The Art Of Being Frida

She loved Trotsky and Diego, and now Madonna loves her.

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Created in Our
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Jewish Self-Image in
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Join us for a special program with Rabbi Aaron
and Ruth Bergman, exploring the ways Jews have
been portrayed in various media, starting with
hundreds of years ago in Shakespeare's writings
and tracing the way up through the birth of
Hollywood and present-day film and television.

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Often, her works
showed herself and
her family, while her
diary is filled with
crayon, ink and pen-
cil drawings of
strange creatures.
Kahlo's other pas-
sion was politics, and
she was a devoted
communist who had
a love affair with
Leon Trotsky. (Other
friends included Hen-
ry Ford, Paulette
Goddard, Sergei
Eisenstein, Georgia
O'Keefe and Juan
Miro.)
Kahlo, who was
baptized and raised
in the Catholic
church, spent time in
Detroit while her
husband was paint-
ing the murals at the
Detroit Institute of
Frida Kahlo self-portrait: Yes to art and communism,
Arts (DIA) depicting
no to Detroit.
modern industry.
The Detroit News re-
Q: Is it true that Madonna's fa- ported that when she arrived,
vorite artist is Jewish?
Kahlo was wearing a black silk
A: Frida Kahlo, whose works dress and a long, green silk
decorate the home of the Mate- shawl, amber beads and a jade
rial Girl, was the daughter of a necklace.
Jewish father and a Catholic
The couple stayed at the
mother.
Wardell Hotel at 15 Kirby, across
She was born in 1907 in Mex- the street from the DIA, though
ico City in a home built by her not before Rivera made a de-
father, Guillermo. His name at mand. Learning the hotel was
birth was Wilhelm, and he was restricted, he announced, "But
the son of Hungarian Jews, Hen- Frida and I have Jewish blood!"
riette Kaufmann and Jakob The hotel offered to lower the
Heinrich Kahlo. He had come to famed artist's rates, but he
Mexico, alone, in 1891 when he vowed to leave if Jews were not
was 19 years old. Wilhelm be- permitted as guests. The regu-
came Guillermo and found work lations were changed.
as a salesman, and later as a
Frida had little positive to say
photographer.
about the city. "The industrial
Matilde Calderon was Guiller- part of Detroit is really most in-
mo's second wife (his first died teresting," she said. 'The rest is,
during childbirth). When they as in all of the United States,
married, she was 24 and he was ugly and stupid." (But this also
26, "intelligent, hard-working, may have had to do with the mis-
and rather handsome, in spite of carriage she suffered while here,
his protruding ears," according which signaled an end to any
to Frida: A Biography of Frida chance she had of becoming
Kahlo by Hayden Herrera.
pregnant.)
The couple's third daughter,
Kahlo was 47 when she died,
Magdalena Carmen Frida, was in 1954, after contracting pneu-
born at 8:30 a.m. July 6.
monia. There remains specula-
One of the most definitive mo- tion that she committed suicide,
ments of her life occurred when though the official cause of her
Frida was 18. A bus accident left death was listed as a pulmonary
her pelvis crushed and ulti- embolism.
mately unable to have children.
She was embalmed, and a
It caused Frida endless physical wreath of red carnations placed
and emotional pain.
about her head. The Communist
The third wife of artist Diego Internationale was played at her
Rivera, Kahlo was a painter of funeral.
renown in her own right.
Kahlo was later cremated, and
"I paint my own reality," she her ashes are now in an urn at a
said.
museum that bears her name.

Q: My girlfriend's birthday is
next month and I would like to get
her an autographed photo of the
Three Stooges. Is that the height
of romance and thoughtfulness or
what? I mean, she's going to fall
all over me when she sees it! I can
hardly wait.
But I need some idea of how
much this is going to cost. Can Tell
Me Why help me out?
A: Curly, Moe and Larry —
autographed. Wow! Just know-
ing that guys like you are out
there gives me hope for
mankind.
Anyway, you are going to
have to start saving, buddy, be-
cause according to Richard
Donley's Everything Has Its
Price (Firestone), your little gift
is going to cost more than
$3,700.
The book notes that a photo
of the three sold in 1993 for
$3,750 at an auction in New
York City.
Other fun facts from Every-
thing Has Its Price you might
want to know:
* A pair of Levis cost $1.12 a
pair when they were intro-
duced in 1874.
* Velvet kipot cost, on aver-
age, $18 a dozen.
* A pair of Joan Rivers' shoes
sold for $1,000 at an AIDS ben-
efit held in New York.
* A pair of ears Leonard Ni-
moy wore in Star Trek III: The
Search for Spock sold for
$1,100 (including an auto-
graphed photo of the Spockster
himself).

Leonard Nimoy

* The minimum price for an
Albert Einstein autograph is
$800.

Send questions to "Tell Me Why"
c o The Jewish News, 27676
Franklin Rd., Southfield, MI
48034 or send fax to 354-6069.

