Lot Essay
A phtograph of Frida Kahlo (1907-1954) taken in her mid to late teens shows her wearing a large crucifx around her neck. Though the crucifix disappears in subsequent photographs the early lessons of catholicism return often, either as imagery in her paintings or as a source for her compositions.
Yet,it is not until Kahlo paints herself in Memory that one must ask whether Kahlo remained, at least internally, deeply religious, and whether in moments of unbearable agony she turned to religion for spiritual solace. This could be a reason why, consciously or unconsciously, she used religious imagery as a lietmotif in her paintings. In the icongraphy for memory, Kahlo clearly follows verbatin Santa Teresa de Jesus' (1515-82) description of her Transverberation, or "the piercing of her heart by the arrow of Divine love."
Like Teresa, Kahlo, in Memory, places herself as the recipient of a fusion of profane with religious love: she establishes her identity as martyr, paralleling her passion to that of the 16th century Spanish saint.
Kahlo appears to recall a similar situation, a time she felt her own heart pierced by the arrow of love, eviscerated and, as in the the painting on the lower left, abandoned in a puddle of blood. The roots of Kahlo's heart imagery can be found in the Mexican retablos she collected.
Kahlo, in Memory, also conveys the ambiguity of her situation: her right foot is placed on solid ground while her left wears a sailboat -- symbol of Christ's walking on water - that floats on the water's edge. In the absence of a shadow, it is difficult to assess whether she is actually standing or is suspended in midair. She seems paralyzed, unsure of what to do or where to turn.
Kahlo's predicament is intensified by the way she palces herself between land and sea, with the shoreline painted a s razors's edge that rises between her feet, as if to slice her in half and bring an end to the torture - surely a desperate compromise to resolve her paralyzing ambivalence. The back of memory revelas that Kahlo originally presented herself standing on a narrow base, making movemnt more difficult.
Hayden Herrera has retraced the events in Kahlo's life that preceded the painting of Memory, leaving no doubt that in Memory Kahlo is recalling the time when she discovered her husband Diego Rivera's affair with her sister Cristina, an affair that probably began sometime after Rivera's return to Mexico from New York in 1933 and which probably lasted about two years. During this time, the despondent Rivera withdrew emotionally from Kahlo and his art.
The imagery in Memory is more complex. It refers not only to Kahlo's painful recollection of the situation between Diego and Cristina, but also to the time when, as an adolescent schoolgirl, she decided to pursue Rivera and become his wife. (They were married on August 22, 1929) Kahlo suggests this in some of the compostion's telling elemtns, for example, the two dresses which hang from the sky. On her right, over the shore, hangs what looks like Kahlo's schoolgirl dress. On her left, over the ocean, hangs the style of Mexican dress Kahlo began to wear to please Rivera after their marriage. Kahlo has painted herself armless -- "helpless" as biographer Herrera points out. Yet, Kahlo has attached a missing arm to each dress. The gesture of the arms reveals Kahlo's predicament and final choice. The arm on the schoolgirl dress is outstretched, beckoning a parting Kahlo; the arm on the Mexican dress is "arm in arm" with Kahlo's armless sleeve, pulling her toward the ocean. Kahlo has painted herself crying, ambivalent over leaving solid ground with only one small sailboat to endure the uncertainty of the ocean that Rivera's love, because of its dangerous unpredictability, represents.
Had Kahlo asked what forces made her behave against her better judgement, she would have replied without hesitation, "Fate". Rivera, she said in an interview, had been her "second accident", not considering that maybe his coming into her life had not been an accident at all, but a predetermined unconcious act.
(Excerpted from S. Grimberg Frida Kahlo's Memory: The Piercing Arrow of Divine Love see ref. above)
We are grateful to Dr. Grimberg for his generous help in cataloguing this painting.
Yet,it is not until Kahlo paints herself in Memory that one must ask whether Kahlo remained, at least internally, deeply religious, and whether in moments of unbearable agony she turned to religion for spiritual solace. This could be a reason why, consciously or unconsciously, she used religious imagery as a lietmotif in her paintings. In the icongraphy for memory, Kahlo clearly follows verbatin Santa Teresa de Jesus' (1515-82) description of her Transverberation, or "the piercing of her heart by the arrow of Divine love."
Like Teresa, Kahlo, in Memory, places herself as the recipient of a fusion of profane with religious love: she establishes her identity as martyr, paralleling her passion to that of the 16th century Spanish saint.
Kahlo appears to recall a similar situation, a time she felt her own heart pierced by the arrow of love, eviscerated and, as in the the painting on the lower left, abandoned in a puddle of blood. The roots of Kahlo's heart imagery can be found in the Mexican retablos she collected.
Kahlo, in Memory, also conveys the ambiguity of her situation: her right foot is placed on solid ground while her left wears a sailboat -- symbol of Christ's walking on water - that floats on the water's edge. In the absence of a shadow, it is difficult to assess whether she is actually standing or is suspended in midair. She seems paralyzed, unsure of what to do or where to turn.
Kahlo's predicament is intensified by the way she palces herself between land and sea, with the shoreline painted a s razors's edge that rises between her feet, as if to slice her in half and bring an end to the torture - surely a desperate compromise to resolve her paralyzing ambivalence. The back of memory revelas that Kahlo originally presented herself standing on a narrow base, making movemnt more difficult.
Hayden Herrera has retraced the events in Kahlo's life that preceded the painting of Memory, leaving no doubt that in Memory Kahlo is recalling the time when she discovered her husband Diego Rivera's affair with her sister Cristina, an affair that probably began sometime after Rivera's return to Mexico from New York in 1933 and which probably lasted about two years. During this time, the despondent Rivera withdrew emotionally from Kahlo and his art.
The imagery in Memory is more complex. It refers not only to Kahlo's painful recollection of the situation between Diego and Cristina, but also to the time when, as an adolescent schoolgirl, she decided to pursue Rivera and become his wife. (They were married on August 22, 1929) Kahlo suggests this in some of the compostion's telling elemtns, for example, the two dresses which hang from the sky. On her right, over the shore, hangs what looks like Kahlo's schoolgirl dress. On her left, over the ocean, hangs the style of Mexican dress Kahlo began to wear to please Rivera after their marriage. Kahlo has painted herself armless -- "helpless" as biographer Herrera points out. Yet, Kahlo has attached a missing arm to each dress. The gesture of the arms reveals Kahlo's predicament and final choice. The arm on the schoolgirl dress is outstretched, beckoning a parting Kahlo; the arm on the Mexican dress is "arm in arm" with Kahlo's armless sleeve, pulling her toward the ocean. Kahlo has painted herself crying, ambivalent over leaving solid ground with only one small sailboat to endure the uncertainty of the ocean that Rivera's love, because of its dangerous unpredictability, represents.
Had Kahlo asked what forces made her behave against her better judgement, she would have replied without hesitation, "Fate". Rivera, she said in an interview, had been her "second accident", not considering that maybe his coming into her life had not been an accident at all, but a predetermined unconcious act.
(Excerpted from S. Grimberg Frida Kahlo's Memory: The Piercing Arrow of Divine Love see ref. above)
We are grateful to Dr. Grimberg for his generous help in cataloguing this painting.