"Kahlo's Contemporaries" and the Blaisten virtual museum of Mexican art

The big Frida show at the Tate in London drew a lot of attention; part of its legacy is that it allowed feminist scholars of Latin American art to create a marvelous show called "Kahlo's Contemporaries: Mexico-Women-Surrealism" at the University of Essex in 2005. The goal was not to claim these painters for surrealism, but to use the work of these painters to think about surrealism and vice-versa. Maria Izquierdo, for example, had a friendship with Antonin Artaud, usually not mentioned in studies of his work. Their dialogue had an impact on his writing about Mexico, and their contact had an influence on some of her paintings. I have not been able to find out much about her yet, but I'm intrigued by her story.

When I clicked on one of the teeny-tiny links at the bottom of the page, I discovered a treasure: the Museo Blaisten. This is a private collection, but it has been made accessible to the public in this virtual museum. You can use a Spanish or an English version. The site is organized into eight "rooms" that are both chronological and thematic: if you click on an image of a painting or sculpture, a descriptive text appears, and if you click on the image to enlarge it, a beautifully digitized image is viewable.

Another Mexican art site, this one about an exhibition called "Retratos: 2000 years of Mexican Art" is also worth a visit. I've seen the gorgeous but very expensive catalogue for sale at the Walker book store, but refrained from buying it. I will go visit it in a library.