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Snapshots of a creative force

Through photos and love letters, the essence of Frida Kahlo is revealed.

By TIFFANI SHERMAN, Times Correspondent
Published October 26, 2007

ADVERTISEMENT [Gulf Coast Museum of Art] Nickolas Muray and Frida Kahlo had a 10-year on-again, off-again affair that ended in 1941. Her work was overshadowed by her husband's in her life.

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then 47 photographs must tell a life story.

The photographic exhibit "Frida Kahlo: Through the Lens of Nickolas Muray" opens Saturday at the Gulf Coast Museum of Art in Largo and runs through Jan. 6.

Kahlo, the Mexican painter, and Muray had a love affair during the 1930s and '40s, and the photos tell Kahlo's story during that time.

"This will be the first place that this exhibit will be seen and the only stop in Florida," said Michelle Turman, 34, the executive director and chief curator of the Gulf Coast Museum of Art.

"Some people will come because they know Frida Kahlo, and others will come because they know Nickolas Muray is a pioneer."

During his career, the Hungarian-born Muray photographed some of the most popular actors, artists and politicians of his time. He came to the United States in 1913 and several years later opened a portrait studio in New York's Greenwich Village.

Muray and Kahlo were at the height of their on-again, off-again, 10-year love affair when he began photographing her using the Carbro technique, a then-controversial method of using special papers and processing.

With the exhibit, "you can appreciate the process of his photography, and it will also give some insight into both of their personal lives," Turman said.

Their affair began in 1931, after Muray had divorced his second wife and shortly after Kahlo had married Mexican muralist Diego Rivera. It outlived Muray's third marriage and Kahlo's divorce and remarriage to Rivera by one year, ending in 1941.

Excerpts from love letters Kahlo and Muray sent each other will be on display. The wall labels will be in both English and Spanish.

"That is something we decided to do to go that extra mile," Turman said.

During two special performances, museumgoers will hear a theatrical interpretation of that period in Kahlo's life.

"I become Frida's voice," said playwright and actor Nan Colton of St. Petersburg.

On Nov. 11 and Dec. 2, Colton will present a performance she wrote, called Frida Kahlo: Unforgettable.

Slides of the photographs will play behind Colton as she embodies Kahlo talking about her memories.

To research her role, Colton read Kahlo's diary, watched videos of her, read biographies and watched the popular 2002 movie Frida, which starred Salma Hayek.

Kahlo's artwork wasn't really noticed until after her death in 1954 because she was overshadowed by Rivera, her famous husband.

Now through the images shot by Muray, people can glean a clearer picture of the woman behind the artist.

"People are going to be able to experience a photography exhibition that is a lot more than just the medium," Turman said.

"You're not just putting photographs on a wall. You're telling a story."

If you to

Portraitsof an artist

Where: Gulf Coast Museum of Art, 12211 Walsingham Road, Largo, www.gulfcoastmuseum.org or (727) 518-6833.

When: Saturday through Jan. 6. Museum is closed Mondays.

Cost: $8 adults, $7 seniors, $4 college students, $4 youth, free for 6 and younger.

'Frida Kahlo: Unforgettable' performances

When: Nov. 11 and Dec. 2, from 2 to 3 p.m. in the museum auditorium.

Cost: $20 for museum members, $25 for nonmembers.

[Last modified October 25, 2007, 20:52:05]