Self Identity:
Who are YOU? What makes you YOU?
Frida Kahlo
Magdalena Carmen Frida Kahlo y Calderón was a Mexican painter known for her many portraits, self-portraits, and works inspired by the nature and artifacts of Mexico. Kahlo had been a promising student headed for medical school until being injured in a bus accident at the age of 18, which caused her lifelong pain and medical problems. During her recovery, she returned to her childhood interest in art with the idea of becoming an artist. She married another well known artist, Diego Rivera. He was a famous mural painter, also from Mexico.
Born: July 6, 1907 Died: July 13, 1954 (age 47 years) She lived in Mexico City, Mexico most of her life. But, she did spend a great deal of time in the United States, learning, painting and traveling. Kahlo loved to paint self portraits. Out of her 143 paintings she did, 55 of them were self portraits. |
Let's look closer at this painting....
What do you see that tells us about her?
This painting is at the Detroit Institute of Arts. It was created in 1932.
Who are YOU? What makes you YOU?
Let's think about who we are by looking at three things:
1. How do you look? - I want you to think about what people see when they look at you. What color is your hair? What color are your eyes? What age are you? Do you have a favorite shirt or favorite shoes you wear?
2. What do you do? - What are your interests? What talents do you have? What is special about you? What can you do that is different than someone else?
3. What do you think? - Who are you deep inside? What beliefs do you have? What are your values? Do you have a special culture in your family? Do you have any special traditions at home? What are your hopes, your feelings, what you want to do in the future?
1. How do you look? - I want you to think about what people see when they look at you. What color is your hair? What color are your eyes? What age are you? Do you have a favorite shirt or favorite shoes you wear?
2. What do you do? - What are your interests? What talents do you have? What is special about you? What can you do that is different than someone else?
3. What do you think? - Who are you deep inside? What beliefs do you have? What are your values? Do you have a special culture in your family? Do you have any special traditions at home? What are your hopes, your feelings, what you want to do in the future?
Challenge: Use all of the parts of who you are and put them into your own self portrait. Show all of those details you pulled together from the questions we talked about into your artwork!
Other artists' self portraits:
Can you name all of the things in these self portraits that explain their identities?
Chuck Close |
Jean-Michel BasquiatBorn: December 22, 1960, Brooklyn, New York, NY
Died: August 12, 1988 (age 27 years), Great Jones Street, New York, NY |
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