Frida and Me

A year before the artist’s death, a singular painting by Frida Kahlo was on view at the Norton Museum of Art in the 1953 exhibition Mexican Paintings: A Group of Twelve. In the nearly 70 years since, no other artwork by Kahlo has been on view at the Norton. That gap is soon to be resolved, however, with the presentation of Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera and Mexican Modernism from the Jacques and Natasha Gelman Collection, opening October 23. In dialogue with and anticipation of that exhibition, Frida and Me is an intimate grouping of collection-based paintings, works on paper, and photographs that consider Kahlo’s influence. This is seen through the work of contemporary artists, such as Miriam Schapiro and Yasumasa Morimura, who faithfully engage with Kahlo’s self-portraits, while also highlighting artists who established Mexico’s modernism alongside her, including Rufino Tamayo and Tina Modotti, among others.

Miriam Schapiro (American, born Canada, 1923-2015), Frida and Me, 1990

Manuel Álvarez Bravo (Mexican, 1902-2002), From the portfolio Photographs by Manuel Álvarez Bravo, Caja de Visiones (Box of Visions), 1930s, printed 1977