Latest Frida Merchandise Sparks Debate in Mexico
 Anahi Rama - Reuters
| | "Fridamania" has raised Kahlo's image to mythic proportions around the world in the past 25 years, with the release of movies and books about the artist and products bearing her image. |
Mexico City - The mass marketing of Mexican painter Frida Kahlo's image has sparked debate in her homeland as a company plans to sell dolls in her likeness in December.
A Mexican doll maker will launch the 20-inch (50-cm) Kahlo replicas in Mexico, the United States, Canada, Germany, France and Spain, said Mara de Anda, a descendant of the legendary painter.
A line of jewelry, clothing and even a tequila with the artist's name have been marketed by her family in recent years after her niece, Isolda Pinedo Kahlo, obtained rights to register the name as a brand.
Some critics see it as exploitation of Kahlo's name for personal gain. But her family says the marketing promotes the artist and Mexican culture.
"We know there are people who will not like it and they are within their rights to think what they want. We are looking after Frida's image," de Anda, Isolda's granddaughter, told Reuters on Thursday.
"We do it for Mexico, for the culture, so people know more about our traditions," she said.
The dolls wear the traditional Mexican costumes favored by Kahlo, who was known for her distinctive dark eyebrows and a touch of facial hair.
Kahlo was married to the famous muralist Diego Rivera, whose work did not receive world renown until decades after her death in 1954.
Martha Zamora, Kahlo's biographer, is not completely opposed to commercializing the artist's image, but said the Mexican state and not the family should control it.
"The government should have conserved the name under its protection, because by allowing (the family) to register it they can do a lot of things," she said.
Raquel Tibol, an art critic who lived with Kahlo, told the daily La Jornada the government should have taken better care of the artist's image and protected it against her family's marketing "perversions."
"Fridamania" has raised Kahlo's image to mythic proportions around the world in the past 25 years, with the release of movies and books about the artist and products bearing her image, but she did not become a brand name until recently.
Kahlo was a militant Communist who, with Rivera, helped win approval from the government to allow Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky to take refuge in Mexico from Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin. Kahlo became Trotsky's lover for a time. |
Vallarta Weddings
Vallarta Living | Art Talk | November 2005 
Tell a Friend
Site Map
Print this Page
Email Us