The Art Institute’s new Frida Kahlo exhibit aims to illuminate her connection with Mary Reynolds, an American expatriate artist and bookbinder who encountered Kahlo in Paris at a pivotal point in Kahlo’s career. In this, it partially succeeds.
Most museumgoers will be familiar with Kahlo, the Mexican painter famed for her vivid self-portraits and surrealist style—though she contested the notion that she was affiliated with the Surrealist movement. They are less likely to know of Reynolds, partner of French painter Marcel Duchamp, who trained under Pierre Legrain as an avant-garde bookbinder and later played an active role in the French Resistance during World War II.
The exhibit focuses on the period during which Kahlo stayed in Reynold’s house while preparing for an exhibition of her work with Surrealist leader and curator Andre Breton. Highlights include Kahlo’s Frame (1938), which incorporates Mexican tradition through the use of a decorative frame, the vibrant Self-Portrait with Monkey (1938) and Self-Portrait with Cropped Hair (1940), a striking examination of gender roles that she made in the wake of her divorce from husband Diego Rivera. There are also paintings from her surrealist contemporaries, including Duchamp, and a selection of Reynolds’ book bindings.
Although the exhibit paints a fascinating portrait of the time period, I found myself wanting more clarity on Kahlo’s relationship with Reynolds. There were no examples of how Reynolds' work directly influenced Kahlo’s or vice versa, and few details on her time in Reynold’s home. Both are fascinating women in their own right but I wish the exhibit had made a better argument for their connection.
Nonetheless, the exhibit is worthwhile for anyone interested in the Surrealist movement or in Kahlo herself. Breton once described Kahlo’s art as “a ribbon around a bomb” and this holds true today. Her work is still just as startling and evocative as it was decades ago. The paintings are overflowing with color and natural scenery, contrasting the beauty Kahlo saw in the world with her own physical pain.
One dual self-portrait, Tree of Hope, Remain Strong (1946), shows Kahlo on the left, bleeding on a hospital gurney after spinal surgery, and on the right, wearing a colorful dress and holding an orthopedic brace in her lap. In another piece, The Wounded Deer (1946), her head is fused with the body of a deer, bleeding from multiple arrows in its side. This duality of beauty and pain, human and animal, life and death, is characteristic of Kahlo’s unique surrealism.
Frida Kahlo’s Month in Paris examines a period of time when the world was on the verge of war and artists leaning toward the surrealistic and the abstract. The legacy of painters such as Kahlo is a body of work that doesn't shy away from the absurdities and anxieties of a world governed by chaotic forces. Considering the political turmoil and environmental chaos of our current moment, the exhibit is an interesting window into how artists respond to periods of upheaval. Perhaps it’s time for surrealism to make a comeback?
Frida Kahlo's Month in Paris: A Friendship with Mary Reynolds exhibit will be on display until July 13. The Art Institute of Chicago is located at 111 S. Michigan Ave, and is open Friday-Monday and Wednesday 11am-5pm, and Thursday 11-8pm. Closed Tuesdays.
Images courtesy Art Institute of Chicago.
Support arts and culture journalism today. This work doesn't happen without your support. Contribute today and ensure we can continue to share the latest reviews, essays, and previews of the most anticipated arts and culture events across the city.