Artists You Should Know: Frida Kahlo

A recent email came blasting in. (Please forgive the capital letters; the author, I am almost certain, was suffering a horrible keyboard malfunction.)

"HOW CAN YOU CALL YOURSELF AN ART HISTORY WRITER??? THERE IS NOTHING ABOUT FRIEDA (sic) KAHLO. GET A CLUE LADY!!!"

Lady's reply:

"Dear To Whom It May Concern,

Thank you for writing. We each do the best we can with what we have when it comes to clue-gathering. I probably call myself an Art History writer for many of the same reasons you call yourself a person who was taught good manners at some point in his or her life. It's all in the perception. In any case, here is a profile of Frida Kahlo who was, incidentally, known by her friends for the warm, charming letters she wrote."

Gee whiz. Frida, who cooked, cleaned, maintained a home, was a wife, had many friends to whom she devoted time and knew a great deal about suffering, would certainly have understood "life" getting in the way of "creation." So there.