London’s Ordovas gallery has unveiled a major self-portrait by Mexican artist Frida Kahlo as part of its free “Artists and Lovers” exhibition, which aims to shed new light on some of the most significant artistic relationships of the 20th century, from Frida Kahlo’s controversial relationship with Diego Rivera to the more private friendship shared between Joseph Cornell and Yayoi Kusama.Showing alongside a photo of Diego Rivera from the same period, Frida Kahlo’s “Autorretrato” was painted in 1940 and shows the artist Kahlo with a typically elaborate hairstyle, her hair braided with purple yarn and covered with a black Spanish mantilla. Around her neck she wears a pre-columbian jade necklace with weathered seashell pendants.“Autorretrato” was commissioned by the U.S. engineer Sigmund Firestone who also commissioned a self-portrait from Diego Rivera. In the top right hand corner is a message in Spanish that reads: “México, Coyoacán. For Mr. Sigmund Firestone and his daughters Alberta and Natalia I painted this self-portrait with affection, in February of 1940 - Frida Kahlo.”Another highlight of the exhibition is Jackson Pollock’s circa 1950 work “Silver and Square” which for many years hung on the wall of the New York apartment of Pollock’s wife and fellow artist Lee Krasner until her death in 1984. The oil painting on the rough side of masonite will be displayed alongside Krasner’s 1966 oil on canvas “Mister Blue.” “Artists and Lovers” also includes works by Kay Sage and Yves Tanguy; Max Ernst, Leonora Carrington, and Dorothea Tanning; Elaine and Willem de Kooning; Robert Rauschenberg, Cy Twombly, and Jasper Johns; Merce Cunningham and John Cage and Donald Judd and Lauretta Vinciarelli. The exhibition will continue in New York from early November 2016 until mid January 2017.
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