Self-Portrait on the Borderline Between Mexico and the United States (1932)

What does Self-Portrait on the Borderline represent?

The years Kahlo spent living in the United States

What languages did Kahlo speak?

Spanish, English, and German

What did Kahlos household prize?

Education and the arts

What do Kahlos images of travel reflect on?

Ideas of nation and homeland, self image and identity

Where was Frida Kahlo born?

Mexico City

When was Frida Kahlo born?

1907

What was Kahlos mother a descendent of?

Indigenous Indians and Spanish settlers?

What was Kahlo’s father a descendent of?

German Jewish family

What event did Kahlo’s early life coincide with?

The Mexican Revolution

When did the Mexican Revolution begin?

1910

What did the Mexican Revolution in 1910 seek to do?

Enact social reforms

What would the social reforms of the Mexican Revolution of 1910 do?

Turn Mexico into a republic

What did the revolution want to abolish?

Systems of land ownership that had overwhelmingly benefited Hispanic populations of European descent

What reforms did the revolution want?

Legal protections for workers, and established rights for Mexico’s Indigenous populations

When was the new constitution in Mexico made?

1917

When did the civil war continue through?

1920

What was Kahlos life and work marked by?

The political, and radial issues raised by the revolution

What did Kahlo explore in her work?

Mestizaje and indigenismo

What is mestizaje?

The experience of being a mixed race person

What is indigenismo?

New Mexican interest in Indigenous life and heritage

Where did Kahlo study in her teens?

The National Preparatory School

What did Kahlo join while studying at the National Preparatory School in her teens?

A radical group that supported the revolutions goal of a modern Mexico

What did Kahlo wish to paint?

Something useful to the revolutionary movement

What was her works political potential buried under?

Layers of dreamlike imagery and personal symbolism

At what age did Kahlo become disabled?

18

How did Kahlo become disabled?

A city bus Kahlo was riding on was struck by a street trolley

What was the results of the accident?

A severely damaged spine, pelvis and right leg

What childhood disease did Kahlo survive?

Polio

How did the traffic accident impact Kahlo?

It left her with chronic pain and limited mobility throughout the rest of her life

What do biographers suggest about Kahlos long period of recovery?

It was when Kahlo began painting

In many self portraits how did Kahlo represent her body?

Fragile and vulnerable

What artistic education did Kahlo have?

None, she was self trained

Where did Kahlo’s inspiration come from?

Ancient Mexican cultures such as the Aztec and Olmec, Mexican folk art, and works of other avant-garde painters from Mexico and Europe

What were Olmec paintings?

17th and 18th century paintings form the colonial era when the Spanish taught Indigenous artists to copy European religious art

What has masked the serious nature of Kahlos work and her investigation into complex identities?

The popular appreciation of Kahlo’s unconventional beauty and her flair for fashionable ensembles

What does Pan-American refer to?

A hemispherical identity that encompasses the Americas more broadly

What was an important site for artistic innovation in the aftermath of the Mexican Revolution?

Mexico City

Why did European and American artists, writers, and photographers come to Mexico?

To be inspired by the revival of interest in pre-Columbian histories

Which painters came to Mexico to be inspired?

Josef Albers and Marsden Hartley

What photographers came to Mexico to be inspired?

Tina Modotti, Edward Weston, and Robert Capa

What writers came to Mexico to be inspired?

D.H. Lawrence, and Andre Breton

What did Andre Breton found?

Surrealism

The inflow of European and American artists to Mexico had what effect?

It led to a major re-orientation of Mexican art in the 1920’s and 1930s

What did artists combine in Mexican art in the 1920s and 1930s?

Visual styles associated with European modernism with influences form the deep past

Who were the big three that led Mexican muralism?

Jose Clemene Orozco, David Alfaro Siquerios, and Diego Rivera

Who was Kahlos husband?

Diego Rivera

What did Mexican muralism feature?

Large scale wall paintings stressing Indigenous heritage and narratives as part of a new national history in postrevolutionary Mexico

How did Kahlos artistic practice differ from Mexican muralism?

Kahlo painted small, intimate images

What material did Kahlo often paint on?

Tin

What did Kahlos tin paintings echo?

Mexican and mexican american traditions of painting on scrap or recycled metal?

What is the product of painting on scrap or recycled metal called?

Retablos

What are retablos?

Small religious images or altarpieces made for personal or household devotional use

How big is Self-portrait on the Borderline?

12×14 inches

What does the left of the painting represent?

Mexico

What does the right of the painting represent?

The United States

What specific city does the right of the painting represent?

The automobile manufacturing powerhouse Michigan

What dress does Kahlo don in many of her self-portraits?

Indigenous Tehuana dress

What does Kahlo wear in Self-Portrait on the Borderline?

A modern pink party dress

What does Kahlo do in the image?

Smoke a cigarette

What is Kahlo situated as in the painting?

A 20th century woman

How does Self-Portrait on the Border differ from many of Kahlos works?

Instead of her self being divided, the landscape is split

What represents the Mexican past on the left?

A crubling Aztec temple and Olmec ceramine figurines

What do the colorful flowers with deep roots suggest?

A new flourishing of acient traditions

The flourishing of ancient traditions represented by the flowers with deep roots was made possible by what?

Post-Revolutionary attempt to uncover and celebrate Indigenous histories

What is the pyramid overseen by?

Sun and moon deities

How does the U.S. side differ from the Mexican side?

It is machinelike and repetitive, showing progress without any ties to deep human narratives

Rather than the roots on the Mexican side, what takes down into the earth?

Power cords

What do the power cords come from?

A fan, motor, and lamp

What represents the Ford Motor Company?

Smokestacks with the word FORD

What does the steam from the Ford plant materialize into?

The U.S. flag

What flag does Kahlo hold in her hand?

A mexican flag

How long was Kahlo married to Diego Rivera for?

24 years

What was Kahlo and Riveras tumultuous relationship marked by?

His frequent infadelities

When did Kahlo and Rivera briefly divorce?

1939

After their 1939 divorce when did Kahlo and Rivera re-marry?

the following year 1940

When did Kahlo and Rivera work abroad?

The 1930s

How many years did Kahlo and Rivera work abroad for?

2 years

What cities did Kahlo visit?

Detroit, New York, and San Francisco

What paintings did Kahlo create responding to her experience of living in the United States?

My Dress Hangs There (1933) and Self-Portrait on the Borderline

Where was Self-Portrait on the Borderline painted?

Detroit

Who did Henry Ford hire to paint murals?

Rivera

Where did Ford have Rivera paint murals in?

The Detroit Institute of Arts

What did the Detroit Institute of Arts become known as?

Detroit Industry

What do the murals in the Deroit Institute of Arts depict?

Automotive production alongside Columbian deities

The automotive production alongside Columbian deities depicted in the Detroit Institute of Arts suggests what?

A hopeful synthesis between ancient cultures and modern industrialization

What did Kahlo feel while staying in Michigan?

Emotionally and Culturally isolated

What did Kahlo sign Self-Portrait on the Border as?

Carmen Rivera

How did Kahlo come up with Carmen Rivera?

By combining her own given name with her husbands last name

By combining her and her husbands names in the signature what does Kahlo stress?

She was travelling on his business not her own

What did Kahlos husband celebrate?

The possibilities of American industry

What did travel do for Kahlo?

It allowed her to see the value of her own culture more clearly

What does Lucy Havard write about Kahlos return from the United States?

She returned more passionate than ever to promote mexicanidad in her homeland

Rather than being dividewd between Indigenous and European sides how did Kahlo choose to represent herself?

Unambiguously as a Mexican patriot

What suggests the division in the two sides is not as strong as we think?

The roots and power cords intertwine

What is the symbolism behind the roots and power cords intertwining?

A symbiotic relationship between the two nations

What destabilizes the idea of a border?

Rhizomatic connection

When the border between Mexico and the U.S. was fixed in the 19th century what happened to the populations living there?

It left many Mexicanos in the lands that became Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California

What does Self Portrait on the Borderline represent?

A more enmeshen Pan-American unity that crosses international borders

True or False, Self Portrait on the Borderline does not show unabiguous preference for Mexico

True

What does Self-Portrait on the Borderline present to viewers?

A more complex picture of shared histories