Promotion
Use code DAD23 for 20% off + Free shipping on $45+ Shop Now!
What Would Frida Do?
A Guide to Living Boldly
Contributors
Formats and Prices
Price
$16.99Price
$22.99 CADFormat
Format:
- Trade Paperback $16.99 $22.99 CAD
- ebook $11.99 $15.99 CAD
- Hardcover $26.00 $33.00 CAD
This item is a preorder. Your payment method will be charged immediately, and the product is expected to ship on or around November 2, 2021. This date is subject to change due to shipping delays beyond our control.
Also available from:
Having doubts about your next step? Ask yourself what artist Frida Kahlo would do in this “beautiful volume . . . sure to inspire” (Boston Globe).
NAMED A BEST GIFT BOOK OF THE YEAR BY: Instyle, Oprah Daily, Business Insider, Esquire, Boston Globe, and Redbook
Revered as much for her fierce spirit as she is for her art, Frida Kahlo stands today as a feminist symbol of daring creativity. Her paintings have earned her admirers around the world, but perhaps her greatest work of art was her own life. What Would Frida Do? celebrates this icon’s signature style, outspoken politics, and boldness in love and art—even in the face of hardship and heartbreak. We see her tumultuous marriage with the famous muralist Diego Rivera and rumored flings with Leon Trotsky and Josephine Baker. In this irresistible read, writer Arianna Davis conjures Frida’s brave spirit, encouraging women to create fearlessly and stand by their own truths.
Excerpt
1
CONFIDENCE
There are queens and movie stars and warriors and socialites. From Cleopatra to BeyoncĂ©, when we look back through history, we find no shortage of women we can look to for inspiration on how to be confident. But thereâs also no doubt that Frida Kahloâs story makes her one of historyâs most inspiring female role modelsâa master at turning lemons into lemonade.
Combing through Fridaâs life to better understand how she went from a child prone to illness to one of the most well-known faces in history has been no easy task. Itâs required spending, essentially, my every waking moment with Frida. Before I knew it, she had taken over my life. Suddenly, during my daily travels through New York neighborhoods, I began to notice the subtle influences of Frida; sheâs there in the flick of a graffiti stroke, the sway of a passerbyâs skirt, the mariachi tunes floating out of a dimly lit bar. During conversations, Iâd find words tumbling out of my mouth that sounded a lot like the ones Frida once wrote in her diary. Soon, her style had even seeped into my closet, the color palettes of my wardrobe becoming more vibrant, my accessory collection expanding to incorporate indigenous-inspired designs.
By the time I completed this book, I had begun to feel as though I might know Frida Kahlo better than anyone living in the entire world. But of course, the truth is that actually knowing Frida Kahlo is impossible. Even while she was alive, those around her only got to know a portion of Frida, the mask she chose to show the world via her paintingsâand perhaps the same is true of her own husband, Diego. In fact, I believe that her biggest creative achievement wasnât her paintings at all, but instead the performance art that was her lifeâthe drama she created with a main character who had such mystique and allure that generations have been carefully turning over her life in books and essays and exhibits and films ever since. Frida Kahlo was an enigma, a magician, a woman who reveled in being misunderstood.
There is, however, one thing we know for sure about Frida Kahlo: she was a badass, and she did not lack in confidence. As I study this woman who stood tall in her viewsâa feminist and communist who proudly rocked features that, still today, are often seen as anything but the typical standard of feminine beautyâI begin to contrast that Frida with the young woman who wore long skirts to conceal her crippled leg after being nicknamed âPeg Legâ by her peers. The comparison raises the question: was Frida truly confident⊠or was she just adept at hiding her insecurities?
Even someone with a minimal knowledge of art can take one look at Fridaâs portfolio and see very clearly that the artist had no shortage of self-loveâor narcissism, depending on how you look at it. And she was just as unapologetic in her real life as she was on canvas. Take, for instance, the words she penned to her husband, Diego Rivera, in one unsent letter: âI donât give a shit what the world thinks. I was born a bitch, I was born a painter, I was born fucked. But I was happy in my way. You did not understand what I am. I am love. I am pleasure, I am essence, I am an idiot, I am an alcoholic, I am tenacious. I am; simply I am.â
Â
I PAINT SELF-
PORTRAITS BECAUSE
I AM SO OFTEN ALONE,
BECAUSE I AM THE
PERSON I KNOW BEST.
Â
âI am; simply I am.â Those are the words of a woman who not only was comfortable in her own skin but actually preferred having flaws. Itâs important to remember that in her paintings and letters, Frida had the power to tell her own story her own way, as the creator of her own portraits and writer of her own narratives. But she never shied away from capturing the darkest details of her life, nor did she ever try to present herself as someone who was perfect or even likable. She was self-aware enough to admit that she was âborn fuckedâ and âan alcoholicâ while also being clear that she was her most loved subject. Her life offers a refreshing approach to finding confidence by simply being.
Itâs possible, of course, that Frida was born into the world with an extra set of armor to prepare her for all the pain that lay ahead of her. By all accounts, Frida was comfortable in her own skin starting in childhoodâand though her relationship with her mother was, according to Frida herself, largely strained, Frida did have a close bond with her father, and he was the one who bolstered her from a young age. In her 1983 biography, Frida, author Hayden Herrera wrote that Frida described her relationship with her âPapaâ as âmarvelous⊠he was an immense example to me of tenderness, of work, and above all, in understanding for all my problems.â It was Guillermo, also, who taught his daughter photography, one of her earliest lessons in creativity and self-expression.
And that self-expression quickly became⊠expressive, indeed. An early family portrait shows a seventeen-year-old Frida wearing a tweed menâs pantsuit; her stance is cocky and defiant, as though she can already see the millions of people who will one day look at the photo and think, âA teenage girl in a menâs suit in the 1920s? Bold!â It was also a move that was unlikely to have gone over well with her strict, religious motherâbut itâs clear that, by then, Frida Kahloâs favorite way to make a statement was through⊠Frida Kahlo.
Around this same time, Fridaâs fatherâs printmaker friend Fernando FernĂĄndez began to give Frida drawing lessons, and her notebooks soon overflowed with sketches. There were no paintings, at least not yet. It wasnât until the bus accident in 1925, which sentenced her to many months in bed recuperating, that she began to experiment with painting. Using her fatherâs paints and oils, sheâd often create portraits of family, friends, and visitorsâbut her easiest subject was staring back at her from the mirror.
Over the next three decades, Frida would paint more than fifty-five portraits of herself. Her obsession with her own image may have started from those traumatic circumstances, and that is perhaps how itâs possible that Frida could be at once so staunchly confident and so deeply insecure, a dichotomy that becomes obvious the more you look at her paintings.
Now, when we look back at Fridaâs workâespecially as womenâwe can see the courage in her paintings. Hardly a selfie is posted to social media without a bit of editing, airbrushing, or nip-tucking, all possible thanks to a variety of apps available at our fingertips. Similarly, we canât forget that as the creator of her own image, Frida always had the option to paint herself in a different lightâto remove her unibrow, lighten her skin, or soften her sharp features; in other words, to see herself through the lens of how society thought she should look, and then present that image for their acceptance. Instead? She represented herself exactly as she was. In every single brushstroke, Frida Kahlo celebrated herself.
Her adolescent confidence following her accident would also come in handy later, during Fridaâs adulthood, when she became the subject of newspaper articles and gossip, thanks to her high-profile marriage to Diego Rivera. Twenty years her senior when they wed in 1928, Diego was already an established, famous artist. His star continued to rise after they were married, and he was increasingly commissioned for lofty projects. For Frida, this meant being at her husbandâs side as he traveled from one hotly anticipated exhibition opening to another, everywhere from Europe to the United Statesâor as Frida so memorably put it, âGringolandia.â
In the beginning, during their newlywed phase, it seems from Fridaâs diaries, letters, and early interviews that she had no qualms about slipping into the role of the geniusâs wife, proudly standing by her husbandâs side. But soon it became apparent that Frida could not remain in his shadow for long. Take, for instance, an interview she did at age twenty-five with the Detroit News in 1932, when the couple was in town while Diego worked on several murals for the city.
When reporter Florence Davies asked Frida, âAre you a painter, too?â She quickly replied, âYes. The greatest in the world.â Later, Davies visited Frida at home for a profile that would be given the now incredibly ironic headline âWife of Master Mural Painter Gleefully Dabbles in Works of Art.â In the article, the reporter wrote that Frida told her, with a âtwinkleâ in her eye, âI didnât study with Diego. I didnât study with anyone. I just started to paint. He does pretty well for a little boy, but it is I who am the big artist.â
Â
I AM LOVE.
I AM PLEASURE,
I AM ESSENCE,
I AM AN IDIOT,
I AM AN ALCOHOLIC,
I AM TENACIOUS.
I AM; SIMPLY I AM.
Â
Friends and acquaintances confirmed in anecdotes and interviews through the years that during her first stint in the United States, the sometimes shy young adult grew into a woman who could verbally spar with the best of them. Being pushed out of the comfort zone of her Mexican hometown to big American cities like San Francisco and New Yorkâwhere her duty was to wine and dine the ârightâ circles for the sake of her husbandâs reputationâgave Frida a kind of slick social smarts. She quickly became known for her ability to command a room; in one infamous story about a dinner in San Francisco early in their marriage, Frida noticed a young woman vying for Diegoâs attention. Suddenly, she took a big swig of wine and, loudly and boisterously, began to charm the table with jokes and traditional Mexican songs. Soon, everyoneâs eyes, including the young womanâs, were on Frida⊠instead of on her husband.
At times, her confidence led her to push buttons. Another piece of Frida lore involves the time she visited Henry Fordâs sister⊠and spent the entire occasion making sarcastic comments about church in front of the devoutly religious woman. And at the motor-company founderâs own home, she turned to the auto titanâwho was widely known to be anti-Semiticâand asked, âMr. Ford, are you Jewish?â Luckily for Frida, her husband, Diego, encouraged her mischievousness, later recalling the story and saying, âWhat a girl!â
Frida wasnât all self-confidence all the time, however. She once wrote, âOf my face, I like the eyebrows and the eyes. Aside from that, I like nothing. I have the moustache and in general the face of the opposite sex.â She had her own insecurities, and in 1933 she painted a self-portrait titled simply Very Ugly, depicting herself using a harsher technique than usual; afterward, she threw the painting in the trash. It was salvaged when her friend Lucienne Bloch discovered the work in the garbage and rescued it.
Â
OF COURSE, DIEGO
DOES PRETTY WELL
FOR A LITTLE BOY,
BUT IT IS I WHO AM
THE BIG ARTIST.
Â
That reminder of Fridaâs insecurities illustrates exactly what we can learn from her about self-assurance: confidence is a mindsetâand sometimes, you have to fake it âtil you make it. On the inside, Frida was sometimes critical of herselfâher features, her inability to produce children, even her workâand as we can tell from her letters and anecdotes from family and friends, she occasionally shared those feelings privately with her inner circle. But outwardly, she was brazen and audacious, never hesitating to brag about her talents as an artist or dress in a way that assured all eyes would be on her in any room.
Fridaâs fearlessness in the face of her flaws can inspire us to get over our own imposter syndromes; whether weâre feeling inadequate in a boardroom or in a relationship, I can imagine that she would tell usâeven if we donât quite yet believe it ourselvesâto always be our own biggest cheerleaders. We might not be able to control how we feel, but we are in total control of how we project ourselves on the outside. And if we brag about ourselves well enough, we might just start to believe it on the inside, too. Even in her vulnerable moments, Frida was her most authentic self, and she made no apologies about it. In just forty-seven short years of life, she taught us by example to celebrate how bold, brave, and beautiful we areâhowever we may come.
Genre:
- "A modern take on a woman who was modern beyond her time. Arianna Davis's book paints a colorful picture of the strength, courage, and love that uplifted Frida Kahlo through her many tragedies. This comprehensive look into Frida's life leads me to think that we could all learn a lesson or two from Frida."âNina Garcia, editor-in-chief of Elle
-
“Frida Kahlo, the beloved artist and feminist, lived a pretty fearless life—one we could all learn a few lessons from…This read will leave you feeling inspired.”
âThe Today Show - "A passionate and insightful celebration of the life of Frida Kahlo, What Would Frida Do? applies Frida's life to modern situations in a heartfelt and fun manner readers will love!"âChanel Cleeton, author of Next Year in Havana and When We Left Cuba
-
“Have you ever found yourself at a crossroads, wondering, as a woman, an artist, a bold seeker, what was next for your life? … A guidebook based on the life and work of pioneering Mexican painter Frida Kahlo, this beautiful volume is sure to inspire.”
âBoston Globe - "Arianna Davis's book shares this icon's boldness and courage in full force, to inspire a new generation. I am excited to support a fellow Latina's work to keep our history alive."âDascha Polanco, actress, activist, and proud Afro-Latina
-
“The guide to life we need right now... a fresh, sparkling read that offers advice to readers through the lens of the painter’s life experiences — a missive from woman to woman through a life lived fully, if imperfectly, in spite of so many obstacles."
âTeen Vogue - "Arianna Davis makes a beautiful case for contemporary women to follow in Frida's footsteps as we navigate love, work, creativity, friendship, and even getting dressed in the morning. This vibrant herstory-meets-self-help book is such a gift."âGabrielle Korn, Director of Fashion and Culture at Refinery29
- “This book is what happens when a memoir meets self-help as the iconic Frida Kahlo's amazing story inspires a modern day guide to loving, living and finding true happiness.”âBusiness Insider
-
“Guaranteed to inspire even the most burnt out friend”
âInStyle - "Frida Kahlo truly elevated confidence into an art form. In her book, Arianna Davis shows us the timelessness of Frida's message of unapologetic self-acceptance and fearlessness. What Would Frida Do? beautifully reminds us how abundant a woman's strength can be."âJulissa Prado, Founder & CEO of Rizos Curls
- "What Would Frida Do? will take you on a beautiful journey following how Frida turned her pain into power and left the evidence behind to inspire many generations to come."âCarolina Contreras, CEO of Miss Rizos Salon
- "Luminous... self-help meets biography in an inspiring narrative of what modern women can learn from one of the twentieth century's greatest artists. From Kahlo's brazen creativity to her unapologetic politics, her boldness in marriage to her lifelong battle with chronic illness, Davis explores the contemporary lessons we can mine from Kahlo's courageous way of life."âEsquire
- "A must read. This is a heartfelt portrayal of a complex, brilliant woman whose bold perspective on creativity, work, and sex stands the test of time."âJessica Knoll, New York Times-bestselling author of Luckiest Girl Alive
- “This gem of a book… couldn’t have been gifted to the world at a better time.”âBlack Enterprise
- “Gift this pithy gem to any friend who could use a little inspiration. Bonus: It happens to look great on any bookshelf.”âRedbook
- A "Best Self-Help Book That Will Inspire You to Make a Change"âReaders Digest
- On Sale
- Nov 2, 2021
- Page Count
- 256 pages
- Publisher
- Seal Press
- ISBN-13
- 9781541600614