Most Popular Books by Hayden Herrera

The engrossing biography of the celebrated Mexican painter. "A mesmerizing story of radical art, romantic politics, bizarre loves and physical suffering that raises the question, why hasn''t someone told it all before?"--"Time." The basis for the new Miramax film. Photos. Copyright © Libri GmbH. All rights reserved.

In small, stunningly rendered self–portraits, Mexican artist Frida Kahlo painted herself cracked open, hemorrhaging during a miscarriage, anesthetized on a hospital gurney, and weeping beside her own extracted heart. Her works are so incendiary in emotion and subject matter that one art critic suggested the walls of an exhibition be covered with asbestos. In this beautiful book, art historian Hayden Herrera brings together numerous paintings and sketches by the amazing Mexican artist, documenting each with explanatory text that probes the influences in Kahlo‘s life and their meaning for her work. Included among the illustrations are more than eighty full–color paintings, as well as dozens of black–and–white pictures and line illustrations. Among the famous and little–known works included in Frida Kahlo: The Paintings are The Two Fridas, Self–Portrait as a Tehuana, Without Hope, The Dream, The Little Deer, Diego and I, Henry Ford Hospital, My Birth, and My Nurse and I. Here, too, are documentary photographs of Frida Kahlo and her world that help to illuminate the various stages of her life.

From the Author of Frida, the Moving and Heroic Story of One of the Central Painters of the Twentieth Century Born in Turkey around 1900, Vosdanik Adoian escaped the massacres of Armenians in 1915 only to watch his mother die of starvation and his family scatter in their flight from the Turks. Arriving in America in 1920, Adoian invented the pseudonym Arshile Gorky-and obliterated his past. Claiming to be a distant cousin of the novelist Maxim Gorky, he found work as an art teacher and undertook a program of rigorous study, schooling himself in the modern painters he most admired, especially Cézanne and Picasso. By the early forties, Gorky had entered his most fruitful period and developed the style that is seen as the link between European modernism and American abstract expressionism. His masterpieces influenced the great generation of American painters in the late forties, even as Gorky faced a series of personal catastrophes: a studio fire, cancer, and a car accident that temporarily paralyzed his painting arm. Further demoralized by the dissolution of his seven-year marriage, Gorky hanged himself in 1948. A sympathetic, sensitive account of artistic and personal triumph as well as tragedy, Hayden Herrera''s biography is the first to interpret Gorky''s work in depth. The result of more than three decades of scholarship-and a lifelong engagement with Gorky''s paintings-Arshile Gorky traces the progress from apprentice to master of the man André Breton called "the most important painter in American history."

A New Yorker Best Book of 2021 A “touching, heartbreaking, and exceptional” (Town & Country) coming-of-age memoir by the daughter of artistic, bohemian parents—set against a backdrop of 1950s New York, Cape Cod, and Mexico. Hayden Herrera’s parents each married five times; following their desires was more important to them than looking after their children. When Herrera was only three years old, her parents separated, and she and her sister moved from Cape Cod to New York City to live with their mother and their new hard-drinking stepfather. They saw their father only during the summers on the Cape, when they and the other neighborhood children would be left to their own devices by parents who were busy painting, writing, or composing music. These adults inhabited a world that Herrera’s mother called “upper bohemia,” a milieu of people born to privilege who chose to focus on the life of the mind. Her parents’ friends included such literary and artistic heavyweights as artist Max Ernst, writers Edmund Wilson and Mary McCarthy, architect Marcel Breuer, and collector Peggy Guggenheim. On the surface, Herrera’s childhood was idyllic and surreal. But underneath, the pain of being a parent’s afterthought was acute. Upper Bohemia captures the tension between a child’s excitement at every new thing and her sadness at losing the comfort of a reliable family. For her parents, both painters, the thing that mattered most was beauty—and so her childhood was expanded by art and by a reverence for nature. But her early years were also marred by abuse and by absent, irresponsible adults. As a result, Herrera would move from place to place, parent to parent, relative to family friend, and school to school—eventually following her mother to Mexico. The stepparents and stepsiblings kept changing too. Intimate and honest, Upper Bohemia “captures an enchanted but erratic childhood in a rarefied milieu with the critical but appreciative eye of a seasoned art historian” (The Wall Street Journal). It is a celebration of a wild and pleasure-filled way of living—and a poignant reminder of the toll such narcissism takes on the children raised in its grip.

"From the author of Arshile Gorky, a major biography of the great American sculptor that redefines his legacy"--

April 9 - May 3, 1997

La mejor biografía que se ha escrito sobre Frida Kahlo, la pintora mexicana por excelencia. Edición revisada con prólogo de Valeria Luiselli. Frida fue una figura mítica creada por sí misma, el centro exótico de una esfera que incluía a amigos como León Trotski y Nelson Rockefeller, Isamu Noguchi y André Breton, Dolores del Río y Paulette Goddard. Fue esposa del gran muralista Diego Rivera y artista brillante por derecho propio. Esta edición ampliamente revisada de la biografía de la pintora mexicana por excelencia nos revela a una mujer con un magnetismo y una originalidad legendarios, cuya vida fue tan dramática y obsesiva como las imágenes que pintaba. La sensualidad de sus cuadros, el ambiente extraño y denso que los impregna, surgieron directamente de sus propias experiencias: su infancia durante la Revolución, el devastador accidente sufrido a los dieciocho años, su vínculo con el Partido Comunista a través de Diego Rivera, su pasión por el folclore y la cultura de México... Frida realizó una fascinante obra autobiográfica plasmada en la pintura: una irresistible serie de autorretratos que representaban el desarrollo de su urgente necesidad de conocerse a sí misma, creados entre 1926 y 1954, fecha en que murió. Quienes la conocieron relatan la historia de su vida como una novela llena de encanto y joie de vivre, hasta el trágico final. Pese a que la verdad es más desoladora, la historia de Frida Kahlo sigue siendo tan extraordinaria como la leyenda que creó. ENGLISH DESCRIPTION Revised Edition. Prologue by Valeria Luiselli. Born near Mexico City, she grew up during the turbulent days of the Mexican Revolution and, at eighteen, was the victim of an accident that left her crippled and unable to bear children. To salvage what she could from her unhappy situation, Kahlo had to learn to keep still - so she began to paint. Kahlo''s unique talent was to make her one of the century''s most enduring artists. But her remarkable paintings were only one element of a rich and dramatic life. Frida is also the story of her tempestuous marriage to the muralist Diego Rivera, her love affairs with numerous, diverse men such as Isamu Noguchi and Leon Trotsky, her involvement with the Communist Party, her absorption in Mexican folklore and culture, and of the inspiration behind her unforgettable art.

Alla fine degli anni Novanta, New York è tappezzata di manifesti che raffigurano i quadri di Frida Kahlo. Un suo autoritratto viene venduto da Sotheby’s per oltre un milione e mezzo di dollari. A Hollywood si girano film sulla sua vita e i giornali di tutto il mondo la chiamano «la grande Frida» o «la regina di New York». Come se non bastasse, anche il mondo del glamour ne va pazzo: vengono stampate magliette, cartoline, poster con la sua immagine, abiti e gioielli che ne ricalcano lo stile. Ma chi era veramente Frida Kahlo e perché si parla ancora così tanto di lei? Nata nel 1910 a Coyoacan, in Messico, Frida sembra un personaggio uscito dalla penna di Gabriel García Márquez: piccola, fiera, sopravvissuta alla poliomielite a sei anni e a un brutto incidente stradale a diciotto che la lascerà invalida, con tremendi dolori alla schiena che la perseguiteranno fino alla morte. Nella vita privata e nella produzione artistica, Frida è combattuta tra due anime: il candore, da un lato, e la ferocia, dall’altro; la poeticità della natura contro la morte del corpo. La vita di Frida è un viaggio che affonda nella pittura tradizionale dell’800, nei retablos messicani, in Bosch e Bruegel, ma che subisce prepotentemente il fascino degli uomini più potenti del suo secolo: come il muralista Diego Rivera (marito fedifrago che le rimarrà accanto fino alla fine) o Trockij (di cui diverrà l’amante) o Pablo Picasso (che un giorno, al cospetto del marito, disse: «né tu né io sappiamo dipingere una testa come Frida Kahlo»). La biografia di Hayden Herrera – la massima esperta vivente di Frida – non è soltanto un’indagine poetica su una delle più grandi pittrici del Novecento. È soprattutto un libro di passione politica, d’amore, di sofferta ricerca artistica. Quella stessa sofferenza che porterà Frida a dipingere ossessivamente autoritratti spietati e nature morte sensuali, quasi volesse, mettendole sulla tela, strapparsi di dosso le proprie cicatrici e vivere finalmente una vita libera dal passato e felice. L’incidente che la rese invalida, la passione per il folclore messicano, i viaggi, l’ossessione per gli autoritratti, l’adesione al Partito comunista, i tradimenti del marito Diego Rivera, l’amicizia con Picasso, Trockij, Breton... «Una vita tormentata, estremamente intensa». Ms. magazine

I denna magnifika bok går konstvetaren Hayden Herrera på djupet i den fascinerande och sprakande historien om Frida Kahlo, en av världens mest ikoniska konstnärer och människor: Hennes barndom i Mexiko City under den mexikanska revolutionen. Hennes fascination för mexikansk folklore och kultur. Samröret med kommunisterna. Det stormiga äktenskap med konstnären Diego Rivera. Hennes många kärleksaffärer och den tragiska olycka som skadade henne för livet och gjorde så att hon aldrig kunde få barn. Frida Kahlo är rikt illustrerad med foton och målningar - en lyxigt formgiven, fängslande biografi, oumbärlig för alla som är intresserade av Frida Kahlo. HAYDEN HERRERA är en amerikansk konsthistoriker och författare. Hon har skrivit biografier om Henri Matisse och Mary Frank och hennes texter har publicerats i bland annat New York Times och Art in America. 1996 mottog hon det prestigefyllda Guggenheim Fellowship-priset. »En förtrollande berättelse om radikal konst, romantisk politik, bisarra kärlekar och fysiskt lidande.« Time Magazine »Hayden Herrera lyckas på ett imponerande sätt skära sig igenom myterna och ge oss en bild av denna sagolika kvinna.« The Independent »Frida Kahlo kommer att inta platsen som den första omfattande biografin över denna den mest fysiska av konstnärer.« The Observer

Todo mundo conhece Frida Kahlo, cuja imagem, de olhar complexo sob sobrancelhas espessas, cabelos negros e roupas coloridas, é quase tão difundida quanto a de Che Guevara. Todo mundo sabe que sofreu um gravíssimo acidente na juventude, que foi casada com o grande muralista Diego Rivera, e que foi amante de Leon Trotsky. Todo mundo sabe que tinha ideias radicais em política e hábitos modernos na vida, que pintava de modo radicalmente pessoal, e que teve uma existência tão tumultuada quanto o século XX em que viveu. O que poucos sabem é que tudo o que quase todo mundo sabe sobre Frida Kahlo está longe de resumir sua vida, ou de revelar a mulher por trás do ícone da arte latino-americana moderna. Finalmente traduzida para o português, Frida – a biografia foi um dos grandes impulsionadores do revival da artista nos Estados Unidos e em todo o mundo a partir de 1983. Como sintetizou a crítica, “Por meio de sua arte, Kahlo fez de si mesma uma artista e um ícone; por meio desta biografia, ganhou também dimensão humana”. Escrito por Hayden Herrera, reconhecida historiadora da arte, o livro traz, além da intimidade da história de Frida, detalhadas descrições e interpretações dos quadros de Kahlo, escritas com o rigor e a acuidade de uma especialista, mas também com a clareza, a fluidez e a sedução de uma amante dessa arte.

Vivid and entertaining, this succinct critical biography of Henri Matisse paints a luminous portrait of the artist and the man--his love of color, his complex relationship with his wife, his boldness and stubborn belief in himself, and, above all, his passion for art.