Yesterday, the Museum Marta Herford kicks off its anniversary year with intimate insights into the life of Frida Kahlo. The Mexican artist is world famous for her colour-intensive pictures, but it was only 50 years after her death that a huge private photo archive was discovered which documents her life and collecting in black and white.

For the first time in Germany, Marta Herford presents an exquisite selection: 241 photographs which served the artist as mementores, a source of inspiration and working material. Pictures by important photographers such as Man Ray, Martin Munkácsi, Brassaï and others are combined with photos by unknown photographers and by Frida Kahlo herself to form compelling document of her time.

I recommend her to you, not as a husband but as an enthusiastic admirer of her work, acid and tender, hard as steel and delicate and fine as a butterfly's wing, loveable as a beautiful smile, and profound and cruel as the bitterness of life.

Diego Rivera

Marta Herford begins the exhibition season 2015 with the extraordinary exhibition project "Frida Kahlo – the photos". In cabinets reminiscent of the colours in Kahlo's paintings, more than 60 years after the death of the Mexican artist (1907–1954) the museum is showing a selection from her extensive photo archive which was presented to the public for the first time in 2007. In her treasure trove of pictures Frida collected photos of friends, of her family, of Diego Rivera, but also of herself taken by unknown photographers. The first presentation of her collection in Germany comprises 241 photographs put together by Pablo Ortiz Monasterio for the Museo Frida Kahlo in Mexico. In six central theme areas ranging from the origins to the blue house, her damaged body, her loved ones, right up to politics, revolution and Diego, the exhibition illuminates the important role that the photographic image played in the life of the painter Frida Kahlo.

The medium of photography took on a special significance from an early age for the daughter of a German—Hungarian professional photographer who emigrated from Germany to Mexico at the age of 18. The numerous portraits that Guillermo Kahlo made of his daughter display not only her self-confident manner in front of the camera but also left Frida with a deep consciousness of the graphic power of self-staging. Works by famous photographers such as Man Ray, Martin Munkácsi, Brassaï, Tina Modotti, Lola and Manual Álvarez Bravo as well as Edward Weston are mixed with pictures of writers or artists who were her friends or who she admired.

The life and work of Frida Kahlo are inextricably interwoven with each other, which is also reflected in her photo collection. Her damaged body, her pain and suffering, but also her loves, are recurrent themes in the photographs. Nickolas Muray, with whom she also had a relationship, shows her in very intimate and vulnerable poses. Other photos are evidence of how her body was increasingly scarred by illness. This image is interrupted by pictures showing her in the company of her friends, relaxing or partying – happy scenes that express her joie de vivre. It is also remarkable how she treated the photographs: for the artist they were treasured and familiar objects which she coloured and cut, marking them with thoughts and notes, and sometimes even with kisses.

Another room is dedicated to the subject of politics, revolution and Diego. The pictures make the political atmosphere of the times palpable. The documentations of industrial buildings such as the Ford works in Detroit are juxtaposed with the leaders of Russian socialism, Lenin, Trotsky and Stalin. Many of the photos also show the Mexican artist Diego Rivera to whom Frida was married from 1929 and who remained a focal point of her romantic and emotional life.

Venuew.- Marta Herford Museum. Goebenstr. 2–10, 32052 Herford. Germany.
Dates.- 1 February to 10 May 2015.

Title Frida Kahlo – Her photos.
Curator.-. Pablo Ortiz Monasterio.
Exhibition organizers at Marta Herford.- Roland Nachtigäller (artistic director). Ann Kristin Kreisel (assistant curator). Friederike Fast (curator).
Exhibits 241 photographs.
Artists Frida Kahlo; Man Ray, Martin Munkácsi, Edward Weston, Brassaï, Tina Modotti and others.
Exhibition area ca. 400 m²

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José Juan Barba (1964) architect from ETSA Madrid in 1991. Special Mention in the National Finishing University Education Awards 1991. PhD in Architecture ETSAM, 2004. He founded his professional practice in Madrid in 1992 (www.josejuanbarba.com). He has been an architecture critic and editor-in-chief of METALOCUS magazine since 1999, and he advised different NGOs until 1997. He has been a lecturer (in Design, Theory and Criticism, and Urban planning) and guest lecturer at different national and international universities (Roma TRE, Polytechnic Milan, ETSA Madrid, ETSA Barcelona, UNAM Mexico, Univ. Iberoamericana Mexico, University of Thessaly Volos, FA de Montevideo, Washington, Medellin, IE School, U.Alicante, Univ. Europea Madrid, UCJC Madrid, ESARQ-U.I.C. Barcelona,...).

Maître de Conférences IUG-UPMF Grenoble 2013-14. Full assistant Professor, since 2003 up to now at the University of Alcalá School of Architecture, Madrid, Spain. And Jury in competitions as Quaderns editorial magazine (2011), Mies van der Rohe Awards, (2010-2024), Europan13 (2015). He has been invited to participate in the Biennale di Venezia 2016 as part "Spaces of Exception / Spazi d'Eccezione".

He has published several books, the last in 2016, "#positions" and in 2015 "Inventions: New York vs. Rem Koolhaas, Bernard Tschumi, Piranesi " and collaborations on "Spaces of Exception / Spazi d'Eccezione", "La Mansana de la discordia" (2015), "Arquitectura Contemporánea de Japón: Nuevos territorios" (2015)...

Awards.-

- Award. RENOVATION OF SEGURA RIVER ENVIRONMENT, Murcia, Sapin, 2010.
- First Prize, RENOVATION GRAN VÍA, “Delirious Gran Vía”, Madrid, Spain, 2010.
- First Prize, “PANAYIOTI MIXELI Award”. SADAS-PEA, for the Spreading of Knowledge of Architecture Athens, 2005.
- First Prize, “SANTIAGO AMÓN Award," for the Spreading of Knowledge of Architecture. 2000.
- Award, “PIERRE VAGO Award." ICAC -International Committee of Art Critics. London, 2005.
- First Prize, C.O.A.M. Madrid, 2000. Shortlisted, World Architecture Festival. Centro de Investigación e Interpretación de los Ríos. Tera, Esla y Orbigo, Barcelona, 2008.
- First Prize. FAD AWARD 07 Ephemeral Interventions. “M.C.ESCHER”. Arquin-Fad. Barcelona, Sapin 2007.

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Published on: February 2, 2015
Cite: "Frida Kahlo – Her photos" METALOCUS. Accessed
<https://www.metalocus.es/en/news/frida-kahlo-her-photos> ISSN 1139-6415
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