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Lot Essay
Frida Kahlo (1910-1954)
Frida and the Miscarriage
inscribed '13a prueba' (lower left)
lithograph on laid paper
12 3/8 x 9½ in. (31.5 x 24 cm.)
Executed in 1932
The advent of 20th Century Latin American Art
Throughout the 19th century in Latin America, local aristocrats and rich immigrant entrepreneurs founded the first art academies and museums of the Americas as an attempt to create awareness about the arts in the newly established Republics. Some of the first academies, including the Academia de San Carlos in Mexico City and the Academia Real in Rio de Janeiro, were founded in the large capitals during the early decades of the century. These art schools followed the European Academic model and their teachers, usually European immigrant themselves, taught in the realistic and naturalist manner creating a school of painting that geared towards an idyllic representation of local customs and places.
By the late 1800s and into the 1900s, it was fashionable among the students that upon finishing their studies they travel to Europe to further their education. Paris, Rome and Madrid, with their vast museums and public art collections were some of the most popular destinations for most young artists from Latin America. To travel through Europe's capitals and to study the masters while meandering through the museums allowed them to expand their general knowledge and perfect their artistic techniques. Those with family funds or fortunate enough to have special government grants joined the local art schools-such as the Academie Julien, the Ecole des Arts Appliques, or the Ecole des Beaux-Arts and further expanded their knowledge in an academic environment. Many thought of Paris as the capital of the avant-garde and made it their temporary home.
In spite of their academic studies, it was the street life and the intellectuals living in Paris in the early 20th century that truly attracted and influenced the young Latin population. The caffees in Montparnasse, the possibility of sitting alongside great figures such as Picasso and Leger, the informality and vivacity of the art world and the chance of exhibiting in the local galleries, were most inspiring. It is thus that the roots of the Latin American vanguard flourished alongside the most daring ideas of the early 20th century European art and that the fortunate travelers returned to their native countries full of energy applying their acquired knowledge to the development of an art of their own.
Frida and the Miscarriage
inscribed '13a prueba' (lower left)
lithograph on laid paper
12 3/8 x 9½ in. (31.5 x 24 cm.)
Executed in 1932
The advent of 20th Century Latin American Art
Throughout the 19th century in Latin America, local aristocrats and rich immigrant entrepreneurs founded the first art academies and museums of the Americas as an attempt to create awareness about the arts in the newly established Republics. Some of the first academies, including the Academia de San Carlos in Mexico City and the Academia Real in Rio de Janeiro, were founded in the large capitals during the early decades of the century. These art schools followed the European Academic model and their teachers, usually European immigrant themselves, taught in the realistic and naturalist manner creating a school of painting that geared towards an idyllic representation of local customs and places.
By the late 1800s and into the 1900s, it was fashionable among the students that upon finishing their studies they travel to Europe to further their education. Paris, Rome and Madrid, with their vast museums and public art collections were some of the most popular destinations for most young artists from Latin America. To travel through Europe's capitals and to study the masters while meandering through the museums allowed them to expand their general knowledge and perfect their artistic techniques. Those with family funds or fortunate enough to have special government grants joined the local art schools-such as the Academie Julien, the Ecole des Arts Appliques, or the Ecole des Beaux-Arts and further expanded their knowledge in an academic environment. Many thought of Paris as the capital of the avant-garde and made it their temporary home.
In spite of their academic studies, it was the street life and the intellectuals living in Paris in the early 20th century that truly attracted and influenced the young Latin population. The caffees in Montparnasse, the possibility of sitting alongside great figures such as Picasso and Leger, the informality and vivacity of the art world and the chance of exhibiting in the local galleries, were most inspiring. It is thus that the roots of the Latin American vanguard flourished alongside the most daring ideas of the early 20th century European art and that the fortunate travelers returned to their native countries full of energy applying their acquired knowledge to the development of an art of their own.