Is the joint photo of Vladimir Mayakovsky and Frida Kalo true?

On the network you can often stumble upon a picture in which the Russian poet and a Mexican artist are supposedly captured. We checked whether Mayakovsky and Kalo were really photographed together.

This viral photograph has been going on social networks for many years. For example, in VKontakte a picture of the couple more than once placed public, mainly dedicated to stories and entertaining facts, among them “secrets of history” (among two posts 1780 And 1330 likes, respectively), The Nerd (600) and "Facts from history"(490). This one, like sometimes write, A “rare” picture was also disassembled on Facebook* (in the community "Culturology»He collected more than 950 likes) and Twitter (examples here, here And here). In addition, a photograph of the poet and artist Found In some articles about the life and work of Kalo.

Kalo Born in 1907 and died at the age of 47, and Mayakovsky He lived From 1893 to 1930, that is, theoretically, these artists could really appear in a common photo. Soviet poet in 1925 even Visited Mexico, the birthplace of Frida, where he met the artist Diego Rivera. At the same time, River was the only husband Kalo. “Diego turned out to be huge, with a good belly, a broad -faced, always smiling person. He says, interfering with Russian words (Diego perfectly understands Russian), thousands of interesting things, but warns before the story: “Keep in mind, and my wife confirms that I will pump half of all that has been said”. I remembered Mayakovsky. However, at that time river was married With the Mexican writer and model Guadalup Marin, and Kalo was only 18 years old. In 1927 Rivera I visited Moscow, where remained Until mid -1928. During his visit, the Mexican artist I visited Visiting Mayakovsky, and on Kalo River married Only a year later. In general, in open sources there is no evidence that Mayakovsky and Kalo have ever met.

In fact, a viral picture is a photo collage, and its author is Russian artist Alexander Dzhikia. Work called "two" for more than ten years, and on the personal website of Jikia it Layd With the next signature: “Robert Toren’s collage“ Frida Kalo with a revolver ”and photographs of Vladimir Mayakovsky, 2012”. In 2013, Jikia participated in this photo company exhibition “Mayakovsky is a manifesto” organized on the 120th anniversary of the poet’s birth in the Moscow Art Gallery.

On his website, Jikia showed original images from which the collage is assembled. He mirrors photo young Mayakovsky c yellow A blouse belted with a silk cord, with a cigarette and a bow instead of a tie. IN Most sources, including the catalog Collections Mayakovsky State Museum, Approvedthat the picture was taken in 1910, when Kalo was about three years old. And the second original is the collage of Robert Toren, which depicts a Mexican artist holding a revolver.

Robert Toren is a photo artist specializing in the topic of rock music, nature and the style of Nude. But Frida Kalo occupies a special place in his work, whose images formed the basis of many collages of Toren. Perhaps the most famous of them was the work of 2012, in which the author combined the face of a Mexican artist (photo in 1931 I did it Imoen Cunningham) with the body of an American rock artist and guitarist Donnett Tayer with a gun in the hands (photo shoot Toren Spent in 1983). By the way, Toren He knowsthat later Jikia added Mayakovsky to his collage.

The idea of ​​creating collages with Kalo came up with Toren during a vacation: he saw a photo naked artists and decided that it would be funny Combine him with one of his pictures. When it seemed to him that the resulting vintage image was convincing enough, he created on the Tumblr platform Frida Kahlo Nude (“Naked Frida Kalo”; now it has already been deleted). According to interview News Taco, the collage was encouraged in mid -July 2012, just after publishing a fake page of Kalo in Tumblr, users, having accepted the picture for genuine, began to spread it. Toren was glad that many liked his work, but a dilemma stood in front of him: “On the one hand, I want to create a plausible image, and on the other, is it right to fool people? I did not come to the final conclusion, but I marked some images like photoshop and fake. ” About the history of creating a photo collage with Frida and Taier author More than once told At home On Instagram*-acount, but the most detailed version stated On his personal website in an interview with News Taco (earlier the publication also involuntarily participated in the spread of the collage under the guise of a real picture).

In addition to a fake picture of Kalo "In the image of a revolutionary»With a gun, on Russian -speaking sites about fashion You can meet Photos of the artist in a shirt and trousers with suspenders, as well as in jeans with a naked belly and a large number of decorations. Both photos are also the collages of Toren. IN the first in case he combined Kalo's face with the body of the American singer Patti Smith, in second - With the body of Madonna.

In conclusion, we add that a joint photo of Kalo with Mayakovsky has become a kind of meme among users who know about the fake of the picture. For example, on April 1, 2020 in social networks of the State Museum of Mayakovsky Published Such a humorous post with a viral collage: “The photograph was taken during a tour of the futurists in Mexico. The very young Frida Kalo, who loved the poet’s poems, especially “I immediately lubricated the map of the weekday ...”, “You, living behind the orgy orgia ...”, “Listen! After all, if the stars are lit ...”, and reading them exclusively in Russian, went to Mayakovsky after the performance and asked to take pictures together. Vladimir Vladimirovich, succumbing to the charm of the future artist and wife of his friend Diego Rivera, could not refuse. The author of the picture was our contemporary - Alexander Dzhikia. "

You can find more absurd versions of the collage. So, one of them was added twice a portrait Fedor Dostoevsky, deceased In 1881, long before the birth of Kalo and Mayakovsky. “Erich and Maria Remarck visiting the brothers Saltykov and Shchedrin. St. Petersburg, 1907, ”says a humorous signature.

*Russian authorities They think Meta Platforms Inc., which owns social networks Instagram and Facebook, an extremist organization, its activities in Russia are prohibited.

Photo on the cover: Alexander Jikia

Not true

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