Kahlo was such a complex indiviual, unfortunately Hayden Herrera simplifies this multifaceted artists life and passions, Like many Kahlo scholars in the's she bases many of her ideas on Kahlo's work on gender stereotypes and assumptions, Read "Devouring Frida" if you are interested in a REAL analysis of the artist's life, I agree as some reviewers have noted that this book is a bit light on Frida's feminist and revolutionary traits, buys into gender stereotytpes somewhat and so misses the complexity of her character and that some of the art analysis given seems to contradict what Frida herself has written on paintings or just seem very unlikely and a bit of a stretch.
One reviewer wrote: 'Herrera makes her out to be a Diego obsessed, pain obsessed sack of shit, and I'm not buying it.
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There is a lot of careful and meticulous research in this book and the author has done a amazing job putting so much information together in such a readable format.
But several times in the book the author concludes things about Frida's motivations and attitudes to her illnesses struck me as perhaps quite unfair and unlikely.
The conclusions didn't seem to match the evidence,
Frida's letters to her doctor friend, several of which are included in the book, made it very clear that she was anxious to have more surgery only if it'd really help her and if he thought it was a good idea.
To me she was very clearly motivated only by a desire to have the best health when she decided on a surgery or decided against it.
She really wanted this doctor's unbiased opinion either way, She was certainly not biased towards surgery and didn't take it lightly, as she knew what a cost it'd have during recovery,
Yet Harrera writes that Frida's surgeries were often very 'conveniently' timed with periods where Diego's attention may have been straying from Frida.
She also comments in a quite judgemental way that many of her surgeries were 'unnecessary, '
Clearly Frida had a strong link with Diego, maybe even an obsession, but I think it is going too far to say she had unnecessary surgeries so as to elicit his attention.
She was so much more of a complex and intelligent person than that and he was not the only motivation for her actions.
It is easy to write now that some of those surgeries were unnecessary and they were, . . but then, many treatments those of us that are ill try are unnecessary, The point is that you don't know that until afterwards!
Having something to hang your quiet backgoundrumbleofhope on a new surgery, or diet etc.
is a huge part of what keeps you going when you are ill, What keeps you from giving up and lets you get through your difficult days with laughs and a few smiles, If she were not so concerned with improving her health she would not have put herself through so much and risked so much to try and improve it.
This book talks of Frida's 'desperate hope' and I think that is just what she had,
I'm sure the heavy drinking didn't help nobody's perfect but I think it is unfair to say that Frida would have made herself bedbound for months after a risky surgery because it might improve her lovelife in the short term.
It is so easy to write 'she was bedbound formonths' after a surgery, But to actually experience being bedbound, relying on others for every small thing and being unable to paint to do the one thing you love so very much formonths is a thing of immense magnitude.
The difference between being bedbound for a month ororis very hard to put into words,
Each day and week and month of being bedbound contains so much suffering and being utterly miserable, Every week or even hour counts, There are big sufferings and small ones and a loss of dignity and the souldestroying feeling of being dependant on others for everything.
There is so much more suffering than you can imagine, if you haven't done it, Try it for a month, . . or a week, and see how likely you'd be to do it to yourself again if you could at all avoid it, For any reason not connected to your health,
Frida's illness made her oppressed by tedium, very lonely and sometimes possibly suicidal, Frida wrote after one surgery that she was going through 'a desperation that no words can describe' and said that she was 'happy to be alive so long as I can paint.
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Personally I don't buy that someone as remarkable, independent and paintingobsessed as Frida would give herself even one extra month of being bedbound and unable to paint or even to SIT and an unpleasant and unnecessary surgery, on purpose, let alone just to get attention from someone else in such a weak and manipulative way.
Playing up certain aspects of illness, or exaggerating them at times and demanding more care and attention from others after a surgery maybe, but not that.
Just my opinion,
What I know for sure is that Frida was a remarkable and complicated individual and a brilliant artist, I enjoyed seeing some of the paintings reproduced in this book that I hadn't seen before and now want to see as many of them as I can, as well as learn more about Frida.
This was an interesting read overall, I'm glad too I got a copy with a Frida painting featured on the cover and not the movietiein image of an actor hate when publishers do that!
I'm looking forward to reading 'Devouring Frida' now, which comes highly recommended.
This is not an accurate portrayal of Frida's life, She was more of a revolutionary than this book makes her out to be, She was also a genderbending feminist, and
a brilliant painter, Herrera makes her out to be a Diego obsessed, pain obsessed sack of potatoes, and i'm not buying it, Herrera also infers several things to be true from Frida's paintings, She frequently ignores literal translations from paintings including text painted in that reveals the meaning completely on it's own,
I am very sorry that this Kahlo has been subjected to pop culture by Herrera, and suggest looking elsewhere to find accurate information!
Suggested Reading: Devouring Frida by: Margaret A.
Lindauer
Frida Kahlo. To most people, she is the Mexican painter with the intense stare and dominant brows, known for her selfportraits, At the same time she has become an icon, I've seen people drinking out of Fridacups, wearing Fridasocks and getting Fridatattoos, This biography really made me understand what it was that made this woman so magnetising,
A woman in love with life
Frida never had it easy, She grew up during the Mexican Revolution, which certainly wasn't the easiest time to be a Mexican, At the age of eighteen, she became victim to a devastating accident, which left her crippled and unable to bear children, This affected her whole life, during which she consistently had to fight physical health issues, And still she was in love with living, She was a surprising, mesmerising and slightly macabre woman who couldn't help but to enchant those around her, She inspired with her radical and vibrant art as well as with her way of living, never afraid of showing her feelings or being kind those around her.
"You know why they do all these crazy things Because they don't have any personality, They must make it up, You are going to be an artist because you have talent, You are an artist, so you don't have to do all these things, "
A marriage to define
The book focusses strongly on her relationship with Diego Rivera, a muralist much older whom she married at a young age.
Neither can be described as faithful to each other in the most traditional sense they both had affairs and other lovers and yet they could not live without each other.
Their relationship of nearly twentyfive years went through many ups and downs and Herrera describes those very well, To be fair, I found these parts of the book slightly repetitive and too long, as it shifted the focus from Frida the individual to Frida the wife, which is where I get to my criticism of this biography.
A revolutionary
It's easy to forget that Frida Kahlo lived in a time in which it wasn't common for woman to have a loud and outspoken voice.
She, however, did. I felt like this book cut short on that fact a lot, making her seem less like the revolutionary she was, While many describe Hayden Herrera's style of writing as clear and accurate, I found it to be prosaic und even arbitrary at times.
She analyses many of her paintings, trying to give them a context and deducting what can be learned from them about the life Frida Kahlo led, yet on various occasions I wasn't quite sure where her claims were coming from.
Some passages felt clumsy to me, when she calls the painting sitelinkMy Birth "one of the most awesome images of childbirth" only to then note how dead the child looks.
On other occasions paintings or photographs are described in longwinded texts which weren't included in the book, which was annoying, because I would have rather liked to see the images myself than solely relying on somebody else's interpretation of them.
I also would have liked to hear more about her own views and thoughts, especially in relation to politics and Communism.
After all, Kahlo felt most alive when she was able to talk for herself:
"Let's go to work I will be your socalled teacher, I am not any such thing, I only want to be your friend, I have never been a painting teacher, nor do I think I ever will be, since I am always learning.
I hope you will not be bored with me, and when I seem to bore you, I ask you, please, not to keep quiet, all right"
To sum up, I think Frida Kahlo was a fascinating and eclectic woman, more so than this biography implies.
It's a nice read and gives a wonderful insight into her life and times, yet I was left feeling unsatisfied on various occasions throughout the book, which keeps me from calling this a truly great biography.
Mesmerizing Well researched the best biography I have ever read!
This is the best biography I believe ever to be written or this is the best biography I have ever read.
I have never cared much about Frida Kahlo except the movie which I had been planning to watch for the pastyears but never did.
But now I really want to watch the movie, I saw this book laying next to Marlon by Peter Manso in the library and I have been reading it during the lunch and tea breaks and I finally finished it yesterday.
For a biography to work this well, the subject has to be interesting and the biographer or writer's skills have to be really good to bring out the essence of the subject and Hayden Herrera did such an amazing job.
This is one of those books which will never be released on Kindlealong with catcher in the rye
coming up.
. . although I am at a loss as how to review this book that made me so feel so much and connected with me on so many levels and yet it falls under non fiction!
Have not read this book I have no reason not think it is good.
Just wanted to comment on the cover,
I always hate buying an edition of a book with movie art on the front, Nothing ruins a copy of a Lord of the Rings book like stills from the films on the cover, Carrying that around just makes you look like such a joiner, I know it is big money marketing, and there is no stopping it,
But I gotta say, with an artist like Frida Kahlo, who painted so many incredible self protraits, it is just so lame to have a photo of Salma Hayek on the cover.
When I saw this book I had to laugh, If I ever buy this, you can bet it will have artwork by the actual artist on the front, .