Take a look into the legendary life of Frida Kahlo through her personal collection of photographs.
Frida Kahlo’s paintings are famous around the world, but her photography collection reveals even more about her life, her relationships, her home Casa Azul in Mexico, and her artistic process. Drawing inspiration from her father, Guillermo Kahlo, a noted photographer, Kahlo was fascinated with photography for most of her life and was an avid collector of photos.
An intimate portrait of the artist, exclusive to Bendigo Art Gallery, this exhibition displays the photographs drawn from the extensive archive of the famous blue house where Kahlo grew up, the Casa Azul, now a museum in her honour. This photographic archive was only revealed to the public in 2007, and now Mexican photographer and historian, Pablo Ortiz Monasterio has sifted through more than 6,500 photographs to hand-pick the 257 highlights from the personal collection that are now on display.
The photos take a look at Kahlo and her friends and family at work, at home, and even in her hospital stay following a debilitating accident in 1925, as well as the interests and obsessions from throughout her life, including political struggles, her enemies, her fascination with Diego Rivera, and her great love for Mexico and its traditions. The exhibition also reveals Kahlo’s passion for collecting historical photographs as reference material for her work, as well as the photographs of contemporaries including Man Ray, Tina Modotti, Pierre Verger, Martin Munkácsi, Edward Weston and Lola and Manuel Álvarez Bravo.
This exhibition from the Frida Kahlo Museum and Diego Rivera Museum, curated by Pablo Ortiz Monasterio, and toured by Terra Esplêndida and Banco de México, the fiduciary of the Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo Museums, is exclusive to Bendigo Art Gallery and is free to attend. Open now, but only until February 10. To learn more, visit www.bendigoregion.com.au
