/ Modified mar 6, 2012 3:43 p.m.

Frida Kahlo Photo Exhibit at Tucson Museum of Art

Famed Mexican artist 'presents her persona,' curator says of intimate shots

030612_Frida_Kahlo_Photo_Exhibit_617x347 Artist Frida Kahlo.

A new exhibition at the Tucson Museum of Art showcases a collection of photographic portraits of the acclaimed artist Frida Kahlo.

Anne Seiferle-Valencia, curator of Latin American Art at the Tucson Museum of Art, says the exhibit of portraits by Nickolas Muray is a unique opportunity to gain insight into the dramatic backdrop of Frida Kahlo’s artistic inspiration.

“What I see in the photographs is that there is almost a collaborative effort taking place,” Seiferle-Valencia says. “Frida Kahlo is presenting her persona, Muray has posed her very elegantly and sort of cut out everything else so that it’s just her -- just her face, her costume. They were such close friends and lovers that his way of photographing her was just partly how he saw her as a person.”

Seiferle-Valencia says Muray and Kahlo had a love affair that spanned 10 years and took place while Kahlo was married to famed muralist Diego Rivera.

The evolution of a relationship is visible in the sizeble collection of photographs taken by Muray, as well as the triangulation that takes place among three working artists, the curator says.

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