FINDING FRIDA KAHLO earns a starred review in Publishers Weekly

Friday, 02 October, 2009

“This beautiful book poetically offers a fresh look at one of art’s iconic women, and though Kahlo is the protagonist of the project, Levine’s journey includes us all.”
—Publishers Weekly

P U B L I S H E R S W E E K LY ■ 42 O C T O B E R 5 , 2 0 0 9
★ Finding Frida Kahlo
Barbara Levine with Stephen Jaycox.
Princeton Architectural, $50 (256p) ISBN 978-
1-56898-830-6
Independent curator Levine (Around
the World) encountered a mysterious, important
and long-hidden collection of
more than 1,200 of what are reputed to
be Frida Kahlo’s personal items in the
back room of an antiques store in San
Miguel de Allende, Mexico. (The Associated
Press has reported that the Diego
Rivera and Frida Kahlo Trust has
charged that the materials in this book
are forged. Mexican prosecutors are investigating.)
Levine and Jaycox meticulously
document the unpacking of the
archive from five trunks, suitcases and
boxes, and guide readers through the
contents with reproductions of letters
and diaries, and photos of Kahlo’s drawings
and personal effects. Levine finds it
all illuminating, not only regarding
Kahlo but also “the universally human
tendencies that the archive represents.”
Levine’s interview with the antiques store
owners recounts their fascinating
acquisition of the pieces while the “visual
exploration” focuses on Kahlo’s impassioned
love and hatred for her husband,
Diego Rivera, whom she calls an “evil fat
toad,” and her anxiety over her amputated
leg, which manifests itself in her obsession
with flight (“What do I want feet
for/ If I have wings to fly”). This beautiful
book poetically offers a fresh look at
one of art’s iconic women, and though
Kahlo is the protagonist of the project,
Levine’s journey includes us all. (Nov.)