Frida Kahlo

* NAME : ABDUL RAHMAN BIN MOHAMED * GROUP : 12M13 * TOPIC : READING 1 – FRIDA KAHLO : TRIUMPH OVER TRAGEDY DISCUSSION QUESTIONS QUESTION 1: How do you think painting help Frida Kahlo with her problem? ANSWER: From my view of humanisation, painting helps Frida Kahlo so much. It is because only from painting will make her continues her hope about her life after turning point of her life made her really uncapable to do anything else such as to be one of the successful doctor only building the castle in the air. From her painting make her more sensitive in so many things. As we know, Frida expressed her feeling by that creative way teaches the other on how to take care of other feeling beside appreciate them. Frida`s painting resolve by hidden message on how to try our best not to be heartbreaker or make a hole of sadness in someone heart as her told that she had experienced second accident in her life with her beloved husband. Of course these single moment will be portrayed by frida to make sure every moments will not forgetable. Lasty, she got place in every one`s heart by her painting and became well-known. QUESTION 2: Many of Kahlo’s paintings express pain and tragedy. Do you like to see this in a work of art? If so, why? If not, what would you like to see? ANSWER: I really don`t like that kinds of painting that reminds me of someone that I hate so much. I would prefer some of the painting that shows love. Love painting is about something unique. Not every painter success to portray those kinds of painting. Painting is one of the medium to change other people and influenced their way of life. That’s why love theme painting make us kindly shares our love and open our minds to shares our heart together. Love also not just limited to human, but also can be animal, family and the others. This unique kind of painting can resolve life of communities that full of hatred, selfish to the very good mankind ever seen in the world. QUESTION 3: What is your opinion of the mischievous acts carried out by Cachuchas? Why they did they do these things? Was their behaviour acceptable? Why or why not? ANSWER: From my opinion, the action carried out by Cachuchas is just to make everybody sense of their presence in school and they want to become attractive in their way so everybody who watch them will follow their style including the nerd (unpopular in school). Other than that, QUESTION 4: Is it important to know about an artist`s life in order to understand his or her work? ANSWER: Yes. It is important to know about an artist`s life as from their life we can learn what are messages about from the painting. In consequences, we will be become more sharp observer and understand more about painting and art. As we take example, one of the most famous person during renaissances was Leonardo Da Vincci. He was the one who like to do his painting in realist style such as Mona Lisa portrait. No other painter has been able to express the facial subtleties of the human character with such startling accuracy. Some people wonder why it is that her facial expression seems to change depending on the direction from which you look at her. This is because during painting of Mona Lisa, Leonardo hired a few of clowns to make her happy and not get bored. That`s how Leonardo manipulate the situation. This example shows us clearly why we need to understand extra information about artist’s life and history of his painting. Frida Kahlo * NAME : ABDUL RAHMAN BIN MOHAMED * GROUP : 12M13 * TOPIC : READING 1 – FRIDA KAHLO : TRIUMPH OVER TRAGEDY DISCUSSION QUESTIONS QUESTION 1: How do you think painting help Frida Kahlo with her problem? ANSWER: From my view of humanisation, painting helps Frida Kahlo so much. It is because only from painting will make her continues her hope about her life after turning point of her life made her really uncapable to do anything else such as to be one of the successful doctor only building the castle in the air. From her painting make her more sensitive in so many things. As we know, Frida expressed her feeling by that creative way teaches the other on how to take care of other feeling beside appreciate them. Frida`s painting resolve by hidden message on how to try our best not to be heartbreaker or make a hole of sadness in someone heart as her told that she had experienced second accident in her life with her beloved husband. Of course these single moment will be portrayed by frida to make sure every moments will not forgetable. Lasty, she got place in every one`s heart by her painting and became well-known. QUESTION 2: Many of Kahlo’s paintings express pain and tragedy. Do you like to see this in a work of art? If so, why? If not, what would you like to see? ANSWER: I really don`t like that kinds of painting that reminds me of someone that I hate so much. I would prefer some of the painting that shows love. Love painting is about something unique. Not every painter success to portray those kinds of painting. Painting is one of the medium to change other people and influenced their way of life. That’s why love theme painting make us kindly shares our love and open our minds to shares our heart together. Love also not just limited to human, but also can be animal, family and the others. This unique kind of painting can resolve life of communities that full of hatred, selfish to the very good mankind ever seen in the world. QUESTION 3: What is your opinion of the mischievous acts carried out by Cachuchas? Why they did they do these things? Was their behaviour acceptable? Why or why not? ANSWER: From my opinion, the action carried out by Cachuchas is just to make everybody sense of their presence in school and they want to become attractive in their way so everybody who watch them will follow their style including the nerd (unpopular in school). Other than that, QUESTION 4: Is it important to know about an artist`s life in order to understand his or her work? ANSWER: Yes. It is important to know about an artist`s life as from their life we can learn what are messages about from the painting. In consequences, we will be become more sharp observer and understand more about painting and art. As we take example, one of the most famous person during renaissances was Leonardo Da Vincci. He was the one who like to do his painting in realist style such as Mona Lisa portrait. No other painter has been able to express the facial subtleties of the human character with such startling accuracy. Some people wonder why it is that her facial expression seems to change depending on the direction from which you look at her. This is because during painting of Mona Lisa, Leonardo hired a few of clowns to make her happy and not get bored. That`s how Leonardo manipulate the situation. This example shows us clearly why we need to understand extra information about artist’s life and history of his painting. Frida kahlo The Art of Friday Kohl: Realist and Overwhelming The autobiographical movie â€Å"Friday† directed by Julie Tomato and release in October, 2002. It is a realistic portrait of the life of Mexican painter Friday Kohl and her life's bitterness, her political believes, and the tormented relationship with her painter husband, Diego Riviera. As a result the motive of her artworks is basically in self- portraits. Friday's personality projects to be a liberal, passionate, independent, strong, and charming woman.She was an eminent artist in the 20th century who exposes angular exceptional thoughts ahead of her time; as a result, many people consider her as feminist although there is a little controversy about this. Magdalene Carmen Friday Kohl y Cauldron, known as Friday Kohl, was born July 6, 1907 in Accompany, Mexico City, Mexico. She died July 13, 1954 in the same place that she was born. She suffered poliomyelitis at the age of six, and at age eighteen, she was a victim of a tragic bus accident which resulted nine surgeries that left her with constant pain and infertility.However, her strength made her replace her agony with art. While she was in bed for recovery, her mom gave her a mirror to see herself. Therefore, through her paintings, we can feel her pain and sensibility. For instance, in one self-portrait â€Å"The Broken Columns† dressed in a metal corset, she painted in a surrealistic way because she was almost naked with nails in her whole body. She is crying; perhaps, we can imagine the dimension of the pain, but she knew what the pain truly was (Sayers).Friday had been damaged for the life by illness and the bus accident, but the last injury was from Diego Riviera, her husband, who Just brought emotional disturbance which lasted until her death. She loved him passionately and obsessively, so she endured his many infidelities including with her sister, Christina. However, she also had many affairs not only with men but also with women. Having a liberal personality, Friday was never committed to social norms; thus her behavior was consequent with her identity and freedom. Even more, she was always inspired by love for her country, dressing in Mexican native gowns.Besides, the political struggle as consequence of 30 years under the government of Portfolio Ditz, a rebellion environment, the Mexican Revolution, and the Mexican constitution surrounded Friday when she was growing up. Therefore, she acquired a social consciousness, identified with the Communist Party. Also, she took the risk of hiding Leon Trotsky, the revolutionary Marxist activist against Stalin, in her house having an affair with him during that time (Hearer). As a feminist, Friday is considered an idol precisely for her personality.She never cares about superficial elements to get attention. She assumed her identity with plenty of liberty, and never suppressed her inclination to be bisexual. Today, many women admire her because she acted at that time as a c ontemporary woman in the criterion of being a feminist. However, there is a controversy about this because her emotional dependence on Diego has been questionable. She was completely independent, having her own style in her work. Perhaps, she had great and unusual capacity to love that not everybody could understand.In addition, Friday has been an inspiration for many writers, directors, and Journalists to write about her (Gunderson). Her self-portraits reflect the reality of one life with all the experiences, suffering, pain, tradition and history, with bright colors, so these things captivate the hearts of women and men. Friday had the first exhibition of her work a year before her death, and she was well known as an artist. Her true fame began in 1978, with public presentations around the world of her artwork, recognizing her as one of the best painters not only in Mexico but also in the roll.In fact, we can find Friday's paintings at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York), an d one of her portraits was sold to Soothers a British multinational corporation, for nearly 1. 5 million dollars, being one of the biggest prices paid at a bidding for a Latin American artwork (Sayers). Ironically, her fate was not the enjoyment of all the values that she had, such as an artist, but Friday is a legacy of art, history, and humanity. Her work is biographic, full of passion, and she reflects the bitterness of life for what today we identified with her beautiful mind. Frida Kahlo Friday Kohl (1907-1954) was a Mexican artist who grew up during the Mexican Revolution, a time of great social and economic change. There was a strong sense of nationalistic pride during this time, which is evident in her later works. During childhood, Kohl had polio, this affected her growth and development. Furthermore, she was involved in a bus accident later in her life, which damaged her spine and was extremely traumatic in her mental processes. Because of this, she had ongoing surgery throughout her life, and, was in constant pain.However, after this accident, she began painting to express herself. As a result of her accident, she suffered numerous miscarriages and was unable to have children – an issue she explores in her 1932 work ?Henry Ford Hospital]. Kohl was an active participant in the social and political landscape of Mexico, and used artworks to express her social and political views, as well as themes of her physical pain and contain, cultural background and my thology, and Mexican traditions through her dress, layout, and symbolism.Particularly evident in ?Lass Dos Fridays, history and culture are shown to be an incredibly influential and important aspect of Friday's mindset and views on life ND her own personal and cultural identity. Lass Dos Fridays is one of Kohl's largest works at approximately 68 x 68 inches in size. L It is a departure from the retable format she frequently used, reflecting Kohl's desire for her work to be noticed at the Surrealist exhibition for which it was intended. 2 Two monumental, full length representations of the artist are seated side-by-side on a simple green bench, gently holding hands.Behind them, dark, Jagged clouds blanket the sky, eliminating any specific sense of place. The two figures are linked by a shared circulatory system which pumps blood between their exposed hearts. The figure on the left uses a clamp in an attempt to stanch the flow of blood falling on her stiff white gown. 3 As the blood po ols in the folds of her dress, it spills over and falls onto the hem of her skirt in uniform, circular droplets. The shape of the falling droplets of blood mimics, both in color and shape, the embroidered floral pattern which adorns the bottom of her skirt.This antiquated frock with an elaborately decorated lace bodice covers the majority of the figure's body with the exception of her forearms and her left breast, which is exposed by an irregularly formed void in the garment. 4 Significantly, the lack of Jose thread and the absence of the excess fabric that would have been produced had her garment been forcibly ripped open suggests a less violent, perhaps voluntary, method of exposure. Adjacent to the figure's heart, the lace bodice is interrupted by a cutout which provides a view of the white under-layer supporting the lacework.This oblong cutout, bordered by ribbon and topped with an intricate knot of hair-like fabric, references the female anatomy. The figure's demure posture and vividly painted red lips convey a sense of femininity which is repeated in her elaborate gown. Her heart is embedded in her body, a part of her self, whereas the earth of the figure on the right seems to float, affixed to her gown but not to her body. Furthermore, the heart of the portrait on the left has been surgically dissected to reveal its inner-workings while the heart of the figure on the right is intact.The two figures are connected by an elongated artery which wraps around the European Kohl's neck, contrasting the white lace of her gown with the deep red of her own blood. The self-portrait on the right exudes a much more masculine aura than her companion; her lips are unpainted and the slightest shadow of a mustache darkens her upper lip. Additionally, her spread knees and slightly curved back suggest a more relaxed, less demure, pose. The masculine elements of the portrait on the right are complicated by the way in which the thin fabric of her blouse clings to her breasts , highlighting their outline and affirming her femaleness.She is clothed in the Tenant dress native to the Isthmus of Authentic, home to a traditionally matriarchal society known for the strength and independence of its indigenous female residents. 5 The white hem of the Tenant Kohl's dress is embroidered with a white-on-white floral pattern that mimics the vivid red flowers of the European own, symbolically connecting the two figures and reminding the viewer that the blood dripping on the white gown comes from the bodies of both figures due to their shared circulatory system. While the vascular system of the figure on the left is completely exposed and travels across the surface of her gown, the main artery of the figure on the right disappears under the shoulder of her blouse, reappearing as it wraps around her arm. The Tenant Kohl is penetrated by the artery leading from her heart to the medallion held in her right hand. This artery culminates in an image of Riviera as a child wh ich Kohl delicately holds near her womb. Alternatively, the cylindrical shape of the medallion and the positioning of Kohl's hand suggests a vulgar masculine gesture, reiterating the androgynous nature of the Tenant Kohl.In spite of their many differences, the two Kohl's are inextricably linked, not only due to their role as multiple facets of the artist's identity but by their interlocking hands, the continuity of the hems of their gowns, and their shared circulatory system. This symbiotic relationship reiterates the unity of these two figures, not as conflicting elements of Kohl's identity, but as the visual expression of al facets of one complex whole. Lass Dos Fridays serves as a depiction of the multiple facets of Kohl's identity which span centuries of Mexican history.Kohl's use of elements drawn from throughout Mexican history forges a sense of unity that encompasses Mexico pre-Columbian, Colonial, and Revolutionary past. Thus, rather than dichotomies, Lass Dos Fridays embodi es the unity of seemingly incompatible parts which express Kohl's conceptualization of Mexico and her personal identity as it related to the history of her country. Because Kohl's father was German and her mother was Indian, Lass Dos Fridays can e interpreted as a visualization of her mixed European/Mexican heritage. The concept of the Colonial is of particular importance.As a product of the European colonization of Mexico, Kohl literally embodies both the colonizer and the colonized. In Lass Dos Fridays, Kohl uses a lacy, white and characteristically European or American gown to represent outside influence in Mexico. In addition to her mixed heritage, Kohl quite literally utilized her self-portraiture, especially manipulations of costume, to transform herself into a representation of Mexican history and identity. Kohl's manipulation of Mexican tradition to comment on contemporary politics is exemplified by her appropriation of La Lorena in Henry Ford Hospital, 1932 (fig.AY). In thi s self-portrait, Kohl depicts the aftermath of the abortion of her most recent pregnancy. The popular perception of Kohl's views on motherhood assert that, ?she lived as well with a yearning for a child she could never have?her smashed pelvis led only to miscarriages and at least three therapeutic abortions. 126 This traditional view does not account for the fact that Kohl herself requested an abortion and voluntarily ingested castor oil in the hope of ending her 1932 pregnancy. Henry Ford Hospital is a self portrait of a crying Kohl, laying naked and disheveled on a hospital bed following her 1932 abortion at the Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit. Her bed rests at a precarious angle, situated in a vast expanse of barren land, possibly a reference to the loneliness a Mexican woman felt who rejected deeply embedded cultural norms about womanhood and motherhood. 30 In the background, Kohl added a skyline reminiscent of the River Rouge Plant in Detroit, calling to mind the role of the fem ale body as a site dedicated to the production of children. Placing herself against a stark white sheet soaked in her own blood, Kohl included prominent tears rolling down her face. These tears are the most straightforward link between Kohl and La Lorena. ! In depicting herself as La Lorena, Kohl utilized the power of folklore to address social issues far beyond the scope of her personal angst. She appropriated a cultural symbol as a direct commentary on societal norms and their restrictive nature regarding women and their ability to control reproduction.In Henry Ford Hospital, Kohl explicitly challenges the dichotomy of the virgin and the here that categorizes women as either good or bad mothers. 32 This dichotomy leaves little freedom for women to exist between these two extremes and is clearly tailored to the preservation of male power. Kohl does present herself in a vulnerable state, but her brazen depiction of her disregard cultural norms which equated womanhood to motherhood r eferences the powerful Micronesian goddesses rather than the violated Lorena.In depicting herself as La Lorena, Kohl lays the groundwork for Chicane artists to redefine the role of women in these cultures without abandoning their three mother figures, La Lorena, La Virgin De Guadalupe, and La Mainline. Henry Ford Hospital challenged cultural norms concerning womanhood and allowed Kohl to publicly address issues she was otherwise unwilling to discuss. Through her art, Friday lived this different reality, announcing that giving birth to the other within us is where ‘who we are' begins. 4 Self-proclaimed as the one who gave birth to herself' (Feints, 1995, plate 49), Friday Kohl painted her own reality; reclaiming it, reflecting it and repeatedly re-living it. A performer of gender roles, unabashedly excessive in femininity as well as masculinity, and an intimate lover of both women and men, she painted narratives ND wrote images that exploit the creative tensions concealed and c ompelled by oppositional rationale. Boldly confronting the thorny imperative of subjectivity, she embraced her heterogeneous marginality as a valuable political standpoint as well as an innovative personal imperative.Her works re-activate identities as assemblages of dynamic and incomplete parts operating in the various cultural contexts that partially produce and are produced by the subjects who inhabit and perform them. Perhaps most compellingly of all, though, her arresting gaze fixes the viewer, unsettling the assumed division between the bile viewing subject and its inert viewed object, and returning the viewer's scrutiny towards a consideration of how, and with what effects, identity and marginality are normatively dealt with and reconciled.Hybrid of race, sex, gender and sexuality coalesce in Friday's work to disrupt cogently the paradigm of sameness versus difference that has historically elided dissident identities. Her paintings, which negotiate the intricate tensions betw een identity and marginality, situate her ‘in between'. A curious artist and committed idealist, she painted magic with a realist brush, and in so doing dealt with difference differently. Frida Kahlo While scrolling through a list of Friday Kohl's artwork, I stumbled upon her painting titled Henry Ford Hospital. The thumbnail alone Jumped off of the screen and caught my eye. I was immediately pulled in by the beauty of the female figure lying nude on a hospital bed. Upon further inspection of the image, it became quite clear which aspects of this piece I gravitated towards and why. The image is a painful self-portrait surrounding the experience of Friday's second miscarriage.While I can not relate to the tragedy of losing a wanted fetus, I can strongly relate to the grief experienced during and after the expulsion of one's womb. In this piece, Friday has painted herself on a hospital bed with a pool of blood surrounding her and a somewhat contorted body. Her legs and pelvis are twisted away from the viewer, suggesting her discomfort or perhaps even shame. She has her hands cradling her still bloated belly with what appear to be six different umbilical cords leading to different s ymbolic objects.Attached to the umbilical cords are the fetus, a snail, a dying orchid, a medical machine, a human pelvis, and the sidewise of diagram depicting the female anatomy. The fetus is that of her would-be sons Disguise, or â€Å"Little Diego' (her husband's name). The snail is thought to be representative of her painfully slow delivery of a dead baby. The single orchid, which is said to be a real orchid that her husband gave her, has long been viewed as a symbol of love, strength, and sexuality. The medical machine pictured, to me, seems to be a symbol of the cold and sometimes robotic process of any medical procedure.The final two items connected to Friday's abdomen, the diagram of the female body and a pelvic bone, portray an awareness of what this second miscarriage meaner hectically for her body. In the background of the image, we see the many industrial buildings of Detroit, where Friday was at the time of the miscarriage. In 1925, Friday Kohl was involved in a terri ble bus accident which left her with a broken pelvis, a broken spinal column, and various other injuries. Friday was told she would most likely never be able to have children. In 1929 she married Diego Riviera and soon she became pregnant. This original pregnancy ended in abortion.Due to her because previously broken pelvis, the fetus was positioned incorrectly which was risk to both Friday and the child. By the time her second pregnancy occurred in 1932, it was clear to Friday that Diego had not wanted children. In an attempt to abort the child, she had unsuccessfully taken quinine. Realizing her failure to terminate Friday chose to continue with the pregnancy. Three and half months pregnant, Friday was admitted to the hospital with severe hemorrhaging and eventually suffered a miscarriage. This painting was created very soon after a traumatic event that made her realize that she could never carry a pregnancy to term. Frida Kahlo The documentary talked about the Mexican painter Friday Kohl who was best known for her unique series of self-portraits. I knew about her artwork and was quite amazed by her way of portraying self-portraits in an extraordinary expression before I watched this documentary. After watching the video, I understand more about the reasons why her painting was done this way. Her artworks brought the pieces of her life stories to the audience. Her marriage with Diego Riviera contributes the later works of her. It was the main influence of her life.If she did not meet Diego Riviera, e would probably see a total Friday Kohl. The complicated relationship from inability of reproduction, Dies unfaithfulness, Kohl's affairs, divorce to remarriage created the Kohl who was physically and emotionally torn. She expressed her life problems in her paintings, her tragic and exotic figures brand her personal art career. However the important event in her life was the undergo of the miscarriage and abortio n. It portrayed the painful personal of Kohl that reflected in the emotional disorder of her artwork.Kohl wanted a child very much, her nightmares ND thoughts about fertility was shown. The fertility dream is the part which I like most about the documentary. It portrays a woman's struggle and pain for losing the ability to have a baby, the heart wrenching when you wish for a child of you and your loves one but you have lost the reproductive system ability. The artwork Henry Ford Hospital (The Flying Bed) provokes the emotions in us. I would also think that this painting attract the attention the issue on fertility, at the same time encourage the public to take care of their reproductive health.It would make a different influence to Kohl's career if she was not living in Mexico. In her paintings, a strong indigenous Mexican culture was shown in the use of intense color and primitive style. She also wore traditional indigenous clothing of Mexico as shown in her paintings. If she was l iving in Europe or America, the colors she used and costumes will most probably reflect the scene of the country instead. The humming birds and monkey painted are animals in Mexican mythology. The folk cultural content will disappear and she will robbery express her self-portrait in another way.I am surprised by the Mexicans attitude to death in the documentary. The way they took death in a celebration manner shocked me. She even painted a dead child and put in on top of her bed. Collection of skeleton in her house showed her close association with death, either death of children or the death itself. I do not agree with Andre Bretons description of Kohl's work as surrealist. Friday Kohl painted her own stories, she did not paint dreams. The dream-like fantasy atmosphere she painted is a metaphor to her own life.Her pain and Joy were represented by elements that are irrational and imaginary. They were all what she had been through, but not dream. In my point of view, Friday Kohl was an amazing independent artist. In response to her tragic life, she painted. She triumphed over her life problems by her own strength and self- determination. Painting the reality helped in expressing her pain and tears, a way of releasing perhaps helped in easing her suffering process. She revealed her life in art and this has helped to address the issues to the public that serves as a reminder and encouragement.