Frida Kahlo And Arte Popular

A visionary and extremely independent artist, Frida Kahlo (1907-1954) drew inspiration throughout her career from arte popular - painted ceramics, embroidered textiles, religious votives, children's effigies and toys, and other objects created in rural and indigenous communities in Mexico.

The hundreds of folk art objects that filled her home and studio reflect her nationalist politics and her fascination with the work of sculptors, weavers, papier-mâché carvers and vernacular painters. She represented these objects in her paintings and adopted elements of traditional clothing and ornamentation in her own presentation, playing on the modernist fascination with popular culture and her own relationship to stratified Mexican identity.

The first in-depth study of the arte popular in Frida Kahlo's work, this book situates the artist within the major artistic and intellectual movements of her time and highlights the innovative techniques she employed.