Mariacute;a Izquierdo (1902ndash;1955) and Frida Kahlo (1907ndash;1954) were the first two Mexican women artists to achieve international recognition. During the height of the Mexican muralist movement; they established successful careers as easel painters and created work that has become an integral part of Mexican modernism. Although the iconic Kahlo is now more famous; the two artists had comparable reputations during their lives. Both were regularly included in major exhibitions of Mexican art; and they were invariably the only women chosen for the most important professional activities and honors.In a deeply informed study that prioritizes critical analysis over biographical interpretation; Nancy Deffebach places Kahlos and Izquierdos oeuvres in their cultural context; examining the ways in which the artists participated in the national and artistic discourses of postrevolutionary Mexico. Through iconographic analysis of paintings and themes within each artists oeuvre; Deffebach discusses how the artists engaged intellectually with the issues and ideas of their era; especially Mexican national identity and the role of women in society. In a time when Mexican artistic and national discourses associated the nation with masculinity; Izquierdo and Kahlo created images of women that deconstructed gender roles; critiqued the status quo; and presented more empowering alternatives for women. Deffebach demonstrates that; paradoxically; Kahlo and Izquierdo became the most successful Mexican women artists of the modernist period while most directly challenging the prevailing ideas about gender and what constitutes important art.
#211970 in eBooks 2012-11-08 2012-11-08File Name: B009YLIPZS
Review
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful. AMAZING!By David KeymerEven for Caryl Churchill. who never seems to do the same thing twice. this is a most unusual play. An indeterminate number of actors ndash;I think you could do the play with five. maybe even four. but you want the parts to keep switching aroundmdash;talk to each other. mostly in pairs. in a couple of cases threes. The dialogue lasts half a page. a page. two. three pages and then another dialogue starts. on a wholly different topic. sometimes fairly realistic in tone and language (the parts cohere. make sense together). at other times wildly unreal. edging toward surrealism. At one point. an actor tells a story in monologue. ldquo;The Child That Didnrsquo;t Know Fear.rdquo; Itrsquo;s a page long and its conclusion is jolting. There are spare parts ndash;pantomimes. non-verbal signalings. one-liners--- presented at the back of the play with the playwrightrsquo;s instruction to throw them in wherever you please during performance. The effect is theatrical but not narrative. There are fragments of narrative in the text but they donrsquo;t lead anywhere. One dialogue ends. the next begins. and so on and so forth for seventy some pages. Described this baldly. it sounds dreadful but itrsquo;s not ndash;far from it. The effect is to emphasize the act of communication. more than the information being shared. ldquo;This is what we do.rdquo; Churchill seems to say to the audience. ldquo;You decide if it means anything.rdquo;0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Five StarsBy AshleyThis is honestly one of my favorite works. Hands down. a must read. in my opinion.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Five StarsBy Teresa FrazierSuch an intriguing piece of writing
