BOOK REVIEW: FRIDA KAHLO - Song of Herself

a multifaceted view of the Mexican artist growing out of an interview with her

FRIDA KAHLO - Song of Herself by Salomon Grimberg, Foreword by Hayden Herrera. Merrell Publishers, London and New York; merrellpublishers.com; Rob.Moore@60cyclemedia.com. 2008. 160 pages. $22.95 hardcover, ISBN 978-1-8589-4438-8. color illustrations, photographs, notes, index.

The core of the book is a series of interviews an Olga Campos had with Kahlo when Campos was a student. In the book, it is more like a monologue than a typical interview format. There's no question-and-response: Kahlo's words on a variety of subjects have been grouped together. Among the subjects are Children, Animals, Social Conscience, and My Body. As expected, the Mexican artist's words on each subject are vivid, direct, revealing, honest, and personal--like her paintings.

There's also considerable ancillary material, though it does not overshadow the interview. Sections by Grimberg named as the author, a psychoanalytic art historian, are the Introduction and following essay "With the Image in the Mirror" with material and commentary on Fahlo's life, personality, and art. Campos contributes the memoir "My Memory of Frida" preceding the rearrangement of the content of her interviews. After the lengthy part in Khalo's own words are sections on the artist's medical history and a psychological assessment of her. The variety of material--vintage and later, subjective and objective, medical and critical--presents a complex picture fitting for this most complex and fragile of artists.

This work is a companion to the recently-published Frida Khalo - The Still Lifes from the same publisher also authored by Grimberg. Together the two books offer a fresh look at Kahlo in light of material which is new or has been neglected.