'Norton is back' with exhibit featuring Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera

"The Norton is back!"

So declared Director Ghislain d’Humières on Wednesday as the museum unveiled its first major exhibit of the season.

And it appears the museum is back indeed. Its opening salvo, "Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera and Mexican Modernism from the Jacques and Natasha Gelman Collection," which runs through Feb. 6, is its largest ode ever to Mexican modernism as well as the largest grouping of works by Kahlo and Rivera ever to be on view there. 

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Exhibit curator Ellen Roberts noted that Mexican modernism, despite its significance in the art world, had never been an emphasis of the Norton, which was founded 80 years ago. 

A year before Kahlo's death, one of her paintings was seen at the Norton in the 1953 exhibition "Mexican Paintings: A Group of Twelve." But in the nearly 70 years since, no other artwork by Kahlo has been on view there, the museum said.

Rivera's work is part of the Norton's collection, so his work was on view as recently as 2019, Roberts said. 

The exhibit features 23 works by Kahlo, including eight self-portraits, and 11 works by Rivera. There are more than 150 works, including paintings and works on paper collected by Jacques and Natasha Gelman. Works by artists in the couple's orbit as well as photographs of them are included in the exhibit. 

Also on view are clothes that were influenced by Kahlo's unique style, which was a reflection of her mixed heritage, Roberts said. Kahlo's father was German and her mother Mexican of indigenous ancestry.  

"The exhibit is about works but also the relationships between the artists and their broader circle," Roberts said.

Kahlo, who had polio as a child, was severely injured in a bus accident that shattered her pelvis and spine and left her in pain for the rest of her life. She married Rivera in 1929 and they divorced in 1940, but remarried the same year. Their relationship was turbulent and complicated.

Roberts told the Daily News said that Kahlo's and Rivera's significance hinge on the fact that they were at the center of the Mexico's post-revolution renaissance movement. 

Political activists, they embraced communism in response to the rise of fascism in Europe and were radicals in advocating for social justice for all Mexicans, in particular indigenous people. They believed indigenous Mexican culture was just as important — or even more so — than European culture, Roberts said. 

Rivera was the most important Mexican muralist of his time, Roberts said, and the art form was key to Mexican modernism because artists often used it to explore the country's past as well as its present and future.

"This was something they were very immersed in after the revolution, when they were trying to define what it meant to be a modern Mexican," Roberts said. 

Kahlo was in some ways the opposite of Rivera, she said, because her orientation was more private in contrast to Rivera's more public approach. Her much smaller works depict her experiences and while her art was mostly dismissed as being too personal, she was in fact exploring many of the same issues as Rivera, Roberts said. Those issues included gender and the country's colonial past. 

Kahlo, who had wanted to be a doctor before her accident, carried her fascination with science into her work, Roberts said.

The Mexican modernism mix will extend to the museum's restaurant and store. The former will offer a menu inspired by the exhibit, including calabaza bisque, grilled shrimp tacos, Oaxacan mole chicken, flan de quesilla and tequila cocktails. The store is offering a variety of themed items including jewelry and clothing inspired by Kahlo. 

With this exhibit, the museum will be open seven days a week as it returns to the schedule in place before the COVID-19 pandemic upended life in Palm Beach County. The museum partially reopened in November after being closed since March 2020.

"The Norton is back in the business of showing art," d’Humières said at Wednesday's event, as he shared his delight at the museum's full reopening and the return of "programming, learning and community engagement." 

Noting that his previous dismissal of viewing art online had evaporated during the pandemic — when it pretty much was the only option for many museums — d’Humières conceded that technology was useful in enhancing some experiences as well as broadening the museum's reach. The museum will continue to offer online programming through the Norton Channel, he said.

The Kahlo-Rivera exhibition had been planned by his predecessor before the pandemic, d’Humières said. While it was an important undertaking, he added, the programming around it was even more important in making it relevant for the entire community. "We're here for everybody," he said.

When he took over the reins in January, d’Humières was surprised that the Norton was not bilingual in is approach. But that has changed. "All signs are in Spanish and English," he said, adding that converting the website will take longer. 

Programming Director Glenn Roberts said there are more than 30 programs connected with the Kahlo-Diego exhibition. 

The Norton has much of its regular programming, including the popular Art After Dark, on tap for the season as well upcoming exhibits — "Saul Steinberg: A Writer Who Draws" runs Nov. 19 to March 6; and "From Hassam to Wyeth: Gifts from Doris and Shouky Shaheen" runs Dec. 10 to May 1.

The museum has strict COVID-19 protocols in place. Guests 12 and older will be required to show proof of a negative COVID-19 professionally administered PCR test taken within 72 hours; or a negative COVID-19 Antigen Rapid Test conducted within 24 hours. Alternatively, they can voluntarily show proof of COVID-19 vaccination (together with a valid photo ID for ages 18 and older). Masks must be worn required at all times regardless of negative tests or vaccination status.

Hours of operation and admission prices vary; visit norton.org for details. 

Also on view at the Norton:

"Dynamic, Squalid, Splendid: Themes of the City" (through Nov. 7) is drawn exclusively from the museum's collection of prints and drawings. The exhibition contains approximately 40 works and aims to fulfill two purposes: first, to further acquaint our visitors with the collection of works on paper, including those of lesser-known artists; second, to provide food for thought at a time when the dynamic life of cities unexpectedly ground to a halt, and when their future seems often unclear. 

"Chaim Gross: Bodies in Motion" (through Dec. 12) celebrates Tomoko Supak’s recent gift of Chaim Gross’s sculpture "Standing Figure of 1936" to the museum.   

"Frida and Me" (through Dec. 5) is an intimate grouping of collection-based paintings, works on paper, and photographs that consider Kahlo’s influence. This is seen through the work of contemporary artists, such as Miriam Schapiro and Yasumasa Morimura, who faithfully engage with Kahlo’s self-portraits, while also highlighting artists who established Mexico’s modernism alongside her, including Rufino Tamayo and Tina Modotti, among others. 

"Origin Stories: Photography of Africa and Its Diaspora" (through Jan. 16). In April of 2021, the Norton’s Photography Committee acquired a monumental work by Yinka Shonibare CBE, titled Le Méduse. With Shonibare’s work as a catalyst, Origin Stories: Photography of Africa and Its Diaspora confronts the intertwined relationship between identity and colonialism in communities across the African continent and throughout the African diaspora.   

The Other Half of the Sky: Twentieth-Century Chinese Women Painters (through Jan. 23) complements Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera and Mexican Modernism: From the Jacques and Natasha Gelman Collection. Zhou Lianxia (1909 – 2000), Lu Xiaoman (1903 – 1965) and Wu Qingxia (1910 – 2008) are known as the three greatest women painters of the Republican Period (1912 – 1949) in China. The featured work in this installation is Butterflies and Corn Poppies by Zhou Lianxia, who was born just two years after Kahlo.