Studio Visit: Frida Khalo and Diego Rivera – Part 1 – The exterior

Martin Munkacsi, [Frida Kahlo, Mexico City], 1934 (2007.110.212)

Martin Munkacsi, [Exterior of Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera’s house-studio, Mexico City], 1934 (2007.110.227)

Martin Munkacsi, [Exterior of Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera’s house-studio, Mexico City], 1934 (2007.110.229)

Martin Munkacsi, [Frida Kahlo on stairs on the exterior of house-studio, Mexico City], 1934 (2007.110.228)

Martin Munkacsi, [Frida Kahlo climbing stairs leading to roof and connecting bridge on the exterior of house-studio, Mexico City], 1934 (2007.110.214)

Martin Munkacsi, [Fridha Kahlo standing on bridge between house-studios, Mexico City], 1934 (2007.110.213)

Who:
Frida Khalo, artist (July 6, 1907 – July 13, 1954)
Diego Rivera, artist (December 8, 1886 – November 24, 1957)
Juan O’Gorman, architect and artist (July 6, 1905 – January 17, 1982)
Martin Munkacsi, photographer (May 18, 1896 – July 13, 1963)

What:
Studio and house of Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo, designed by Juan O’Gorman. A large red building was Diego Rivera’s studio and home and a smaller blue building was Frida Kahlo’s studio and home. Exterior steps and a bridge on the roof connected the two buildings. There was also another blue building, a photographic studio for Frida Kahlo’s father, Guillermo Kahlo. The buildings are surrounded by a cactus fence.

Where:
The studio and house of Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo are located in San Ángel, a “colonia” or neighborhood, in the Álvaro Obregón borough, of Mexico City. (El Museo Casa Estudio Diego Rivera y Frida Kahlo can be seen on Google Maps.)
(The nearby Frida Kahlo Museum can be seen on Google Maps.)
(Mostly color and contemporary photos can be seen here.)

When:
The studios and homes of Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo were designed and built between 1931-32. From 1932 to 1933, Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo spend a fair amount of time living and working in the U.S.; in the Spring of’33 Rivera’s Rockefeller Center mural is painted and destroyed in early ’34. In December 1933 Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo start to work and live there. Presumably in early or mid-1934, Munkacsi photographs Kahlo, Rivera and the magnificent modernist structures, using Agfa glass plates. Some of these photos and snapshots from looking out a train window of the surrounding countryside were published, hence the crop marks on the glass plate negatives, in a July 1934 issue of Harper’s Bazaar.

Sources and informative links:
Museo Casa Estudio Diego Rivera y Frida Kahlo
greekarchitects.gr
estudiodiegorivera
wikiarquitectura
Museo Frida Kahlo
Museo Frida Kahlo
frida kahlo.com
lisasonora.com
The Guardian