white wall review: Frida Kahlo and Arte Popular | MFA
465 Huntington Ave, Boston, MA 02115 Hours The MFA is open 7 days a week. Monday–Tuesday 10 am–5 pm Wednesday–Friday 10 am–10 pm Saturday–Sunday 10 am–5 pm Admission Members Free Adults $25 Seniors (65+) $23 Children 6 and under Free Youths 7–17* Free / $10* Students (18+)** $23** *Youths 7–17 admitted free weekends, weekdays after 3 pm, and Boston public school holidays; otherwise admission for youths is $10. **Participants in the University Membership program receive free admission. NH and ME resident students also receive free admission. Included in the price of admission: All-day access to galleries and special exhibitions One free repeat visit within 10 days (applies to full-price Adult, Senior, and Student tickets only) Free Gallery Activities and Tours Massachusetts residents who present Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) cards at a ticket desk may receive up to four $3 tickets good for adult, senior, or student admission. Youths aged 17 and under are always free. EBT Card to Culture is a collaboration between the Mass Cultural Council and the Executive Office of Health and Human Services’ Department of Transitional Assistance. See the full list of participants. Junior Artists Every Saturday, 10:30 am–12:30 pm New program starting September 9! Enjoy a weekly free drop-in creative morning for families with children ages 5 to 8. Look closely at art, make art, and have fun! Free with Museum admission. Frida Kahlo and Arte Popular February 27, 2019 – June 16, 2019 Saundra B. and William H. Lane Galleries (Gallery 332) and Saundra B. and William H. Lane Galleries (Gallery 334) The influence of Mexican folk art on Kahlo’s work and life Like many artists in Mexico City’s vibrant intellectual circles, Frida Kahlo (1907–1954) avidly collected traditional Mexican folk art—arte popular—as a celebration of Mexican national culture. She drew inspiration from these objects, seizing on their political significance after the Mexican Revolution and incorporating their visual and material qualities into her now iconic paintings. Following the recent acquisition of Dos Mujeres (Salvadora y Herminia) (1928), this is the MFA’s first exhibition on Frida Kahlo. It tightly focuses on Kahlo’s lasting engagements with arte popular, exploring how her passion for objects such as decorated ceramics, embroidered textiles, children’s toys, and devotional retablo paintings shaped her own artistic practice. A selection of Kahlo’s paintings—including important loans from the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), and the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin—is brought together with representative examples of arte popular. Bringing fresh attention to Kahlo as an ambitious, ever-evolving painter, this exhibition also opens broader discussions about the influences of anonymous folk artists on famed modern painters.