FEEL THE HEAT-FRIDA AND DIEGO

Atlanta’s High Museum of Art-

Passion, Politics, and Painting

By Doc Lawrence

ATLANTA-This exciting city is often called the “Capital of the New South” and it’s hard not to agree. With major league sports, fine restaurants, great universities, one of the country’s oldest operas, plus an exploding music scene, the cultural center remains the Woodruff Arts Center, home of the heralded Atlanta Symphony, the Alliance Theatre and the High Museum of Art. With “Frida & Diego” opening this week, the High anticipates another blockbuster exhibition.

Few artists have captured the public's imagination like Mexican painter Frida Kahlo (1907–1954) and her husband, the Mexican painter and muralist Diego Rivera (1886–1957). The myths that surrounded them during their lifetime arose not only from their significant body of work, but also from their active participation in the historical happenings around them.

Frida & Diego positions the artists' work within the political and artistic contexts of their time. Their art speaks of a fierce loyalty to and pride in Mexico, the ideals of the 1910 Mexican Revolution and their commitment to the conditions of the common man.

The exhibition features more than 75 works primarily drawn from the collection of Mexico's Dolores Olmedo as well as the Jacques and Natasha Gelman Collection of Mexican Art.

The High Museum of Art is the only U.S. venue for this exhibition, which is accompanied by an impressive full-color catalogue. The exhibition premiered at the Art Gallery of Ontario in the Fall of 2012.

Key paintings by Frida Kahlo featured in the exhibition include:

Hospital Henry Ford (Henry Ford Hospital), 1932

Autorretrato con Monos (Self-Portrait with Monkeys), 1943

La Columna Rota (The Broken Column), 1944

El Abrazo de Amor de el Universo, La Tierra (México), Diego, yo y el Señor Xólotl (The Love Embrace of the Universe, the Earth (Mexico), Diego, Me and Señor Xólotl), 1949

Key works by Diego Rivera featured in the exhibition include:

Autorretrato (Self-Portrait), 1930

La Canoa Enflorada (The Flowered Canoe), 1931

Vendedora de Alcatraces (Calla Lily Vendor), 1943

El Joven de la Estilografica (Portrait of Best Maugard), 1914

The exhibition runs through May 12, 2013. Ticket information: www.high.org.

NOTE: Enjoy the tropical breezes and exceptional cuisine of Key West, a prelude to a visit to the 2013 South Beach Wine and Food Festival:

http://mycookingmagazine.com/gourmet-highway-the-good-life-in-the-conch-republic/