Diary
F R I D A   K A H L O

All images © Estate of Frida Kahlo.

Frida Kahlo ~ 2013 Taschen Diary

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Diary: 124 pages
Publisher: Taschen GmbH; Dsk edition (25 July 2012)
Language: French, German, English
ISBN-10: 3836537818
ISBN-13: 978-3836537810
Product Dimensions: 22 x 1.3 x 17.5 cm

PRODUCT DESCRIPTION

Yes, I know it is 2016 and I'm a little late for a 2013 diary/calendar, but the pictures inside are so beautiful I just have to share them with you. This is a wonderful book not just because it is filled with her most famous paintings but more interestingly her lesser known works which many will find for the first time with this book. I'll go through just some of them which caught my eye with my random thoughts on them, and scans of some are in the gallery below:

Xochitl, Flower of Life (1938) is an oil on metal that is made more striking by the white background; Beauty Parlour (I) or The Perm never fails to make me smile; Portrait of Natasha Gelman is a quieter (quieter for Frida) conventional portrait from 1943 but has a charm about it which I like, especially the eyes and the slightly stubborn, sultry mouth; Portrait of Miquel N. Lira of 1927 is surreally real; Girl with Death Masks (1938) is more what we are familiar with when we think of her work - beautifully disturbed and beautifully disturbing; her famous Self-Portrait of 1948 is here and at 50 x 39.5cm is smaller than many would expect as it is such a huge picture you would think it would be on a huge canvas. The original is now in a private collection.

I love the Self Portrait of 1941 with her name and 'Mexico' etched in black over the portrait. Not as well known as others, for me it is up there. Her head tilted sidewards to our right and her left, there is a soulful sadness in her eyes which follow you eveywhere. The original is in Mexico City, part of the collection of Jacques & Natasha Gelman. It's an unforgettable a wonderful portrait.

Girl in Diapers of 1929 is quite sweet, well sweet if you consider we are in Frida's world though you sense a slight tension in the face as though there is tension around the picture. I love love love Diego and Frieda 1929- 1944 or Double Portrait of Diego and I, 1944! Now this is really unusual, quite strange, quiet serious, quite powerful, well actually powerfully beautiful. The shell surround encloses them in their world. Prisoners or lovers or both? It's a work that deserves to be considered up there with her very best.

The very stylised and glamourous Self Portrait Wearing a Velvet Dress of 1926 is also here. Not one of my favourite pieces, I confess, as to me it is stylised to the point of glamour blandness but I must be in a minority as it is so well known these days.

I'd seen Small Mexican Horse before, a watercolour on paper and done around 1928, and forgotten how brightily charming it was. That is the great thing about this book: you find the pictures you may not know or have forgotten more compelling than the famous ones. Self Portrait with Monkey and Parrot (1942) has not been quite as much reproduced as the others of that nature so it is interesting to find but essentially the same. Still powerful though. Well, The Suicide of Dorothy Hale is also here and though it is very famous it never fails to leave me disturbed though it is very beautiful as she falls from a dreamscape and onto reality at the bottom of the picture. Still Life of 1952 will always be for me a minor work. Now in a private collection.

I love this one: Portrait of Ingo Marte R. Gomez (1944). In some ways it reminds me of Lucian Freud. It's very very bold and I suppose quite unlike alot of Frida's work. The Broken column of 1944 is here and now so famous it has become a symbol of the life of the artist. Ditto Henry Ford Hospital or The Flying Bed of 1932. I wonder how many times these two pictures have been reproduced over the years? A Self-portrait on the bed of Me and My Doll from 1937 was of more interest to me. Tragically weird. That doll is not a doll that caught on commercially, I would guess, and Frida looks so formal. Really beautiful though its as strange now as when it was executed. Another of the Diego/Frida faces split in half 1929-1944 is here though i don't find it quite as beautiful as the one I mentioned previously. Self-portrait with Monkeys (1943) I would say is probably now her most famous work. Again that's here. Fruit of Life (1953) is quite enchanting. Self portrait as a Telmana or Diego in My Mind or Thinking of Diego is here. 1943. And, yes, Diego literally on her mind. The Bride Who Becomes Frightened When She Sees Life Open is again from 1943. I wouldn't say it's one of the most powerful works but it works well enough to always capture the eye. On the other hand, Thinking of Death, again from 1943, is as powerful as anything she ever did. Frida's dark, soulful eyes, deep pools of tension, always catch me. This picture is death, dying, that she too will pass into history. Just gaze over the picture awhile until it draws you in.

A more conventional Portrait of Diego Rivera from 1937 is here. 46 x 32 centimetres. Can't say whether I love or loathe it - it's the type of picture you do admire but you can never say you love. Another Self-portrait - Dedicated to Dr. Eloesser) of 1940 is reproduced. I particularly love this self-portrait with head tilted to one side. Everything is in the eyes, stormy clouds foreboding heaven knows what are behind her stern features. The more conventional Self-portrait of 1930 is here. 65 x 54 cm. Ditto Self-portrait "The Frame", c. 1938, which is of course the cover of the book. Really really famous stuff as is the Frieda and Diego Rivera or Frieda and Diego Rivera of 1931. Hands held but such awkwardness. So near but yet so far.

These are but a few of the reproductions found here. Well worth buying no matter how out of date the calendar is. As everything Taschen produces it is a work of art in itself. The scans below are deliberately not the highest grade or the sharpest as that wouldn't be fair on the beautiful book. They serve to give a flavour of the book; not replace it.