Product Description

The intimate life of artist Frida Kahlo is wonderfully revealed in the illustrated journal she kept during her last 10 years. This passionate and at times surprising record contains the artist's thoughts, poems, and dreams; many reflecting her stormy relationship with her husband, artist Diego Rivera, along with 70 mesmerising watercolour illustrations. The text entries in brightly coloured inks make the journal as captivating to look at as it is to read. Her writing reveals the artist's political sensibilities, recollections of her childhood, and her enormous courage in the face of more than thirty-five operations to correct injuries she had sustained in an accident at the age of eighteen.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #37304 in Books
• Published on: 2006-03-31
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 296 pages

About the Author
CARLOS FUENTES is celebrated internationally as one of the world's foremost literary figures. He has written numerous essays, articles, and novels and has served as Mexico's ambassador to France and has held other diplomatic and academic posts. SARAH M. LOWE is the author of Frida Kahlo, An Analytical Study of her Paintings.

Customer Reviews

Graphically rich!
If you are expecting a standard diary, full of descriptions of what happened today, who visited for breakfast, and what Frida had for dinner - then don't order this book. Frida's diary is an amazing combination of text and paintings. She writes random comments with little consideration of form. In fact, many of the things she writes are random lists of words, or letters to loves that are never sent, or even descriptions of fantastic events that never occur outside of her imagination. It's like a huge and colorful experiment in free writing and unconscious expression. Combine these words with the sketches, paintings, and drawing scattered about - sometimes on pages of their own, sometimes in the midst of words that are written around the edges of the artwork - and you have an incredible and extremely unique diary. Personally, I found it inspiring to read and have incorporated many of the elements into my own journal. (If you are looking for a way to break out of writers block, or artists block, I would seriously consider getting a copy of this book and mimicking the technique. It's very freeing and has a way of generating ideas.)

intimate and enthralling
As someone who has tried to keep a diary (and failed) I was interested to see what an artist would come up with and loving Frida Kahlo's work I thought I would get this. This buy was perfect for me and very inspiring.
If you are a diarist or would like to be one, Frida's diary might inspire you to write in a free style adding your art or clippings from papers etc.
If you are an artist/crafter it might help you to organise your note books. I now keeping a notebook a bit like this with naration around my designs. Like her, the naration doesn't necessarily fit with the pictures however, when I go back, I have a clearer understanding of why I wanted to creat an item.
Like the other reviewers have said you do have to flick back & forward as the English translations are at the back but I don't think that detracts from this.
Ultimately this is a beautiful book which is great to flick through and take inspiration from.

Stunning
Beautiful book, beautiful spirit. My only criticism is structural. I had to do a lot of flipping back and forth. All told, though, it's worth it.