Mexican exhibit sheds light on lives of Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera

MEXICO CITY —  For more than 50 years, intimate photos and documents belonging to Mexico's Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera had been locked away in their private Mexico City resident.

Now, new personal letters, manuscripts, official documents and photographs are on display in Rivera's former San Angel studio and home which he once shared with Kahlo.

In an exhibition called: "Correspondencias... Archivos y fondos del Cenidiap" (Correspondence... Files and funds from the Cenidiap - National Research Centre, Documentation and Information of Plastic Arts), never before seen documents belonging to Kahlo, Rivera as well as several important Mexican artists will be inaugurated on Friday May 6.

The show - which was organised by the Cenidiap and the INBA, the National Institute of Fine Arts - contains a collection of historical testimonials about the daily life of the artists and relationships between them.

"It's a reflection of life. It's a reflection of the processes of artists, the processes of creation. But it's also a reflection of human relations. The contacts between artists. The letters between them in the strict sense of how they communicated during years when the internet did not exist, when social media did not exist," said exhibition curator, Eduardo Espinoza.

Espinoza explained the exhibit intends to show rare material belonging to Kahlo, Rivera, Gabriel Fernandez Ledesma, Isabel Villasenor, Francisco Goitia and Leopoldo Mendez and expose significant connections between their communications.

Rivera's studio was chosen as the venue because it was emblematic during the time when some letters were written between such artists.

"To see and explore aspects of these important artists like Diego and Frida, as well as Leopoldo Mendez, etc. Diverse aspects that belong to their intimate life. You'll see in some documents that they were written in this area and on these furnishings and they are returning here," said academic co-ordinator of the project, Carlos Guevara.

Topics on exhibition are separated into four categories: "Power and politics," "Education and work," "Love and friendship," and finally "Illness and death."

In the first category, a telegram written by Rivera, addressed to former Mexican President Lazaro Cardenas, protests against the destruction of a mural by Juan O'Gorman at Mexico City's old airport to be replaced by political propaganda with Alberto Beltran drawings.

Section "Education and work," shows official INBA documents with acquired works by Goitia and Mendez as well as education certificates and official documents belonging to Pablo O'Higgins.

A photo featuring Rivera when he was four years old, telegrams and notes he wrote to Mexican actresses Maria Felix and Dolores del Rio and a note confirming attendance to the wedding of Fernandez Ledesma with Villasenor, are shown in the section: "Love and friendship."

In "Illness and death," letters regarding the health of Goitia and Mendez are featured as well as a text following Kahlo's death.

Photos taken by photographer Kati Horna and an audio recording by Rivera himself as well as two short films titled: "Diego Rivera. Portrait of a Painter" from 1952 and "Frida Kahlo" (1972) will be shown during the exhibit which ends on July 17.

Kahlo and Rivera are two of Mexico's most celebrated figures, and their on-off stormy marriage was among the most prominent of the 20th century art world. — Reuters