Stupinigi on display for the first time Frida Kahlo as seen by photographer Nickolas Muray

After a forced stop due to Covid just days before opening in 2020, the exhibition Frida Kahlo. Through the Lens of Nickolas Muray returns to Piedmont, to the Palazzina di Caccia di Stupinigi, with a new layout and new content, from March 5 to June 5, 2022. The exhibition, curated by Next Exhibition and Ono Arte, under the patronage of the Embassy of Mexico in Italy, the Honorary Consulate of Mexico in Turin and Turin Metropolitan City, for the first time in Europe unveils to the public the complete collection of shots on Frida by Nickolas Muray, her longtime friend and lover. Above them all, Frida Kahlo on White Bench, the most iconic photo as well as the exhibition’s graphic line.

Sixty shots of Nickolas Muray in the most secret moments of Kahlo’s life, to let the whole audience discover the woman behind the artist and know her secrets. A true look at the most intimate and yet unknown Frida, in a photographic journey organized by the Nickolas Muray Archive through GuestCurator Traveling Exhibition, LCC.

Nickolas Muray’s Photos.

The meeting between Muray and Kahlo occurred in 1923 when Nickolas Muray met Mexican artist Miguel Covarrubias who had come to New York on a six-month fellowship offered by the Mexican government. Shortly after his arrival, Covarrubias began working for Vanity Fair, a magazine to which Muray had been contributing celebrity portraits for several years, and the two soon became friends. In 1931 Muray traveled to Mexico on vacation with Covarrubias and his wife Rosa. Covarrubias had been a student of Diego Rivera and, inevitably, Frida Kahlo and Nickolas Muray met. The two began a love affair that continued and faded for the next ten years and a friendship that lasted until his death in 1954.

The photographs that Muray made during this relationship, covering a period from 1937 to 1946, give us a unique perspective, that of friend, lover and confidant. The images, born out of the professional and personal relationship between the two, have made their way into popular culture, through a wide variety of media, and have profoundly influenced the public’s view of Frida. They have become iconic and integral to understanding who Frida Kahlo was as the individual behind the artwork. Following the chronology of Nickolas Muray’s photographs, the exhibition chronicles Frida Kahlo’s professional and personal journey, beginning with the 1937 shots in Tizapan, Mexico, and closing with the 1948 shots in Pedregal and Coyoacan. Some of the most important photos taken of Frida Kahlo, such as those taken in 1939 in Muray’s studio and in 1946 in New York, are born in this time frame, displayed in the exhibition as if reconstructing a family photo album.

For the occasion, the exhibition offers reconstructions of the rooms of the Azul house, such as the bedroom with the famous bed of art and suffering and the studio where Frida created, but also the reproduction of the clothes and jewelry, to show the artist’s style, which was expressed through colorful clothing and important accessories of ethnic and tribal inspiration. In the exhibition focus on Frida’s loves, with original letters exchanged with Nickolas Muray and the documentary Artists in Love, in collaboration with SKY Arte, on her troubled relationship with Diego Rivera. There will be many multimedia contributions in the exhibition, a distinctive feature of Next Exhibition’s productions, such as the immersive area located in the central heart of the Citroniera di Ponente, where the public will be able to watch videos produced by Kahlo herself. And in the merchandising area, the new VR experience to “see through Frida’s eyes,” a passionate look into the famous Casa Azul, thanks to the latest generation of Oculus Quest2 technology.

An exhibition within an exhibition

Special guest of the exhibition is international, Mexican-born artist Karla De Lara, considered today the mother of pop art hyperrealism, in a thread that links past and future in a profound and delicate investigation of being Frida Kahlo. Having exhibited in more than 36 countries around the world, De Lara brings audiences to Frida’s knowledge through the intimacy of her artist’s studio, a conceptual framework for a large body of work; gathering Frida’s pain and transforming it into joy, for life and for her land. The Mexican artist’s exhibition is curated by Dr. Chiara Candellone Sticca.

“The exhibition Through the Lens of Nickolas Muray,” says Carlos Garcia de Alba, Ambassador of Mexico to Italy, “is a photographic tribute to the life and work of Mexican artist Frida Kahlo, who has become a global icon, not only in the field of the arts, but also in the promotion of female identity and gender equity. With this exhibition, the Embassy of Mexico in Italy proudly continues to bring the excellence of Mexican culture and arts to the appreciative public of Turin, with the valuable collaboration of Italian public and private entities.”

“It is with true pleasure,” says Alessandra Giani, Honorary Consul of Mexico in Turin, “that the Honorary Consulate of Mexico in Turin sponsors this exhibition in which, through Muray’s images, we get to know and appreciate Frida Kahlo; a well-known Mexican artist who in her works and in her life expresses the passions that have crossed the world and Mexico in particular. Her outbursts, pain and contradictions of time and country become a perennial and international message that induces us to reflections common to all men.”

The exhibition is open: Monday through Thursday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Friday and Saturday 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Last admission allowed to the exhibition one hour before closing time. All information about the exhibition at www.fridatorino.it

Stupinigi on display for the first time Frida Kahlo as seen by photographer Nickolas Muray

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