Perhaps I am unique in that respect (no so, as Cynthia felt the same way!) but I had the
impression that the exhibition was more of a discovery of Diego and some of his
work, of which we had not seen much, or heard much, except perhaps about his
ill-fated attempt to get the son of Rockefeller to pay for a murale (which is,
as we learn, his trademark!) incorporating a figure of Lenin, to be featured in
the lobby of the Rockefeller Center in New-York!
I must admit, I had seen the film, Salma Hayek’s; an
exhibition of Kahlo’s work at the Tate Modern in London a few years ago; and had
bought a book about her for Cynthia (which she remembers vividly reading – she reads
everything, and then some!) Which reminds me: for 1 book on Rivera in the
inevitable store coming out of the exhibition, there were several on Kahlo!...
Aside from discovering some of the work of Diego Rivera (he
was after all the chant of the Mexican Revolution!), what is striking are the
photos and films about them – quite a few from photographers who were already (or
were to be) well-known on their own, such as Nicholas Muray (who was, we learn,
Frida’s lover at some point – we had certainly heard about Diego’s philandering,
but it would seem that Frida did not “give her place” either: women in NYC and
Paris, Trotsky in Mexico, and now this guy… One must remember incidentally that
Frida’s (German) father was a professional photographer – so the camera was not
a novelty to her… (she must have learned early on how to pause!...) Picture below from the Net http://neilsonartstudios.com/ - probably a picture taken by Muray (copyright?)
On the whole, a very good exhibition (likely to go back…).
Toronto , October 18, 2012
