Reference Reviews

Doug’s Student Reference Room

Frida Kahlo: Painter. Laurie Collier Hillstrom. 104 p. Farmington Hills, MI: Lucent Books, 2008. ISBN 13: 978-1-4205-0019-6; ISBN 10: 1-4205-0019-8. $32.45.

At the high school where I work, Frida Kahlo is a perennial favorite as a subject for biographical research. Beyond students’ identification with the pride Kahlo took in her Mexican heritage is an attraction to the artist’s passion, to her fiery relationship with Diego and to her ability to create stunning art in the face of substantial challenges. The early chapters of this biography recall the painter’s childhood in the now-famous Blue House, including a brief description of the way her young life was shaped by the Mexican Revolution that began when Kahlo was just three years old. The details of Kahlo’s accident lead into the way she began to use her art as a kind of therapy to escape or go beyond her pain. The middle chapters capture the whirlwind of Kahlo’s life after meeting Diego Rivera and include her increasing interest in and support of the communist movement. The events of her life—the storminess of her relationship to Rivera, her friendship with Trotsky, her move with Rivera to the U.S., her divorce and subsequent decline in health—are all tied to the development of the artist’s unique style. Reproductions of many of Kahlo’s most famous paintings, as well as historical photos of Kahlo with Rivera, add interest to a compelling biography. Recommended for middle and high school libraries.
—Doug Achterman