FRIDA KAHLO: TORMENT AND TRIUMPH [Hardcover]

Malka Drucker (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 1991

Frida Kahlo (1907-1954) was a Mexican artist whose life was nearly as dramatic and fiery as her art. She endured a catastrophic set of physical calamities as a child and young woman, was an active member of the Communist Party, and survived a tempestuous marriage to the artist Diego Rivera. This book includes many photographs of her life alongside her extraordinary paintings, and presents commentary by leading Mexican art historians, stunning reproductions of her most seminal works -- some never before reproduced, and nine gate-folds allowing the reader to examine in detail aspects of her larger works.

--This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

A delicately beautiful woman who smoked and drank "like a mariachi" and enjoyed her own sexual freedom even as she suffered the infidelities of her adored husband Diego Rivera, Kahlo painted ferociously honest visions of her private world. In this first volume of the Bantam-Barnard Biography series, Drucker graphically recounts the artist's devastating accident and tortured physical life with a fearlessness to match Kahlo's own. No apologies are made for Kahlo's many love affairs with both men and women or for her unabashed support of Communism as a means of allaying endemic poverty. Detailed analyses of Kahlo's autobiographical paintings convey the surreal morbidity of Mexican culture as well as the facts of a brief but abundantly gifted life. From the opening scenes of a young, polio-stricken Frida conjuring up an imaginary friend to the final hallucinatory image of the dead artist, we are irresistibly drawn to this woman whose life has much to teach about passion, courage and self-determination. Ages 14-up.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

Grade 7 Up-- A compelling story of one of Mexico's best-known painters. Kahlo once said, "I have suffered two accidents in my life . . . one in which a streetcar ran over me. The other is Diego." Suffering damage to her spine and legs in the first of these accidents when she was 18 years old, she lived in constant pain for 47 years. The second accident she refers to was her tumultuous marriage to Diego Rivera, the famous muralist. Most of her paintings are autobiographical, many describing aspects of her suffering in a style that incorporated aspects of native Mexican art. Drucker's story of this fascinating, enormously creative woman who enjoyed so much in life despite her pain is well researched and eminently readable. There is a small but helpful selection of black-and-white photographs and reproductions of Kahlo's paintings as well as an excellent introduction. --Ann Stell, The Smithtown Library, NY
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 12 and up
  
• Hardcover
• Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers (September 1, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0553071653
• ISBN-13: 978-0553071658
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,484,204 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Malka Drucker is the author of 21 books, including the award-winning-Frida Kahlo, Rescuers: Portraits of Moral Courage in the Holocaust, Grandma's Latkes and White Fire: A Portrait of Women Spiritual Leaders in America. White Fire won the 2005 PEN Southwest Book Award in non-fiction. Her highly acclaimed Jewish Holiday Series won the Southern California Council on Literature for Children Prize series. Another of her biographies, ELIEZER BEN YEHUDA: Father of Modern Hebrew won the ADL (Anti-Defamation League) Janusz Korczak Literary Competition and Frida Kahlo was chosen as an American Bookseller "PICK OF THE LISTS." She belongs to many literary organizations, including: The Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, The Southern California Council on Literature for Young People, the Association of Jewish Librarians, The Authors Guild, and PEN. Her newest book, Jewish American Heroes, publishes, August 2008.

Ordained in 1998 from the Academy for Jewish Religion, a transdenominational seminary, Malka Drucker is also the founding rabbi of HaMakom: The Place for Passionate and Progressive Judaism, in Santa Fe, New Mexico

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful!, February 2, 2007

By 

Hmm - See all my reviews

This review is from: Frida Kahlo (Hardcover)

This book is amazing. If you're a fan of Frida Kahlo, don't hesitate to check it out. For one thing, the book itself is well crafted. Along with the gorgeous prints (and various fold outs to show details), there's a good amount of photographs and a well-written biography.

Another great book on Kahlo is "Frida Kahlo: The Painter And Her Work" by Helga Prignitz-Poda. It has a slipcase so perhaps it'll appear to be "better," but Lozano's book is less than half the price, a bit larger and contains just as much, if not more.

I'd imagine poring over this book is as close as one can get to viewing her work in person without actually being there.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A comprehensive volume of Frida Kahlo's work and life, April 30, 2008

By 

Bargain Tree (CA, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Frida Kahlo (Hardcover)

I've been a fan of Frida Kahlo since high school, and as an artist, I've been on a quest to find a book that includes all of her paintings and portrays their colors and contrast accurately. Many books increase the contrast so much that you can no longer see definition in the dark areas of her painting, but not this one! Likewise, many books only show a few of her more popular paintings, but this large volume dug many up from obscurity and presents them in vivid, full-page detail.

If you would like to own one book that covers all of Frida's works, this is it--look no further! This has a poetically written account of the political and social conditions she grew up and flourished in, as well as details of her paintings that are amazing.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An In-Depth Account of Kahlo's Private Life, September 28, 2007

By 

M. Brooks "Frida Kahlo - Amrita Sher-Gil Fan" (Sacramento, California) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Frida Kahlo (Paperback)

Tired of reading all the Kahlo biographies full of facts in a "documentary style" format..? Then this book is for you. This Kahlo biography, with a splash of Mexican history, presents an in-depth look at the private life of this famous Mexican painter in the style of a novel. This book is written for young adult readers and is very well written, well organized, easy reading and full of tidbits of information not found in other books. Once you start to read it you can't put it down. When you're finished you will know and understand the real Frida Kahlo. Highly recommend this book to readers of all ages.

If you are looking for information on her paintings you won't find it here. Not much is said about her paintings and there are only 6 small color and 3 black & white illustrations of her paintings and 6 black & white photos. In the back of the book there is a very brief chronology.