Frida Kahlo ~ Through the Lens of Nickolas Muray

Written by Jean Fisher Friday, 17 September 2010 22:06

COLORADO SPRINGS, CO – The Fine Arts Center is proud to present, Frida Kahlo: Through the Lens of Nickolas Muray, an exhibition from Muray’s personal archives at the FAC MODERN in Colorado Springs in the Plaza of the Rockies. The exhibition of photographic portraits of the iconic Mexican painter runs from July 1-Sept. 30. To celebrate Kahlo’s 100^th birthday – she was born July 6, 1907 in Mexico – the FAC has teamed with Kimball’s Twin Peak Theater, to show the 2002 Miramax Films’ Frida, starring Salma Hayek, who was nominated for an Academy Award ® for Best Actress. The movie earned six nominations, winning in makeup and score.

From the Nickolas Muray Archives
Hungarian-born American Nickolas Muray photographed many famous people from the political, artistic, and social arenas, including Marilyn Monroe, Dwight Eisenhower and Babe Ruth, and his work was regularly featured in Harper's Bazaar, Vanity Fair, McCall's and the Ladies Home Journal. He was also a two-time U.S. Olympic fencer (1928, 1932).

Between 1920 and 1940, Muray took over 10,000 portraits, however, his print, Frida Kahlo, c. 1939, became his best known and loved portrait. Similarly, many world-class photographers took pictures of Kahlo, including her father, Guillermo. But Muray’s photography has become known as some of the very best and most famous images taken of Kahlo.

Nearly 50 photographic portraits taken of Kahlo comprise this exhibition. The photographs, dating from 1937 to 1941, explore Muray's unique perspective; in the 1930-40s he was Kahlo’s friend, lover and confidant.

“The standout images are Muray's more formal portraits of his lover. The photographic techniques available to Muray in the late '30s and early '40s created layered colors that have an almost painted effect, and are delicious to look at now.” – Publishers Weekly

The exhibit includes many pioneering, early color images, which have a luminous quality. The photographs depict Kahlo in a fashion similar to her own self-portraits. The lush, saturated colors do full justice to the elaborate costumes that were an intrinsic part of Kahlo’s self-image.

She is shown in many of the photographs in this exhibition wearing traditional dresses – heavily patterned or embroidered garments from Oaxaca, which reflected her love of her Mexican heritage. Muray had never publicly displayed the pictures, and they were completely unknown until 1993, when Muray's daughter, Mimi Muray Levitt, found the negatives while going through a trunk full of her father's work and decided to have the negatives developed.

Founded in 1936, the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center is a privately funded, non-profit art museum, performing arts theatre, and arts education center. The two-story, 48,000 square-foot expansion to be unveiled Aug. 2-5 during the Extremely Grand Opening was conceived and designed by award-winning architect and Colorado Springs native David Owen Tryba to complement the original 1936 John Gaw Meem building, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The FAC MODERN Plaza of the Rockies - 1st Floor, South Tower - 121 South Tejon Street - Visit www.csfineartscenter.org.