FRIDA KAHLO

FRIDA KAHLO AND THE RED BOW

Considered one of Mexico’s greatest artists, Frida Kahlo is a celebrated figure of the Mexican Surrealist movement. Her work, often autobiographical and largely self-portraiture, focuses on Mexican pop culture and her own story. Married most of her life to Mexican muralist Diego Rivera, an equally fascinating and complicated man, Frida included elements of Surrealism and Realism in the style of her husband, creating work that was both psychologically and visually compelling. Frida began painting mostly self-portraits after being severely injured in a bus accident, only one incident in a long list of personal maladies that led to chronic pain and depression: one of the reasons she was so often alone and in bed, painting. Frida used the opportunity of her recovery, and the sorrow of her agony to present more than just her outer figure, but also her inner life, making it easy to learn about her through her self-portraits.

“Long before I read her captivating biography,” Dorit writes, “I was curious about the mustache painted in every portrait of this beautiful woman who exposed herself with such courage.” Dorit Levinstein’s “FRIDA KAHLO WITH A RED BOW” memorializes the courage and regality of its subject, elongating Frida’s neck, maintaining her famous dark black eyebrow, and hinting at Frida’s ever-present mustache. Representing the traditional Mexican flower crown and scarf that Frida was known to wear, Dorit’s “FRIDA KAHLO WITH A RED BOW” emblemizes her character with the patriotism that personified Frida, the unabashed Mexican.

Dorit’s is a moving piece, one that captures the color of Frida’s personality, the complexity of her figure, and the courage of her character. Frida Kahlo, a fellow female artist is one of the paving stones on which Dorit Levinstein walks, another one of the renegade women who dared to create her own narrative in an almost completely male profession. This is likely why Dorit has yet another sculpture featuring the famous artist entitled, “FRIDA,” a reproduction of Frida’s 1938 painting, “Self Portrait with Monkey.” Like in the original, here Dorit draws out the masculine features Frida portrays in the painting, keeping the leaf background in the colors of her hair, but deleting the monkey around her neck. Dorit’s careful decisions about inclusion and exclusion in her sculpture have everything to do with recreating the spirit of the painting. Frida, the main character of “Self Portrait with a Monkey,” is the only figure in Dorit’s sculpture, a compelling homage to one of her great inspirations.

1938 painting, “Self Portrait with Monkey.” Like in the original, here Dorit draws out the masculine features Frida portrays in the painting, keeping the leaf background in the colors of her hair, but deleting the monkey around her neck. Dorit’s careful decisions about inclusion and exclusion in her sculpture have everything to do with recreating the spirit of the painting. Frida, the main character of “Self Portrait with a Monkey,” is the only figure in Dorit’s sculpture, a compelling homage to one of her great inspirations.