Abstract

ORTOLL, Servando  and  RAMIREZ DE ARELLANO, Annette B.. Frida Kahlo: Retrato de la artista como esposa empresaria. Desacatos [online]. 2003, n.11, pp.120-131. ISSN 2448-5144.

Although Frida Kahlo has found a niche in popular culture, little has been said about her role as "corporate wife", that particular breed of woman whose mission it is to further her husband's career, meet his mundane needs, and explain his genius to others.Yet a small cache of letters written by Kahlo to art patron and philanthropist Abby Aldrich Rockefeller in 1932-33 reveal that the Mexican artist was not reluctant to assume the role helpful spouse, serving as interpreter, social secretary, caregiver, and self-effacing mate to Diego Rivera. Proficient in English and used to letter-writing, Frida wrote to Mrs. Rockefeller on her husband's behalf as well as to chronicle their lives and the development of his frescoes. She was also skilled in writing bread-and-butter letters to thank Mrs. Rockefeller for her gifts of flowers and photographs. Kahlo's letters are punctuated with disparaging remarks about her own work, which she described as "awful" and "absolutely rotten".Yet the portraits that she painted during this period, which Rivera described as "poetry on canvas", are among the most respected and widely reproduced of her works.

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