Frida Kahlo's garden

This book accompanies the exhibition Frida Kahlo: Art, Garden, Life at the New York Botanical Garden. It focuses on the exquisite garden at Kahlo's home, the Casa Azul (Blue House), in Mexico City. Over the years, Kahlo's home and garden underwent many transformations to express the wide-ranging interests and cultural tastes of Kahlo and her husband, muralist Diego Rivera. The collections of pre-Hispanic sculptures, folk art, books, animals, and diverse plant life in the garden were important to the development of Kahlo's artwork. This richly illustrated volume explores the garden's connection to Kahlo's work, which frequently employs complex symbolic flora and fauna imagery to express personal experience and expression. Included are thought-provoking essays about the history of landscape and garden architecture in Mexico City, indigenous building traditions, and unique insights into the unusual home and garden that inspired and fortified two of the most renowned artists of the 20th century. The book concludes with a list of the plants in Kahlo's garden, drawn from archival sources, photographs, and the botanical elements in her art, and a chronology of Kahlo's life and key moments in the evolution of her home and garden. Summing Up: Recommended. All readership levels. --Caley Brae Cannon, Brand Library and Art Center

Zavala (Latin American art history, Tufts Univ.), Mia D'Avanza (New York Botancial Gardens [NYBG] reference librarian & exhibitions coordinator), and Joanna L. Groarke (curator, NYBG) have put together an exquisitely produced companion book to the Frida Kahlo: Art, Garden, Life exhibition at the New York Botanical Gardens. Composed of essays discussing Kahlo's art and garden and accompanied by an abundance of photographs and color reproductions of the artist's paintings on display at the exhibition, the volume maintains a focus on the outdoor space and how Kahlo and her husband, fellow artist Diego Rivera, transformed it from a European-style space to one reflecting Mexico and pre--Hispanic culture. The essays place Kahlo and Rivera's art and garden in the context of a larger movement in Mexico celebrating precolonial culture and landscapes. Though sometimes repetitive, the well-written essays are informative and provide an unusual perspective for viewing Kahlo's art. VERDICT Those who enjoy both Kahlo and Rivera's work will definitely want to read and likely regret it if they can't attend the exhibition.-Stefanie Hollmichel, Univ. of St. Thomas Law Lib., -Minneapolis © Copyright 2015. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.