Frida Kahlo: A Spiritual Biography (Lives & Legacies Series) (Hardcover)

by Jack Rummel (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
The third installment of Crossroad Publishing Lives & Legacies series of spiritual biographies explores the life of Mexican painter and political activist Frida Kahlo. During her life, Frida Kahlo (1907-1954) was not very well known and her paintings sold slowly and for little if they sold at all. To most Americans, and even to many of her own nation, she was known as an afterthought: the wife of Mexico's most famous artist, the talented flamboyant muralist Diego Rivera. However, to a small circle of artists and friends, Kahlo was valued for her vibrant personality and striking, intensely original paintings.

Kahlo struggles to win a place for herself as an artist, understand the mystery of a disabling accident, and reconcile her tumultuous private life with her public person. This quest for self-understanding never completely resolved or successful became her spiritual journey-one passionately and publicly expressed in her art. Jack Rummel takes a clear and unsentimental look at the life and work of this "contradictory" woman, on of the most important artists of 20th or any century.

About the Author
Jack Rummel currently lives in San Lorenzo, New Mexico with his wife and is the author of several biographies.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: Crossroad General Interest (June 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0824523539
• ISBN-13: 978-0824523534
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #196,529 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars worst biography ever, October 20, 2000

By	"aysonsf" (San Francisco, CA) - See all my reviews

This book was absolutely horrible. This is the most ignorant biography I've ever read. Rummel is constantly criticizing every aspect of her that doesn't agree with traditional american values. Every time the communist party comes up in the book, Rummel inserts some incredibly ignorant and stupid anti-communist comment. There are so many interesting and well written books about this amazing woman's life, don't read this one.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Suitably complex, December 13, 2004

By	Jesse Steven Hargrave (Silver City, NM) - See all my reviews

Too many biographies fall at one of two extremes: either hagiography or pedestal-smashing. Jack Rummel's account of Frida Kahlo's life is instead a nuanced one, with an obstinate refusal to over-simplify. Rummel makes clear that Kahlo was neither saint nor passive victim, but instead a visionary artist compromised by an acute capacity for self-deception.

The convoluted paths of Kahlo's life are brought into sharp focus by Rummel's concise but illuminating narrative. Whether treating of Kahlo's finances or the intricacies of her art, the author knows how to turn the basic facts into a convincing story.

Only the most deranged and prejudiced reader could dismiss Rummel's book on the withered grounds that it doesn't conform to some political agenda. Instead, this thin volume is packed with the suitable complexity of an uncategorizable life.

2 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good Reading, June 10, 2000

By	daniel (corpus christi, tx USA) - See all my reviews

As a fan of this great painter i already knew the major things about her life but this book goes deep into the mysterious world of Frida Kahlo. I find it expressing Frida as she would like to have been remembered this is a must read for the art lovers.