Understanding Frida Kahlo A Lust for Life

When professor Carl Bryant instructs his class on the culture of Mexico, his exuberance reaches its peak when he delves into the art and politics of one of Mexico’s most inspirational icons –– artist Frida Kahlo.

But spending only two days on Kahlo’s monumental talent always left Bryant’s students wanting to know more. As a result of intense student interest in Kahlo’s life and art, Bryant, an educator associate professor at the University of Cincinnati, will begin a new spring undergraduate romance languages & literature course titled "Frida Kahlo's Mexico" (SPAN1092). This course will provide an overview of Mexican muralism and social realism and will examine the culture and history of Mexico contemporaneous to Frida during the first half of the 20th century.

Kahlo’s recent iconic revival demonstrated by a current resurgence of exhibitions, books and

tribute in the

New York Times

has added to her Latin American fascination. Evidence of Kahlo's resurgence can be found even here in Greater Cincinnati. The facade of a recently opened restaurant named for Kahlo features a large mural of her visage.

To add depth to his comprehensive course, Bryant will converge his pedagogy with disciplines such as art history, Mexican history, politics and sociology.

“To understand Frida Kahlo –– the person and her paintings –– one must first step outside a typical point of view and look at her vibrant life through more of an historical lens,” says Bryant. “Kahlo was a revolutionary artist during a time of personal pain and political chaos in her homeland of Mexico.”

And while the artist realistically portrays her own image in many of her paintings, right down to the iconic "monobrow" and soft mustache, she ironically exaggerated the date of her birth by three years.

Was it an ego thing? Not quite. By shaving off three years from 1907 to 1910 as the actual year of her birth, Bryant explains that Kahlo put her emergence into the world right in the heart of the outbreak of the Mexican Revolution or the thing with which she most identified –– Mexico.

In addition to her love of Mexico and the scars she carried from a streetcar accident in her teens, Kahlo’s unconventional and turbulent marriage to Diego Rivera truly embodied her life. These overwhelming events became the primary subject matter that were brought to life as flamboyant and often gory scenes on her canvases.

FRIDAMANIA

These facts and more details about Kahlo’s ebullient life, art and politics will be examined in Bryant’s new course, and will include a review and discussion of the Hollywood-produced film about her life titled “Frida,” starring Salma Hayek.

As director of undergraduate studies and professor of romance languages in the McMicken College of Arts and Sciences, Bryant will offer the undergraduate course as part of Romance Languages and Literatures starting in January 2016.

“For years I have taught on the culture of Mexico, but now I am offering a course specifically on the Mexican artist, herself,” says Bryant. “My students and I always find her fascinating –– enough to now devote a whole semester just on Frida, to really appreciate her life and the contribution she brought to her country and the world.”

For Bryant, Kahlo represents so much about Mexico. The flamboyant way she dressed, her controversial political beliefs and her sometimes-crude behavior all spoke to her strong allegiance to her country, as well as the physical and mental pain she carried.

“To look at her artwork is to understand Kahlo, and to understand Kahlo is to understand her artwork,"

says Bryant.

Throughout her 47-year life, Kahlo endured repeated corrective surgeries as a result of the accident in her teens. Adding her tumultuous life with husband Diego Rivera and their ongoing affairs, Kahlo alternately languished and painted intensely personal works. Over a third of her entire oeuvre –– about 55 paintings –– consists of self-portraits, often as a form of cathartic expression.

“Because it is all such a personal revelation, you can see what was going on in her life –– her pain and suffering, her loves and her joys," says Bryant. “When she was upset with Diego she would cut off her hair. You could see this in some of her self-portraits she painted as her hair was growing back.”

Bryant explains that Kahlo was a powerful woman with a complex sexuality. And while her love of Diego was central to her life, their relationship was often fraught with affairs on both their parts.

In addition, Bryant plans to discuss Kahlo’s circle of friends and their Marxist and Communist beliefs that were strongly represented in her paintings.

To get into the heart of Frida, Bryant’s discussions will involve many of Kahlo’s iconic paintings and he looks forward to describing the emotion in her work. One example of her more well-know paintings, “The Two Fridas,” is symbolic of her pain during her divorce from her husband Rivera and the subsequent transitioning of her constructed identity.

Because so much of Kahlo’s life revolves around her self-portraits, Bryant plans to include serious discussions about artistic comparisons and hopes her work will draw a strong response from his students.

“A fundamental misunderstanding about art is that people think it’s only for the elite or for a certain group of people,” says Bryant. “But I feel it should be approachable for everyone and should elicit a reaction.

“It can be a negative reaction, but at least it’s a reaction.”

In the future, Bryant is looking forward to teaching “Frida Kahlo’s Mexico” as an honors course, which would include a trip to Mexico to tour Kahlo’s home –– now a museum –– and other Mexican museums that display her work.

UC’ spring 2016 priority registration officially opened on Oct. 12, and open web registration begins Nov. 23.

For more information about the course “Frida Kahlo’s Mexico,” contact

carl.bryant@uc.edu