Last weekend marked the opening of the Frida Kahlo retrospective at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. In addition to numerous paintings on exhibit there are also a number of photographs, some taken by Lucienne Bloch, an artist whose works are represented at the gallery of Studio 391.Lucienne Bloch (1909-1999) was born in Geneva, Switzerland and came to America with her family in 1917. She was the youngest child of the internationally famous composer and photographer Ernest Bloch. She was a gifted and talented artist accomplished in many mediums – clay, glass, murals, printmaking and photography.
As an assistant to Diego Rivera for the murals he was commissioned to create in New York and Detroit, Lucienne became a close friend and confidant of Frida Kahlo, Rivera’s wife. Playful moments between two friends were captured with Bloch’s Leica, the first 35mm camera: Frida Biting Her Necklace, Frida Winking and Frida at the Barbizon Plaza Hotel are just a few of the many candid and revealing photographs taken during their friendship in the 1930s.
The photograph of Frida at the Barbizon Plaza Hotel, New York, 1933 (pictured left) was taken shortly after Frida finished painting one of her self-portraits. Frida sat down in a chair, lit a cigarette and Lucienne captured that moment of a portrait within a portrait on film.
For more information about Lucienne Bloch or to see more Frida Kahlo photographs, please visit our website at www.studio391.net/.
