Art Review: Visual & Performing Arts Essay

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Question: How is a historical material culture approach to Frida Kahlo different from a biographical approach? Why is this important? Choose one Kahlo image from the article to inform your answer.
Art Review
The historical material culture approach applied to Frida Kahlo places material culture in a historical context, including how culture and surroundings influenced Kahlo‘s artistry and perspectives. The Biography approach tells history, stories, and memories, but there is less emphasis on the context and significance of an object, thing, or person. Figure 5 “Frida Kahlo, Self-portrait as Tehuana, 1943” is one of Kahlo’s paintings that links Mexico’s colonial past and focus on the indigenous people that had garnered interest among the Mexican elite (Pankl and Blake 11). Historical material culture then addresses the historical context, while the biographical approach focuses on one’s biography, and at times, the documented biographical details are inaccurate.
Kahlo’s persona forms part of the material ...