Frida, Martha and M.

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I just finished listening to an awesome podcast called Artholes on Spotify.  It’s an art history podcast that dives deep into the lives of famous artists such as Picasso and Caravaggio.  They’re incredibly in-depth and while they do focus on the art works, the host takes a keen interest in the personal lives and life history of the highlighted artist. It’s super fun and the host, Michael Anthony, is hilarious. He’s also not bad on the eyes! @artholes on instagram.

 

His episode on Frida Kahlo was PHENOMENAL! Wow! What a crazy wild ride did Frida have. She lived with a real passion and hunger for life. She  possessed a curiosity that we should all aspire to. It’s what keeps life interesting. He also is very careful to not put her on a pedastal and showed her complicated human side and flaws. I had tears streaming down my face several times while listening to it. I highly recommend it. So here’s a link. ARTHOLES!

 

Forewarning, he provides tons of context so get ready for a history lesson of how Mexico came to be. He makes history fun and engaging to set up the story nicely.

 

Anyways, maybe I’m reaching here but it got me thinking about M and her relation to Frida. She’s named her as her muse and inspiration several times. While listening to her story, I couldn’t help but see parallels between the two of them. Frida was not someone to back away from controversy and speaking up for what she believed in. She loved sex with both men and women and her art was a direct reflection of her life at the current moment. He spoke about the her work ‘Two Fridas’ and how you can’t acknowledge the Frida you know now while ignoring the Frida of the past and vise versa because they’ve been there for each other the whole time…Well, he describes it much better then I do and in such a way that it reduced me to tears. You’ll have to listen for yourself.

 

What stuck out to me was that Frida actually had grills. She ruined her teeth with too much brandy and candy. In her latest Jimmy Kimmel appearance, M mentioned she wears grills because she has bad teeth. Now, we all know about the gap in her teeth that’s disappeared through the years but I don’t think she ever had bad teeth. Maybe that’s her way of becoming like her idol? Then I also think about M’s corsets and how they’re ubiquitous in her art. Frida had to wear corsets due to a horrible bus accident where a pole entered through her ribs and through her vagina. It plagued her her whole life but she painted her corsets and turned them into beautiful art works.

 

I also think about Martha Graham, her old dance teacher. Graham danced on stage well into her 70’s and often cast herself next to MUCH younger male suitors. Critics tore her apart for dancing next to younger men as her love interest calling her too old to do such a thing.

 

Does this sound familiar? 🙄

 

She stopped performing because the criticisms became too loud.  She then started teaching at her studios, became depressed and started drinking heavily. She became an alcoholic but she recovered and choreographed until her death at 96. I have a feeling M won’t stop creating until the earth reclaims her. I was a pro dancer at one point in my life and I have a few stories from dance teachers who worked with M in her poor dancer days if you’d like to hear them. I’d be happy to share.

 

Again, I might be reaching but there were so many points in Fridas story that were ‘AHA! Thats where they comes from!’ moments. It was just a great listen all around so I’m sure you could enjoy them all. And if not for finding some M Easter eggs, then maybe just for a great listen. He hasn’t updated since July after a 5 hour episode on the history of France to lead up to the life of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. I CAN’T WAIT!

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Corsets go way back before Frida, who had to wear them for medical purposes vs. fashion. So your analysis, interesting enough, might be overreaching.