Exchange: ACTIVITY - SPANISH 430 : Nuñez

ACTIVITY - SPANISH 430 : Nuñez

Frida Kahlo and Other Representations of (Dis)Ability and Health in Art

Welcome! If this is your first time looking and thinking about art, don't be nervous! Everyone has something to add and talk about, you just don't know it yet! Below are some questions to consider when looking at art if you need help getting started. Also, you can click on any image to enlarge it, and even select the Object Record (for works from the UMMA Collection) to learn more about the piece (if we have the information).

As you look, consider:

What drew you to this work in particular?
How do you think it was made?
What feeling, mood, or thought does this work evoke for you?
Can you draw a comparison between what you have read or discussed in class to what you see?

Visual artists use formal elements such as line, color, texture, and space to create and convey meaning:

Look at the form of the piece- how would you describe the colors?
What words capture the quality of line in this work?
What role does surface texture play, if any?
How is space depicted?
Does the title of the work provide helpful information for this discussion?

Part One: Frida Kahlo: Her Work and Her World

Frida Kahlo (1907-1954) was a Mexican painter known for her many portraits, self-portraits, and works inspired by the nature and artifacts of Mexico. Inspired by the country's popular culture, she employed a naïve folk art style to explore questions of identity, the body, postcolonialism, gender, class, and race in Mexican society.

Below are several works by Frida Kahlo:

1. Pick one of these works and do a detailed visual analysis:

Describe: What do you see (nothing is too obvious!). A good way to think about this process is that you are describing in detail to someone that is not looking at this work.
Interpretations: What is this piece trying to say? What emotions does it bring up for you? What is the artist trying to communicate? Emphasis on the plural, there might be multiple interpretations!
Connections: How does this piece relate to Frida's Diary that you read? To what you know about her and her life?

2. Which work is your favorite and why?

3. How would you describe her art?

4. What are some repeating patterns/colors/themes etc. that you see?

5. How does Frida represent herself? How does she occupy space? What kind of settings does she place herself in? What is she doing?

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Frida Kahlo
The Two Fridas
1939

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Frida Kahlo
Self-Portrait with Necklace of Thorns

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Frida Kahlo
The Broken Column
1944

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Frida Kahlo
Roots
1943

Below are some works from the world of Frida, including some from Diego Rivera, whom Kahlo had a complicated marriage/relationship with, as well as a photograph of Frida Kahlo by Manuel Alvarez Bravo from 1938:

1. What similarities or influences do you see for Frida in any of these works?

Manuel Álvarez Bravo
Day of All Dead
gelatin silver print on paper
9 15/16 in x 7 15/16 in (25.2 cm x 20.1 cm)
Gift of Lawrence and Carol Zicklin

Manuel Álvarez Bravo
Two Pairs of Legs
gelatin silver print on paper
10 in x 8 in (25.4 cm x 20.4 cm)
Gift of Frederick J. Myerson

This pring shows the shoulders and skull of a skeleton wearing a wide brimmed hat adorned with plumes and decorative objects.

José Guadalupe Posada
Calavera de la Catrina
1905 – 1915
relief etching | paper
Museum Purchase
1958/1.124

This woodblock print depicts a man in trousers and a jacket compacted into the space of the print. The man is kneeling on his left knee while his right foot is raised and pushed up against a surface on the left of the image. Both of his arms are raised, with the left jutting out towards the viewer and the palm of his hand is fully visible. The numbered and print is signed (l.c.) "3 Pepe Ortega" in pencil.

José Ortega
El bache
woodblock print on paper
7 1/8 in x 5 1/8 in (18.1 cm x 13.02 cm)
Museum Purchase

Antoni Clavé
Bull Fight
color lithograph on paper
11 1/2 x 17 1/8 in. (29.21 x 43.5 cm);22 x 28 in. (55.88 x 71.12 cm);14.9 x 22 1/2 in. (37.94 x 56.99 cm)
Museum Purchase

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Diego Rivera
Detroit Industry Mural (North)
1933
Fresco in the Detroit Institute of Arts

In this line drawing, three figures are seated on the ground, in a diagonal row, making hats out of grasses. The first has a large bundle of raw materials, the second appears to be weaving them, and the third, a woman, is holding a nearly finished hat. Behind them is a large pile of hats.

Diego Rivera
Hat Makers
India ink
18 3/4 in x 12 1/4 in (47.63 cm x 31.12 cm)
Gift of Mrs. Florence L. Stol

This print is a contour drawing of several rows of figures: in the foreground are three squating figures facing away from the viewer; in the background are several squatting figures facing the viewer, and in between are standing figures. The squatting figures sit before the goods they are selling and the standing figures are purchasing from them.

Diego Rivera
El Mercado
color lithograph on paper
11 1/8 in x 15 15/16 in (28.26 cm x 40.48 cm);22 1/8 in x 28 1/8 in (56.2 cm x 71.44 cm);15 3/16 in x 20 1/8 in (38.58 cm x 51.12 cm)
Museum Purchase

2. What similarities do you see between Frida's self-portraits and this photograph of her by Manuel Alvarez Bravo?

Part Two: (Dis)Capacity and Health in the Arts

There have been and are many other artists who have grappled with issues around health, whether it was their own or of someone close to them, and the world's portrayal of ability vs disability. Below are some works in the UMMA collection or from recent exhibitions grabbling with these themes.

A vertical line of pills from the top of the canvas to the bottom. Stamped with information on the lower right indicating date, title, type of pills and signature.

1. The artist Buky Schwartz has made a framed assemblage piece using pills on a gauzy background. What could be the message that he is trying to get across?

A large figure in orange with yellow polka dots crouches over five small pink figures who are holding the orange figure up. The symbol for women is drawn in green inside the large orange figure. The background is a flourscent green and the ground is yellow.<br />
<br />
EC 2017

Oak panel with screen print; signed K.Haring 88 along lower right edge.

2. These are two separate works by Keith Haring, a popular pop artist. How does he represent the body? Who's body is he representing (they could be different)? What do you think each piece is "discussing"?

3. What seems to be happening in this drawing? What do you see that supports that? What seems to be the artist's opinion about hospitals and doctors?

A blurred image of a nude figure bending forward, the arms nearly reaching the ground.

4. How does this artist represent emotion? What emotion do you see here?

The back of a girl standing on a dock. She has a long ponytail and braces on her legs.

This photograph shows a young boy in overalls and standing before a wooden house missing his right arm.

5. We have several documentary or "street" photography of children with prosthetics and amputations. How do these photographers portray these children? What setting are they in? What feeling do you think the photographer is trying to get you to feel, and why do you think that is?

Dollhouse replica of a two-storey Victorian-style flat in the East End of London. The façade is red brick with white molding. The upper storey has two tall windows that face onto the street; the door into the flat is on the left, and to the right of it is a large bay window. The split-level interior holds a bedroom and parlor, both of which are decorated with wallpaper and furnishings, including cabinets, chairs, tables, fireplaces, and a canopy bed. Reproductions of paintings by Shonibare and Jean-Honoré Fragonard hang on the walls. A seal on the right-facing outside wall reads: “Yinka Shonibare, artist, lives here.”<br /><br />
First Floor: Reproduction of Diary of a Victorian Dandy: 14:00 Hours (1998) by Yinka Shonibare; Cabinet with shelves and books; wing chair with footstool; large bureau; fireplace; round table; side table; two chairs; bowl and cup;<br /><br />
Second Floor: Canopy bed; mirror; small bureau; reproduction of The Swing (1767) by Jean-Honore Fragonard; fireplace; chair; washstand with pit

6. Yinka Shonibare CBE, RA (born 1962) is a British-Nigerian artist living in the United Kingdom. His work explores cultural identity, colonialism, and post-colonialism within the contemporary context of globalization. A hallmark of his art is the brightly colored Ankara fabric he uses. Because he has a physical disability that paralyzes one side of his body, Shonibare uses assistants to make works under his direction. Shonibare has said “You know, all of the things that are supposed to be wrong with me have actually become a huge asset. I’m talking about race and disability. They’re meant to be negatives within our society. But they’re precisely the things that have liberated me. Because they are me, what I express. So it has not been a negative thing to be who I am but a positive thing." https://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/21/arts/design/21sont.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

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7. Mari Katayama recently held a solo exhibition at UMMA on her recent work. Katayama was born with tibial hemimelia, an extremely rare condition that stops bones in the lower legs from fully developing, often leaving them foreshortened. In her case, the condition also caused club feet and a cleft left hand that resembled a crab’s pincers. Consequently, crab motifs recur in the work of the Japanese artist, who was also born under the sign of Cancer.

What similarities and/or common themes do you see between Katayama and Kahlo? In what ways do they approach their work differently?