Frida Kahlo by Gannit Ankori

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The book is both an informative and interpretive account of Frida's personal and creative life. Slightly drier than most of the reads on the artist I've come across previously; however, this is probably the best aspect of the book, as Frida's life was already mythologized by herself, the feminist movement, Hollywood, and many other of her admirers.
The interpretations of [inscriptions and other symbolism in] Frida's paintings are systematically injected into the storyline next to the excerpts from artist's diaries, letters, and well-documented witness accounts. In other words, the author based every aspect of her clear-minded account of Frida's life on something – which is more than most writers on Frida did – and still managed to come up with a beautifully consistent storyline, easily readable and accessible for a broad audience. There is no trace of romanticization, mythologization or other forms of subjective canonization of Frida in this book, because – possibly – the reality of her artistic legacy is impressive enough.

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