From Library Journal
Frida Kahlo's extraordinary life and revolutionary art continue to bear fruit with two superb new books, coming quickly on the heels of Martha Zamora's acclaimed Frida Kahlo: The Brush of Anguish ( LJ 1/91). Lowe's biography, the first in a promising new series on women artists, is a succinct, insightful profile of the Mexican painter, combining a biographical chapter with an extended discussion of the self-portraits that make up the core of her oeuvre. Without becoming mired in florid language, Lowe cogently describes the biographical contexts of individual paintings and draws our attention to Kahlo's frequent employment of pre-Columbian symbolism. Lowe goes on to separate Kahlo's art from her biography in an extended analysis of the art historical setting within which she worked. This approach revitalizes the paintings, placing Kahlo's work in such explicitly Latin American traditions as retablo iconography and agitprop from the Left and also demonstrating the obsession of European Surrealists with "primitive" art. Herrera's ( Frida , LJ 1/83) beautifully produced book is laden with large color plates and dozens of photos of Kahlo, Diego Rivera, and their cronies. It improves upon Zamora by providing perhaps the most direct analysis of Kahlo's life and art within one volume to date. The two books are essential for any library without a Kahlo monograph, and for those having already purchased Zamora's biography, Lowe's economical paperback is an excellent supplementary text.
- Douglas F. Smith, Oakland P.L., Cal.Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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Pressestimmen
"Engaging and well illustrated." (Wall Street Journal )
"Perhaps the most direct analysis of Frida Kahlo's life and art within one volume to date." (Library Journal )
