Frida Kahlo: POSE

“I have broken many social norms.” — Frida Kahlo

Frida Kahlo: POSE is a focused exhibition that presents select paintings, drawings, and prints; a rich array of vintage photographs (some never before seen); and rare archival footage and ephemera, providing new perspectives on Kahlo's complex identity as a path-breaking individual and artist. Organized in five overlapping sections – posing; composing; exposing; queering, and self-fashioning – this research-based show examines the relationship between photography and art within Kahlo's world; explores her mode of composing herself and her paintings; and shines a light on Kahlo’s queer identity and gender fluid self-presentations. Contemporary artworks from the Rose Art Museum’s permanent collection that explore queer identity will be placed in dialogue with Kahlo’s work, pointing to this transgressive artist's inspiring legacies and cultural impact.

Frida Kahlo: POSE is co-curated by Dr. Gannit Ankori, Henry and Lois Foster Director and Chief Curator of the Rose Art Museum and Professor of Fine Arts and Women's Gender and Sexuality Studies at Brandeis University, and Guest Curator Circe Henestrosa, Head of the School of Fashion, LASALLE College of the Arts, University of the Arts Singapore.

This exhibition is generously supported by Claudia Davidoff and Lizbeth Krupp, and by our partners at Brandeis University: Women's Studies Research Center; Gender and Sexuality Center; Department of Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies; the Film, Television and Interactive Media Program; and The Edie and Lew Wasserman Fund.