![]() ![]() ![]() So it’s actually pretty unusual for certain intellectuals to express that deeply felt appreciation for the natural world in their form of creative expression. There was a period earlier in the twentieth century, where in some ways the standard rhetoric was that humans were superior to the natural world-humans were superior to animals, humans were superior to plants. I say this because today we live in a moment where we’re very attuned to environmental justice and climate change. They are now trying to give pride of place to Mesoamerican and indigenous and Indian culture, in a context that, prior to the revolution, had really suppressed that root of Mexico’s heritage to prioritize the Hispanic or the European.Īnd this is also stressed by Kahlo, in the sense of this interdependence of humans with the natural world. ![]() Revolutionary intellectuals are reformulating their understanding of Mexican national identity. In the Mexican context, hybridity becomes a very important concept in the Twenties. The way I articulate that at the highest level is Kahlo’s interest in the notion of hybridity. What are the main ideas that you’re hoping to convey through this exhibition? And at that moment, I said “If I had only one Frida Kahlo painting, if it’s this one, I can make a narrative.” When I was informed by the registrar at the Ransom Center that they were going to lend us this painting-and not just this painting, but both of their paintings-it was literally one of the great moments of my career. I now look at this painting as Kahlo emerging as a kind of human plant out of this tropical environment. Here is evidence of the way that at various moments in her career, in numerous works, Kahlo actually was experimenting with depicting herself as a human-plant hybrid. So I think about the Ransom Center’s Self Portrait with Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird as in dialog with that concept. For me, the painting really represents Kahlo’s interest in depicting the interrelationship, the interdependence, of the human realm and the natural world. She uses the screen of leaves in tandem with the monkey, in tandem with the cat, in tandem with the hummingbird in the amulet. I was looking at all of the self-portraits, and that one immediately rose to the front of the pile. The very first thing that I did was that I assembled a long list of Frida Kahlo’s work where it was really evident that she was not only engaging with the natural world but using natural elements-particularly plants, but animals as well-as a sort of springboard for creativity. What led you to choose the Ransom Center’s Thorn Necklace with Hummingbird for this show? © 2009 Banco de Mexico Diego Rivera & Frida Kahlo Museums Trust. 'Self-portrait with Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird' (1940). Her 2010 book Becoming Modern, Becoming Tradition: Women, Gender, and Representation in Mexican Art received the Avery Prize by the Association of Latin American Art in 2011.įrida Kahlo (Mexican, 1907–1954). Zavala is an associate professor of art history, specializing in modern and contemporary Latin American art, the art of Mexico, and gender studies. ![]() Adriana Zavala of Tufts University, the curator of this exhibition. With a monkey on one shoulder and a cat on the other, she is wearing a necklace of thorns that pierce her neck, hung with the amulet of a dead hummingbird. The self-portrait, the hub of this exhibition, shows the artist in traditional Mexican peasant garb, with her head and shoulders before a screen of leaves. Together with the garden, the exhibition features about a dozen of Kahlo’s paintings and a few of her works on paper. Running through November 1, the exhibition opened in mid-May and features a re-creation of Kahlo’s garden at her Mexico City home, Casa Azul, which she shared with her husband, Diego Rivera. Frida Kahlo’s Self Portrait with Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird and Still Life with Parrot and Fruit, from the Harry Ransom Center’s Nickolas Muray collection of Mexican art, are currently on view at the New York Botanical Garden’s exhibition Frida Kahlo: Art, Garden, Life. ![]()
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