luis Villoro de- November 1930, she immediately was recognized as una Mexi- scribed as the dialectic of the indigenistamindset.6 By emphasiz- cana, muy bonita. PhotographerEdward Weston describes his ing the unique and pristinenature of Mexicanculture through the firstencounter with Kahlo,on December 14, 1930: valorizationof its native inhabitants,the leaders sought to elevate the "real"Americans against the rest of the world, and especially I photographedDiego again,his new wife-Frida-too: she is in against the United States. The image of the native Mexican, sharpcontrast to Lupe[Guadalupe Marin, Rivera's second wife], viewed as the protagonistin the revolution,sustained the national- petit, -a little doll alongsideDiego, but a doll in size only,for she ist movementbetween 1920 and 1940.7 is strongand quite beautiful,shows very little of herfather'sGer- Appropriatinglo indigena, however,was an ambiguousunder- manblood. Dressed in nativecostume even to huaraches,she causes takingfor the rest of Mexicansociety, as Villorocorrectly pointed muchexcitement on the streetsof SanFrancisco. People stop in out in 1949. For while lo indzgenaembodied, both biologicallyand theirtracks to look in wonder.13 spiritually,the root, essence, or core of all "true"Mexicans, most indigenouspeople were isolated, both socially and economically, In San Francisco, according to Rivera'sbiographer Bertram from the mainstreamof Mexicansociety. Nevertheless,the ideal Wolfe, "Diego and Fridawere feted, lionized,spoiled." He contin- of lo indigena was perceived by post-revolutionaryleaders as the ued: "Partieseverywhere, streams of invitationsto teas, dinners, root necessaryto pinpointMexican cultural uniqueness. Ironically, week-ends, lectures with great audiencescoming to get a glimpse lo indigenaincorporates for Mexicansociety in general,on the one of them and listening,astounded, to Diego's words on art and so- hand that which is most intimatelyMexican, and on the other, that cial questions."'4 which is most foreignand separate.8 Althoughthe 23-year-oldKahlo apparently was not interviewed Given Mexicansociety's ambivalence about its originalinhabi- by the media duringher stayin California,we can extractfrom the tants, the risk was great of their "not getting it right,"i.e., of re- carefully staged formal photographstaken at this time that her gressing into stereotypicalrepresentations when publicizingthis fashionwas her public statement. In Weston'sphotograph (1930; aspect of nationalism.Depictions of native Mexicansin the the- Fig. 1) she wears the loosely draped fringed rebozo around her ater, comic strips,popular music, and film duringthe twenties and shouldersand heavy beads of jadeite-the green stone was a fa- thirtiesfailed to convey the richnessand spiritualdepth of indige- vorite stone of Aztec sculptors-around her neck. The muted, nous culture.Instead, popular representations continued to depict very light backgroundseems to indicatean outdoorsetting, which timeworn stereotypes characterized by their use of language, is confirmedin anotherWeston photographwith Riverain frontof dress, gait, and generalbehavior.9 one of his frescos in progress.Kahlo's hands rest gently but firmly 0 WOMAN'S ARTJOURNAL This content downloaded on Wed, 9 Jan 2013 20:24:06 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions : -- Fig. 1. EdwardWeston, Portraitof FridaKahlo (1930), photograph. Fig. 2. EdwardWeston, Portraitof FridaKahlo and Diego Rivera(1930), Center for Creative Photography,Arizona Board of Regents. photograph.Center for Creative Photography,Arizona Board of Regents. Fig. 3. Imogen Cunningham,Portrait of FridaKahlo (1930), photograph. Fig. 4. Dora Maar, Portraitof FridaKahlo (1939), photograph. The Imogen CunninghamTrust, Berkeley. CourtesyMark Kelman. FALL1998 / WINTER1999 0 This content downloaded on Wed, 9 Jan 2013 20:24:06 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions in her lap;her gaze is pensive and divertedfrom the camera;she is Third-world texts, even those which are seemingly private and self-absorbedand proud. In the formal pose with Rivera (1930; invested with properly libidinal dynamic necessarily project a Fig. 2), the giant muralistdwarfs his young wife, who appearsre- political dimension in the form of national allegory: the story of the laxed, with a hint of a smile, but still in full control of her photo- private individual destiny is always an allegory of the embattled graphicstatement. situation of the public third-world culture and society.22 In both photographsKahlo wears a rebozo,a rectangularwoven shawl of cotton, wool, or silk, sometimes embroidered and with Clearly Kahlo combines the private and public aspects of her life long fringes.Of uncertainorigin, the rebozowas worn by all social in her sartorial allegory of postrevolutionary Mexico. classes, distinguishedonly by type of material.'5In Weston'spho- Yet another goal of Mexican leaders after the revolution was to tographs, Kahlo's rebozo, as well as her dress, appear to be of uphold a unique Mexican presence in the face of European and heavysilk, thus identifyingher with the upper classes.The opulent especially North American cultural and economic colonization. A strandsof Aztec stone beads simultaneouslyestablish a firm link to playful and at the same time staged photograph by Peter A. Juley, pre-HispanicMexico. also taken in 1930 (Fig. 5), portrays Kahlo and Rivera with Lucille A photographtaken by Imogen Cunninghamaround the same and Arnold Blanch, with whom they stayed while in San Francis- time (Fig. 3) makesa quite differentstatement. Again the rebozois co.23The contrast between the women's dress and poses is striking. featured,but this time it is drapedacross the chest in the manner