Who’s Finding Frida Kahlo?

by Art Fag City on September 10, 2009 · 12 comments Newswire

POST BY PADDY JOHNSON
art fag city, la times
A letter, purportedly from Kahlo to husband Diego Rivera, calls him the “toad of (her) soul,” with a corresponding drawing. (Barbara Levine, Princeton Architectural Press / August 21, 2009.) Caption and image via: L.A. Times.

What’s fishy about the authenticity of several new Frida-Kahlos reproduced in Barbara Levine’s new book Finding Frida Kahlo? Is it the art or the experts who say it’s a fake? According to many AFC commentors it’s the latter — the publishers even laying charges that our reproduction of the more laughable “Fridas” is without balance. The better journalism, according to Princeton Architectural Press, is Christopher Knight’s L.A. Times article on the dispute—a piece which includes no quotes from the experts deeming the work fake but instead, a significant amount of speculation on reasons why their opinions should be dismissed.  Surely the Mexican art historian Raquel Tibol has some rationale behind her statements, as would Carlos Phillips Olmedo, head of the executive committee of the Diego Rivera-Frida Kahlo Trust at the Central Bank of Mexico, and Latin American dealer Mary-Anne Martin.  Knight claims that as cogs in the market’s wheel, these opinions are tainted.  He cites no specific reasons why they would benefit from labeling the work fake when it’s not and fails to mention that no professional reputation goes untarnished when an expert makes a mistake in attribution.

frida kahlo, disputed, art fag city
Photograph of work purported by Kahlo, published in the Princeton Architectural Press book Finding Frida Kahlo by Barbara Levine. Photograph AFC

But the LATimes paints Knight as an expert witness equipped to debunk these expert opinions since he’s seen the work in question first hand while they have not.  That’s all well and good, but what value does seeing the art in person have if the most that comes out of it is a detailed description of what was viewed?

There was also a traditional Michoacán-style floral batea — a painted wooden tray — decorated with a hot-pink flower bearing Frida’s eyes and initials, a pure white flower bearing those of her notoriously philandering husband and a bright yellow flower hovering above Diego, anonymously and suggestively, like a woman’s flouncing skirt.

Exposition such as this may tell us what the work looks like, but since he hasn’t talked to the experts, he can’t refute specific statements.  The critic also defers on making an assessment himself, claiming he’s not an expert.  This would be fine except that he’s inconsistent on this point.  He’s sure as hell an expert when it comes to establishing credentials, at which point he tells readers he’s seen most of Kahlo’s paintings in person (not to mention the work in question).

frida kahlo, disputed, art fag city
Photograph of work purported by Kahlo, published in the Princeton Architectural Press book Finding Frida Kahlo by Barbara Levine. Photograph AFC

frida kahlo, disputed, art fag city
Photograph of work purported by Kahlo, published in the Princeton Architectural Press book Finding Frida Kahlo by Barbara Levine. Photograph AFC

Now, I’m not an expert either. I haven’t seen the work in person and I don’t have a deep professional history in Latin American art. But, I’m not afraid to say that most of what I’ve seen here doesn’t look right to me and the fact those opinions are based on reproductions doesn’t effect all the observations that led me to this conclusion. For example, the range of technical proficiency in pieces pictured above varies so greatly that it doesn’t look like they’re even made by the same person. I can’t imagine a world in which seeing this work in person would change a basic comparison like that. And all the additional background Knight’s article brings to light, in my opinion, is just noise.

Editors note: I worked at Mary-Anne Fine Art for eight months between 2001-2002.

{ 12 comments }

Giovanni September 10, 2009 at 7:11 pm

Totally agree! That image of Frida as a praying mantis in hell is SO far away from her style it’s not even funny.

Giovanni September 10, 2009 at 3:11 pm

Totally agree! That image of Frida as a praying mantis in hell is SO far away from her style it’s not even funny.

tom moody September 10, 2009 at 9:52 pm

Paddy, you said MIT Press–I think you meant Princeton Architectural Press, which is publishing the “trove,” right? A representative of that publisher said in the comments to your earlier post on this subject that Knight’s article is the “most balanced” account, creating the impression, until you read Knight’s story, that the article has some useful information on the “trove’s” authenticity (which, in reproduction, is fake to the point of being hokey to many AFC commenters). Good grief, Knight says he has no opinion in spite of having seen the work in person! The article mostly offers anecdotes of past encounters with Kahlo’s work and vague smears of the “trove’s” critics as some kind of syndicate (“the “Frida Kahlo Industry”). Balancing inference with innuendo is not balance in the usual sense of “believable.”

tom moody September 10, 2009 at 5:52 pm

Paddy, you said MIT Press–I think you meant Princeton Architectural Press, which is publishing the “trove,” right? A representative of that publisher said in the comments to your earlier post on this subject that Knight’s article is the “most balanced” account, creating the impression, until you read Knight’s story, that the article has some useful information on the “trove’s” authenticity (which, in reproduction, is fake to the point of being hokey to many AFC commenters). Good grief, Knight says he has no opinion in spite of having seen the work in person! The article mostly offers anecdotes of past encounters with Kahlo’s work and vague smears of the “trove’s” critics as some kind of syndicate (“the “Frida Kahlo Industry”). Balancing inference with innuendo is not balance in the usual sense of “believable.”

Christopher Knight September 11, 2009 at 3:50 pm

“Surely the Mexican art historian Raquel Tibol has some rationale behind his statements…”

Mexican art historian Raquel Tibol is a she, not a he.

Christopher Knight September 11, 2009 at 11:50 am

“Surely the Mexican art historian Raquel Tibol has some rationale behind his statements…”

Mexican art historian Raquel Tibol is a she, not a he.

Art Fag City September 11, 2009 at 3:55 pm

Corrections made.

Art Fag City September 11, 2009 at 11:55 am

Corrections made.

Nelleke Nix September 18, 2009 at 5:26 pm

I am, considered very capable to spot most fakes and I am offering Princeton Architectural Press and Barbara Levine hereby to view the actual work if it will be made available to me. In the reproductions it looks all totally “Not By Frida Kahlo” to me, sincerely, Nelleke Nix Artist, curator, collector of Frida and others

Nelleke Nix September 18, 2009 at 1:26 pm

I am, considered very capable to spot most fakes and I am offering Princeton Architectural Press and Barbara Levine hereby to view the actual work if it will be made available to me. In the reproductions it looks all totally “Not By Frida Kahlo” to me, sincerely, Nelleke Nix Artist, curator, collector of Frida and others

Nelleke Nix September 18, 2009 at 5:29 pm

Fakes all of it, Nelleke Nix Donor Frida Kahlo collection to NMWA

Nelleke Nix September 18, 2009 at 1:29 pm

Fakes all of it, Nelleke Nix Donor Frida Kahlo collection to NMWA

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