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Art Critics on Frida Kahlo: a Comparison of Feminist and Non-Feminist Voices Author(S): Elizabeth Garber Source: Art Education, Vol

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Art Critics on Frida Kahlo: a Comparison of Feminist and Non-Feminist Voices Author(S): Elizabeth Garber Source: Art Education, Vol National Art Education Association Art Critics on Frida Kahlo: A Comparison of Feminist and Non-Feminist Voices Author(s): Elizabeth Garber Source: Art Education, Vol. 45, No. 2 (Mar., 1992), pp. 42-48 Published by: National Art Education Association Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3193324 . Accessed: 29/09/2011 09:29 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]. National Art Education Association is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Art Education. http://www.jstor.org Art Critics on Frida Kahlo: A Comparison of Feminist and Non-Feminist Voices Elizabeth Garber Introduction figurativeand colorful, filled with symbolism As a writer,researcher, and studentof andcarried out inwhat seems to have feministcriticism, I am oftenasked to been a deliberatelynaive style. She was definefeminist art criticism. In a timewhen partof a groupof artistsand intellectualsin criticismhas becomea widelydiscussed Mexicoduring the firstpart of thiscentury componentof arteducation programs in whowere bothproud of theirMexican universitiesand schools- a timecoinci- heritageand wedded to socialreforms dentwith increased awareness of and throughCommunism. In 1925 Kahlo responsibilityto representingthe world sufferedgrave injuries to herpelvis, spine, viewsof womenand personsof color- andone of herfeet when a streetcarhit the the questionis relevantto a broadaudi- bus in whichshe was riding;the accident ence of arteducators who are interestedin profoundlyaffected her life.She spent incorporatingfeminist perspectives into muchtime in bed, underwentdozens of theirart curricula. Understanding the uses operations,and could not bear children. anddefinitions of feminism,from media The effects of herinjury and infertility, usages to dense andjargon-laden aca- combinedwith the emotionalupheavals of demicexplorations, is confusing,making herdramatic marital relationship with the questfor understanding difficult. muralistDiego Rivera, are apparent Througha comparisonof feministand non- subjectsin manyof herpaintings. Her feministwritten interpretations of Frida imageoccupies the centralpicture plane in Kahlo'sart, I willoutline both what feminist mostof herwork, as botha physicaland a artcriticism is andwhat it is not,and the psychologicalstudy of herself.Kahlo's varietyof formsfeminist criticism takes. reputationis international,her work the Beginningwith the feministcritics, I will subjectof manycritical reviews and showa varietyof approachesto Kahlo's severalbooks. Currently, Kahlo is subject paintingsthat represent different issues of renewedattention, with new articles andemphases within the feministmove- appearingmonthly (Art and Man,1991; ment.These feministanalyses will then be Bartolucci,1990; Chessher, 1990; comparedwith non-feminists' interpreta- Grimberg,1990/1991; Helland, 1990/1991; tions.I will conclude with a shortrationale Herrera,1990; Zamora, 1989); and her forfeminist art criticism as a groupof workis includedin numerousexhibitions.1 perspectiveson artthat are an important componentin ourbecoming literate about 'Recent highlypublicized and well reviewed U. S. multipleworld views. First,however, some exhibitionsin whichKahlo's work has been included briefbiographical details of the artist'slife are "Mexico:Splendors of ThirtyCenturies" at the andwork. MetropolitanMuseum of Artand "Womenin Mexico" at the NationalAcademy of Design in New York. Furtherexhibitions are scheduled at the San Antonio FridaKahlo Museumof Artand Los Angeles CountyMuseum of FridaKahlo was a Mexicanartist whose Art.Pop star Madonna,who owns several of Kahlo's paintings,has purchasedthe rightsto the artist'slife lifespanoccupied most of the firsthalf of storyand intendsto make a movie;other movies are thiscentury (1907-1954). Her paintings are reportedlyin the works (Herrera,1990). 42 ArtEducation/March 1992 The FeministVoice and FridaKahlo "Feminist"in thispaper is associatedwith an understandingthat gender is an under- lyingfactor (although not necessarilythe onlyone) influencingour relationships with otherpeople. Feminist art criticism arises fromand is inextricablyconnected with the women'smovement and its socio-political goals of alleviatingthe oppressionof women. It is "aimed... at bringinginto beingnew meaningsand new subjectivities... [Itis] committedto the futureof women"(Modleski, 1989,14-15). These goals are oftenimplied, overarching ratherthan direct. Within this context, feministart criticism encompasses art by women,the portrayalof womenin art,and socialmeans that construct our viewing and understandingof womenartists and the representationof gender. Activitiesand goals of Americanfeminist artcritics and historians2during the 1970s and '80s have been to placewomen artists (forgottenand ignored)in canonsof high artwhere they are under-represented,to searchfor characteristics in women's art thatmight define a "femalesensibility," and to examinevalues in artthat determine "greatness"and the veryidea of an art canon.During the lastten years,the implicationsof this lastactivity have expandedto a full-scaleexamination of underlyingideological and political mean- ings of sociallydetermined structures such sexualpreference, and other factors that FridaKahlo, The Two Fridas,oil on canvas, 67 x as canonicalart. The socialconstruction of contributeto groupidentities (Gouma- 67". Collectionof Museo de genderand the relationshipof social Petersonand Mathews,1987; Lorde, 1984; ArteModerno, Mexico, D.F. structuresto women'sart and to the Photo courtesy of Hayden Tickner,1984; Trinh, 1990). Herrera. representationof womenin arthave The above activities are reflected in undergoneextensive analyses. Lately, feministcriticism written about Frida insteadof studyingdifferences between Kahlo'spaintings. In the firstthree writings womenand men,differences between analyzedbelow, the focus is on defininga womenhave been exploredas they relate femalesensibility. In the fourthone, it is on to variationsin race,class, ethnicity,age, socialstructures that define gender as well as on differencesbetween women. Implicit in allthe essays is the restorationof a 2Thisstudy is limitedto U.S. Americanart criticism femaleartist largely ignored in the United because of the unavailabilityin this countryof States untilthe women'smovement materialspublished in Mexicoand other countries.It is limitedlargely to criticismpublished in journalswith broughther to ourattention. This project, highcirculation, although a subsequent comparison then,is notspecifically dealt with in my could and shouldbe made drawingupon the views of of feministcritics. criticspublished in less circulatedjournals for ideas comparisons and views outside the spectrumof artjournals The earliestpiece of writingused forthis directedtowards high art audiences. Manyof these studyis "FridaKahlo: Painting for Miracles" sources are not readilyavailable in the U.S.A., inwhich author Gloria Orenstein notablythose publishedin Mexico. Fora comprehen- (1973), sive bibliographyon Kahloup to the early 1980s, see ties the iconographyof Kahlo'spaintings Garcia(1983); Herrera's(1983a) biographyof Kahlo intothe physicaland psychological condi- containsa selected bibliography,pp. 445-448; the tionsof the artist'slife. Orenstein writes in WhitechapelGallery exhibition catalog (Mulveyand Wollen,1982) also includesa selected bibliography. thisarticle to definea femalesensibility. ArtEducation/March 1992 43 Becauseof women'sbiological differences, cellularstructures and shapes, microcos- she assumes womenare psychologically mic equivalents of the solar system ... She differentfrom men. Kahlo is describedas is the centralaxis of a naturaldrama of "pioneeringartist" who dared to express in universaldimensions and proportions"(p. herart "the full truth of [her]biological 8). Accordingto Orenstein'swriting in this experience"(p. 7). Anexcerpt of essay, the universaldrama is thatof Orenstein'sinterpretation of Kahlo's women'slives. paintingHenry Ford Hospital illustrates Inthis essay, Orensteinengages in howOrenstein develops that thesis. activitiesand goals of earlyfeminist criticism.She findsKahlo's work a stylistic Ina self-portraitof the artist... she is alternativeto traditionalesthetic and social attachedby visiblestrings (physical and norms,and attributessuch differencesto emotionalties) to herunborn fetus and to the artist'sbiological sex. ThroughKahlo's herpelvis which had been fracturedin an work,she projectsand claimsa universal accidentthat made it impossiblefor her femalesensibility connected to nature. ever to bearchildren. These strings are Kahlo'simportance as an artistis claimed concreterepresentations of the spiritual in her abilityto vividlycommunicate her andpsychological bonds between her "true"gender sensibility. artisticexpression and the traumasrelated LucyLippard also assumes, in a 1977 to the biologicalcrises of femalesexuality essay whichincludes analysis of Frida thatshe in hermany canvases Kahlo'spaintings, that women's sensibility portrayed differs depictingbirth, Caesarean operations and frommen's. In the paintingRoots, miscarriagesand
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