A photo of Frida Kahlo from 1932. Kahlo kept a large photo collection that remained private for decades after her death. Photo: Copyright Frida Kahlo Museum.
The Glenbow Museum in Calgary is going to be presenting the first Canadian showing of “Frida Kahlo: Her Photos” from February 3 to May 20, 2018.
Organized by the Frida Kahlo Museum in Mexico, the show has already travelled to 12 cities in 7 countries, and has received more than half a million visitors.
This will be the first time for Canadian Kahlo fans to get a look. Prior to 2007, the images were kept privately in the Kahlo estate archives for more than 50 years.
While Kahlo’s paintings are famous, her relationship with photography is often less well known. Throughout her life, Kahlo collected photographs of herself and her loved ones as well as scenes of Mexican culture, politics, art, history and nature. This collection provides insight into her philosophy, personal life and practice.
The Glenbow show will present a selection of more than 240 images from a collection of 6,500 photographs from the archives of Casa Azul (the Blue House)—the residence where Frida Kahlo spent most of her life.
The photographs were locked away in a room of the Blue House along with many of Kahlo’s belongings after her death in 1954. This collection was only revealed to the public 10 years ago.
The exhibition includes photographs by Kahlo, as well as photographs by Man Ray, Martin Munkácsi, Tina Modotti, Edward Weston, Nickolas Muray and Manuel and Lola
Álvarez Bravo, among many others.
