| The Lovers | |
|---|---|
| Frida Kahlo
(1907-54) was born in Mexico City, the third daughter of a devout Mexican woman of Spanish and Indian descent, and of a Jewish German-born photographer, Guillermo Kahlo. Her earliest years coincided with the bloody Mexican Revolution. At 18, a bus accident left her with lifelong physical and mental pain. She began painting in 1926 while recuperating. Frida married Rivera in 1929, divorced him in 1939, and remarried him a year later. In the 1940's her career grew to rival that of her husband. Much of her work, especially the many self-portraits--such as Self-Portrait with Cropped Hair (1940)--are full of symbolism reflecting obsessions with pain, fertility, desolation, and--above all--Rivera himself. |
Diego Rivera
(1886-1957) was a child prodigy who went to Mexico's national art school, the San Carlos Academy, when he was just 10 years old. In 1907, at age 20, he was awarded a scholarship to study in Europe. There he befriended, and was influenced by, te pioneer Cubists, including Picasso. He was soon taken, though, by the idea of a monumental public art that would inspire ordinary people, draw on the rich culture of Mexico, and convey the revolutionary Marxist gospel. Encouraged by the Socialist Mexican government to revive fresco painting, Rivera became a master mural painter. His major works included frescoes for the Ministry of Education, the National Agricultural School at Chapingo, and the Detroit Institute of Arts. |
