Begining June 1, the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, Missouri, will open its exhibit, which will feature over 100 pieces of work ranging from painting to sculpture to photography from the Gelman Collection. The Gelmans were a famous and high-flying art-colllecting couple in the 20th century who fell in love with Mexico and made it not only their home, but the centerpiece of their fantastic collection. In the 2000s, however, after the death of Natasha Gelman, who bequeathed the collection to her friend, curator Robert Littman, a litigation frenzy ensued over who had the rights to the works (and at one point the paintings were put into hiding).
The Nelson-Atkins, according to one of its curators, Stephanie Knappe, felt the Gelman collection "offered an opportunity to honor the rich artistc traditions of Mexico's past and celebrate the vitality of Mexican art today." The museum also hopes that the way in which they lay out the paintings creates an intimate atmosphere, reflecting the fact that it is a private collection the Gelmans would have lived with in their homes. And on a fun and different note, to try and engage multigenerational audiences, the museum included interpretations next to the artwork from local third and fifth graders as well as seniors from University Academy in Missouri.
Pictured above is Frida Kahlo's Self-Portrait with Necklace. For Kahlo, her self-portraits became an outlet for her lifelong suffering (contracting polio at a young age, a bus accident leaving her with a broken spine and pelvis, as well as a punctured uterus, and later the amputation of a leg). Kahlo became a feminist icon for her unflinching depiction of the female form, her struggles with miscarriage, and her fiery marriage-of-equals with Diego Rivera.
One of Kahlo's more famous works, Diego on My Mind, captures one of the more iconic and tumultuous relationships in art history. Featuring a sullen and ugly Rivera on her forehead, the headress around Kahlo herself ends up forming a sort of a halo—perhaps representative of the suffering she felt she endured with Diego. The painting was completed in 1943, four years after they divorced and three after they remarried.
Sean Weaver
Kahlo is well known for her deep Mexican nationalism as well as for her feminism. In this painting, from her dress and jewelery to her hair and the lush vegetation, Kahlo is immersed in traditional Mexico. The origins of the painting are emblematic of Kahlo's ability to enrapture. At her first New York show, the then-head of the Museum of Modern Art, A. Konger Goodyear, fell in love with her painting Fulang-Chang and I, which already belonged to somebody else. So he commissioned her to create one like it, and the painting to the left is the result.
Sean Weaver
Natasha Zahalka, an immigrant from Czechoslovakia, was, along with her husband, a major patron of Mexican art. Their money came in large part from the film industry, and this portrait by Rivera captures the glamour the Gelmans came to represent. The sensuous shape of Natasha's form and dress are mirrored by the oversized calla lilies behind her, giving her a distinctly sexual air.
Sean Weaver
Like Kahlo, Rivera was also intensely focused on Mexican history and the importance of its indigenous people. The young girl who sat for this painting was the daughter of one of Rivera's household staff. It is part of a series of portraits Rivera did of biracial or indigenous children in traditional dress.
