The Photography at the Mexican Modernism Exhibition at the Denver Art Museum

The photography at the Mexican Modernism Exhibition at the Denver Art Museum is spectacular.  My personal favorite is the portrait below of Frida Kahlo taken by Edward Weston.  Note, by clicking on any of the images, you will be able to view it full screen.

Frida Kahlo - Edward Weston - 1930

Weston and his Hollywood actress and political activist, Tina Modotti, lived in Mexico City from 1923 to 1927 where they opened a portrait studio. This is where they met Diego Rivera.  It was when Weston was living in Carmel, he headed north to San Francisco to see Diego and meet his new wife.  He was intrigued and mesmerized by Frida.  Above Frida is wearing an indigenous dress, a European silk shawl, three strands of Aztec jade beads and intricate dangling earrings

Weston's style shifted to a more direct, sharply focused and structured photographic style known as “straight” photography, which was championed by Alfred Stieglitz.  He was well known for shooting images of nature, close-ups of vegetables and people’s faces.

Large Ladder - Manuel Alvarez Bravo - 1932

Bravo was born in Mexico City in 1902.   He was a photographer most famous for his poetic images of Mexican people and places.  

He was heavily involved with the surge of  artistic renaissance that occurred after  the Mexican Revolution.  He was also influenced by international influences, notably Surrealism, thou his art was truly centered around the Mexican culture.

Mattress - Manuel Alvarez Bravo - 1927

Born into an artistic family, it was after meeting German photographer Hugo Brehme in 1923, that he purchased his first camera.   He was largely self-taught.  Thru his friendship with Tina Modotti, he met Edward Weston and many of the leading artists of the Mexican Renaissance; Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo, Rufino Tamayo, David Alfaro Siquueiros and Jose Clement Orozco.

He took over Modotti’s job as photographer for the magazine Mexican Folkways after her deportation. He had his first one-man show in 1932.   He also worked at a cameraman on Sergey Eisenstein's film Que Viva Mexico that was never completed.

 Organ Pipe Cacti - Manuel Alvarez Bravo - 1929 - 1930

It was his still photography that gained him fame.  Influenced by Weston, his close up photographs took on an artistic abstract nature.  Later on he was more interested in the urban landscape of Mexico City , a documentary of Mexican life, the villages and its people.

Box of Visions - Manuel Alvarez Bravo - 1929

Person standing behind a fabricated box, holding a dark cloth over his head.

Obstacles - Manuel Alvarez Bravo - 1929

 Burial at Yalalag, Oaxaca - Lola Alvarez Bravo - 1948

One of Lola's  most iconic images was Burial at Yalag.  A somber scene, a funeral procession of Zapotec women in their traditional dress accompanying a coffin.   The contrast of the white flowing dresses and the dark landscape is very moving.  It's also a statement of the women's lack of individual identify as they are not amongst the men in the procession.

She once said, “If my photos have any value, it's because they show a Mexico that no longer exists.” 

One of Frida's life long friends, Lola Alvarez Bravo, was the first Mexican female photographer.  It was when she married Manuel Alvarez Bravo, that she learned her trade.  They were married for about nine years.   She did not come into her own until her separation in 1934.  She too was inspired by Weston and Modotti. 

 

Shark Hunters - Acapulco - Lola Alvarez Bravo - 1950

Photographing life that she found before her. 

 

 La Cruda - The Hangover - Lola Alvarez Bravo - 1945

 

The Dream of the Drowned - Photomontage - Lola Alvarez Bravo - 1945

 

Photomontage is the process and the result of making a composite photograph by cutting, gluing, rearranging and overlapping two or more photographs into a new image.  Sometimes the finished "collage" is photographed so that the final image may appear as a seamless physical print.   Lola combines parts of her photography, the face of the Painter Juan Soriano floating in the water along with the dancers of the Ballet de Folkorico de Mexico City.  This real and fantasized world is a quality shared by the surrealism movement.

Ruth Rivera Marin - Veracruz - Lola Alvarez Bravo - 1950

Ruth Rivera Marín was born in Mexico City on 18 June 1927 to parents Diego Rivera and his first wife, Guadalupe Marin Preciado,  a well-known actress and writer. 
Ruth was the first woman student of the College of Engineering and Architecture at the National Polytechnic Institute and her career centered on teaching the theory and practice related to architecture.                                                                                                                                      

Mexican Landscape II - Photomontage - Lola Alvarez Bravo - 1950

Tepotzotlan - Hall of Convent - Guillermo Kahlo - 1920's

Wilhelm (Guillermo) Kahlo (Frida's father) was born in Germany in 1871 and later moved to Mexico City in 1891 where he had his own photography studio, specializing in buildings, room interiors, factories and machinery.  Upon his arrival he changed his name from Wilhelm to Guillermo.  Following some commercial success, he was commissioned under the regime of Porfirio Díaz, President of Mexico in the early 1900s, to document the country's colonial architecture, government buildings, infrastructure, landmarks, monuments, streets and churches.

 Mexico City's Cathedral - Choir Stalls - Guillermo Kahlo - 1920's

Photography played a huge role in documenting the political events during the Mexican Revolution (1910 – 20).

  

Bell Tower - Guillermo Kahlo - 1920's

In the 1920's Guillermo's church photographs were republished in six volumes titled Iglesias de Mexico / Churches of Mexico.   His photography was no longer seen simply as monuments to European religious tradition, the churches he captured were reinterpreted for their vernacular qualities and the role of the indigenous workers who built them. 

Frida Kahlo Wearing a Plaster Cast - Florence Arquin - 1950

 

Painter, photographer, educator, writer, and critic, Florence Arquin (1900-1974) was active in Chicago, Illinois.   She was widely known for her expertise in the field of Latin American Studies and had a close relationship with Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera.

 

Seated Frida in Her Hospital Room with Photographs - Lola Alvarez Bravo - 1940's

 

 

 Frida Kahlo in a Wheelchair with a Sun Umbrella - Florence Arquin - 1950's

 

Frida Biting Her Necklace - Lucienne Bloch - 1933

 

Bloch was born in 1909 in Geneva, Switzerland.  She was the youngest child of composer and photographer Ernest Bloch.  In 1917, her family immigrated to America.  She was a prolific artist.  At 15 years old, she attended The Cleveland Institute of Art and later in life enrolled in the Ecole National et Superier des Beaux Arts in Paris.  

In 1929, she pioneered the design of glass sculpture for the Royal Leerdam Crystal Glass Factory in the Netherlands and that caught the eye of Frank Lloyd Wright.  He invited her to teach at Taliesin East where she worked beside fellow artists.

In 1931, she met and began her apprenticeship with Diego Rivera on his frescoes in New York and Detroit.   She formed a close friendship with Frida and they became each others companion and confidant.  She accompanied Frida to Mexico when Frida's mother became ill and was with her in Detroit when Frida suffered a miscarriage.  

An established photographer, she took the only existing photographs of the Rivera's mural, Man at the Crossroads in Rockefeller Center in New York City before it was destroyed.  She also contributed many photographs of Frida and Diego to biographical works about them.

Bloch married one of Rivera’s chief plasterers, Stephen Pope Dimitroff and together they created Fresco murals all over the United States.  Bloch was a Fresco muralist for the Federal Arts Project of the Works Progress Administration from 1934-1939. 

 

 

Frida Kahlo Leaving the Church in Coyoacon - Fritz Henle - 1937

Fritz Henle (June 9, 1909 – January 31, 1993) was a German-born photographer, known as "Mr. Rollei" for his use of the 2.25" square format film used in the Rolleiflex camera.  It was Frida who invited Henle to her home, Casa Azul in Coyoacon, several times to photograph her.
He photographed fashion, portrait, travel and industrial subjects and his work was published by Life,  Mademoiselle, Town & Country and Harper's Bazaar magazines. 

Frida Kahlo - Imogeen Cunningham - 1931

Imogeen Cunningham was born in 1883.  She was an American photographer who was best known for her portraits and her images of plant life.

In 1930, Frida and Diego moved to San Francisco where Diego was working on two separate murals.   That is where Kahlo met Cunningham.  Cunningham captured the essence of Frida with her calm, pensive gaze into the camera dressed with the traditional Mexican shawl (reboza), her jewelry and hairstyle.

Kahlo, known for her self-portraiture, was acutely aware of how she wanted to be portrayed photographically. She once said, “I knew a battlefield of suffering was in my eyes. From then on I started looking directly at the lens, unflinching, unsmiling, determined to show I was a good fighter to the end.”

Also,  she “ … effectively manipulated her self-image before the lens through her gaze, pose, and the carefully constructed symbolism of her clothing, jewelry, and hairstyles.”

DENVER ART MUSEUM

 Exhibition runs thru January 24, 2021

Cranberry Orange Bread with Walnuts and Candied Ginger

Tired of making banana bread, zucchini bread, pumpkin fig bread...  I know I was.  So I played around with a few ingredients and came up with this Cranberry Orange Bread.  I like using the combination of white and brown sugar, gives the bread more depth of a flavor.  It's a very moist and tasty bread and makes for a perfect holiday gift. 

 

Cranberry, Orange, Walnut and Candied Ginger Bread 

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder 

1/2  tsp baking soda

3/4 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

1 Tbsp freshly grated orange zest

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 large egg, room temperature

1/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

 1 cup freshly squeezed orange juice

 1 1/2 cup chopped fresh cranberries (cut either in half or quartered)

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1/8 cup chopped candied ginger (optional)

Directions:

In a medium bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and orange zest. 

Using a mixer, cream together the sugars, egg and butter until smooth.  Slowly add the orange juice.

Add the flour mixture until well mixed and then fold in the cranberries, walnuts and ginger.

Pour into a greased and floured 9" x 5" bread pan.  Bake at 350 for about 60 minutes.

 

NOTE:  For holiday gifts, I doubled the recipe and make seven loafs using the tin mini loaf pans that measure 5 23/32" x 3 5/16" x 1 7/8".  Available in the cooking section of the grocery store.  Thank goodness I had stocked up, for they were non existent at the store, all sold out.

Bon Appetit!

 

 

The Murals by Diego Rivera at the National Palace in Mexico City - Part 2

On the arcaded upper floor of the middle inner courtyard of the Palacio National, there are murals painted by Diego Rivera between 1942 and 1951 depicting the life of the Aztecs before the arrival of the Spanish conquistadors.  The last mural depicts the arrival of Hernan Cortez.   Note:  Click on any photo to view it full screen.

 

 Cocoa - Diego Rivera - 1950

A man is harvesting the fruit from the cocoa tree while a woman is loading her basket with the fruit. 

In the background, the beans are drying in the sun.  Once dried, they are ground on a matate, then mixed with water to make a drink called xocoatl.  The beans were also a form of currency.

Amate Fig Tree and Maguey - Diego Rivera - 1951

The maguey (agave) and the nopal (cactus) are sources of food and also used in the construction of their homes.  Pulque, a fermented drink made from the agave, is being made.  The process of making amate paper is shown which comes from the bark of the fig tree. 
All of these murals have a Grisaille at the bottom.  A Grisaille is a painting executed entirely in shades of grey or of another neutral greyish colour.

Maize - Diego Rivera - 1950

This mural is dedicated to the importance of corn in the Aztec's culture, being their main staple and the diversity of how it was prepared (grinding it on a matate, making tortillas and tamales).  Behind the women is Chicomecoatl.  In Nahuatl, it means "Seven Serpent",  goddess of subsistence, mainly corn.   To the right is the goddess of water, Chalchiuhtilicue.  In the background are the chinampas.  The Aztecs built fertile riverbeds called chinampas for most of Tenochtitlan (Mexico City) was a large lake where they were able to grow their crops. 

The Rubber-Banding and Milking - Diego Rivera - 1950

 

The bark of the tree is cut and the resin is extracted.  The resin is processed into an elastic material.

Festivals and Ceremonies (Totonaca Culture) - Diego Rivera - 1950

 

It was amazing the amount of trade between different societies existed.   On the left, the people of central Mexico are portrayed.  They are carrying the god of merchants, Yacatecuhtil. 

The group on the right from the gulf coast, the Totonaca, have brought fruits of the region, vanilla, tobacco and vanilla to trade.

 In the background there is the pyramid of the Niches in Tajin, Veracruz.  Along with the ball court on the left and in the middle you will see the Volvadores, (the flying pole dance). It is a centuries old tradition, one that the Aztecs performed.  A tall pole is set up in the middle of a plaza, fitted with a small (and I mean small!) revolving platform on top.   Four fliers and a musician climb to the top. The flyers wear a hat with a crest of feathers which give reference to eagles or macaws, the birds dedicated to the sun.  With a rope around one leg, the flyers swing around the pole, upside down until they reach the ground.

 

Feather work Art and Goldsmith (Zapotec culture) - Diego Rivera - 1942

The Zapotecs are from the Oaxaca area, a region rich in gold, jade and coral.  At the top, they are depicted panning for gold in the river.

Those who worked with feathers were called amantecas.  Birds with colorful plumage were captured and brought back to their tallers (workshops) where elaborate head dresses (penachos) and shields were made from the feathers.  Only high priests and governors were allowed to wear these garments.

This grisaille shows the extraction of semi-precious stones, carving sculptures and the trade of these pieces.

Painters and Dyers - Diego Rivera - 1942

The Tarascan or Purpechas occupied the states of Michoacan, Guanajuato and Jalisco.   They are preparing pigments, dyeing fabrics and cultivating the natural brown fabric called coyuche.

The Great Tenochtitlan, Tlatelolco's market view - Diego Rivera - 1945

 

One could spend hours taking in this large mural, roughly 32' x 16'. 

In 1345 the Aztecs built the city on the Lake Texcoco.  It took them decades to dredge the lake and build the foundations.   It shows the multicultural population of Mexico with a phenomenal infrastructure with its roads, temples, plazas and different neighborhoods.  All indicating a city of great wealth and prosperity.

Scholars have estimated that 20,000 to 40,000 people used the market daily  and the 60,000 on a special market day.  The market had everything, all in a specific spot:  gold, jade, coral, flowers, fruit, corn, cocoa, salt, tools, hides, fish, deer, dogs, herbs, amate, weavings... all coming from the Mexican basin and further away.

A great view of the Chinampas.  The ruler or Tlatoani (dressed in white in the lower left corner) sitting in his palanquin overseeing all the transactions.  In the background are the snow capped mountains and the volcanoes of Popocatepetl and Iztaccihuatl.

 

The tattooed woman with the crown of Calla Lilies is Xochiquetzal, the goddess of flowers and love.  She is presented with gifts and a war trophy, the severed arm of an enemy.  

 

It was slaves with only a loin cloth on that carried the supplies.  The Templo Mayer rises up in the background with bloodstains on the stairs.

The Aztec bartered with goods and also used cocoa beans as currency.

To this day, one of the oldest skills around, Petates are woven straw mats that serve as blankets, rugs, tablecloths and beds.  Up from my home in San Miguel de Allende, there was a very nice man that would ride his bike into town and on the back of his bike he had rolled up petates for sale.  He was at the same corner every week.  I loved it.

A family dining from a ceramic vessel depicting Tlaloc, the Aztec rain god.

 

A visit to the dentist with all his herbal remedies.

 The Arrival of Hernan Cortez in Veracruz - Diego Rivera - 1951

Veracruz (formerly known as La Villa de la Vera Cruz) was founded by Hernan Cortez on April 22, 1519.  It was the port of entry for the the conquerors and along with Christianity, slavery, cattle and the old world culture.

Miscegenation is represented here with the Spaniard and the native women carrying their child on her back, note the intense green-blue eyes.

 

It is a huge body of work and each mural is breathtaking.  Hopefully next October I will be able to lead another tour to Mexico City and a morning at the National Palace is a must.

The Murals by Diego Rivera at the National Palace in Mexico City - Part 1

The Palacio National (National Palace) in Mexico City houses the offices of the president and takes up an entire block on the east side of the main zocalo, the Plaza de la Constitucion.

One of many buildings, this massive structure is quite impressive.

What makes this building even more spectacular are the murals painted by Diego Rivera.  On the arcaded upper floor of the middle inner courtyard, there are murals painted by Diego  between 1942 and 1951 depicting the life of the Aztecs before the arrival of the Spanish conquistadors.   The murals are more focused on the narrative.   I will write more on this section on my next post.

The massive main stairwell has three arched wall areas where Diego painted Epic of the Mexican People, which showcases the history of Mexico.  He painted this between 1929 and 1935.  And how ironic, the Palacio National was the exact spot where the palace of the last Aztec ruler, Montezuma, had been before the Spaniards destroyed it.

To get a better view of the murals, click on the image and it will go full screen. 

This photo gives you an idea of the massive scale of these murals, painted almost like a triptych.

The Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire.   Mounted on a white horse is Cortes defeating the Aztecs and the Aztecs fighting against the Spanish.

The eagle with a serpent in its mouth represents the Aztec culture and today is the main symbol of modern Mexico.

The Independence and the Revolution.

In the center, the bald man is Miguel Hidalgo who fought for independence and
Emiliano Zapata with the-two tone sombrero holding the flag that reads tierra y libertad, or land and liberty.

Dictatorship and Reform.  To the left of the scroll is Benito Juárez, the first indigenous president to Mexico.

The mural on the north wall in the stairwell is dedicated to the Aztec people, their traditions and way of life.  The image of the sun is the center of the Aztec religion.  Below is the Aztec ruler, Tlatoani, with his headdress of quetzal feathers with a pyramid in the background.  Men and women are involved with the agriculture, arts and crafts.   Where on the lower left, the god Huitzilopochtli is leading a war of destruction and slavery.

In contrast, the mural on the south wall is about the future of Mexico, Rivera, a communist, paints the soviet flag along with factories, workers and Karl Marx.  At the bottom, center, he included his wife, Frida Kahlo and her sister, Cristina, depicted as socialist teachers.  All promoting a better future.

The murals are such a beautiful work of art.  A visit to the National Palace is definitely on my itinerary for my next tour to Mexico City (hopefully October 0f 2021).