Is the photo of Vladimir Mayakovsky and Frida Kahlo together true?

On the Internet you can often come across a photograph that supposedly depicts a Russian poet and a Mexican artist. We checked whether Mayakovsky and Kahlo were actually photographed together.

This viral photo has been circulating on social media for years. For example, on VKontakte, a photo of the couple was repeatedly posted in public pages, mainly dedicated to history and interesting facts, including “Secrets of History” (two posts 1780 And 1330 likes accordingly), The Nerd (600) and "Facts from history"(490). This one is like sometimes write, the “rare” photo also went viral on Facebook* (in the “Cultural studies"it received more than 950 likes) and Twitter (examples here, here And here). In addition, a photograph of the poet and artist meets in some articles about the life and work of Kahlo.

Kahlo was born in 1907 and died at the age of 47, and Mayakovsky lived from 1893 to 1930, that is, theoretically, these artists could really appear in the general photo. The Soviet poet in 1925 even visited Mexico, Frida's homeland, where he met the artist Diego Rivera. At the same time, Rivera was the only one husband Kahlo. “Diego turned out to be huge, with a good belly, a broad face, and always smiling. He tells, mixing in Russian words (Diego understands Russian perfectly), thousands of interesting things, but before telling the story he warns: “Keep in mind, and my wife confirms, that I’m lying about half of everything I’ve said,” remembered Mayakovsky. However, at that time Rivera was married with the Mexican writer and model Guadalupe Marin, and Kahlo was only 18 years old at the time. In 1927 Rivera visited Moscow, where remained until mid-1928. During his visit, the Mexican artist been there visiting Mayakovsky, and on Calo Rivera got married only a year later. In general, there is no evidence in open sources that Mayakovsky and Kahlo ever met.

In fact, the viral photo is a photo collage, and its author is Russian artist Alexander Dzhikia. The work entitled “Two” is already more than ten years old, and on Jikia’s personal website it posted with the following caption: “Collage from Robert Thoren’s collage “Frida Kahlo with a revolver” and photographs by Vladimir Mayakovsky, 2012.” With this photo composition in 2013, Jikia participated in exhibition “Mayakovsky - Manifesto”, organized for the 120th anniversary of the poet’s birth at the Moscow art gallery “Proun”.

On his website, Jikia showed the original images from which the collage was assembled. He mirrored photo young Mayakovsky in yellow a blouse belted with a silk cord, with a cigarette and a bow instead of a tie. IN most sources, including catalog collections State Mayakovsky Museum, approvedthat the picture was taken in 1910, when Kahlo was about three years old. And the second original is a collage by Robert Thoren, which depicts a Mexican artist holding a revolver.

Robert Thoren is a photographer specializing in rock music, nature and nude style. But a special place in his work is occupied by Frida Kahlo, whose images formed the basis for many of Thoren’s collages. Perhaps the most famous of them was a 2012 work in which the author combined the face of a Mexican artist (photo in 1931 did Imogen Cunningham) with the body of an American rock singer and guitarist Donnette Thayer with a gun in his hands (photo shoot Toren spent in 1983). By the way, Toren knows, which Dzhikiya later added to his Mayakovsky collage.

The idea of ​​​​creating collages with Kahlo came to Toren’s head during his vacation: he saw a photo naked artist and decided it would be funny combine him with one of his photographs. When he thought the resulting vintage image was convincing enough, he created the Frida Kahlo Nude page on Tumblr (now deleted). According to interview News Taco, the collage went viral in mid-July 2012, just after it was published on the “fake Kahlo page” on Tumblr; users, mistaking the photo for a genuine one, began to spread it. Toren was glad that many people liked his work, but he was faced with a dilemma: “On the one hand, I want to create a believable image, but on the other hand, is it right to fool people? I haven't come to a definitive conclusion, but I have flagged some of the images as photoshopped and fake." About the history of creating a photo collage with Frida and Thayer, the author more than once told at home in Instagram* accounts, but the most detailed version stated on his personal website in the format of an interview with News Taco (previously, the publication also unwittingly participated in the distribution of the collage under the guise of a real photograph).

In addition to the fake photo of Kahlo "in the guise of a revolutionary"with a pistol, on Russian-language fashion sites you can meet photographs of the artist in a shirt and trousers with suspenders, as well as jeans with a bare midriff and a lot of jewelry. Both photos are also Toren’s collages. IN first case, he combined Kahlo’s face with the body of the American singer Patti Smith, in second - with the body of Madonna.

In conclusion, we add that the joint photo of Kahlo with Mayakovsky has become a kind of meme among users who know that the photo is fake. For example, on April 1, 2020, on the social networks of the State Mayakovsky Museum published such a humorous post with a viral collage: “The photograph was taken during the futurists’ tour of Mexico. A very young Frida Kahlo, who loved the poet’s poems, especially “I immediately blurred the map of everyday life...”, “To you who live behind an orgy, an orgy...”, “Listen! After all, if the stars light up...”, and who read them exclusively in Russian, approached Mayakovsky after the speech and asked to be photographed together as a souvenir. Vladimir Vladimirovich, succumbing to the charm of the future artist and wife of his friend Diego Rivera, could not refuse. The author of the photograph was our contemporary, Alexander Dzhikia.”

You can also find more absurd versions of the collage. So, a portrait was added twice to one of them Fyodor Dostoevsky, deceased in 1881, long before the birth of Kahlo and Mayakovsky. “Erich and Maria Remarque visiting the brothers Saltykov and Shchedrin. St. Petersburg, 1907,” reads the humorous caption.

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

Cover photo: Alexander Dzhikia

Not true

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