SUMMER-FALL '25 PICK
“An important encounter between an artist and a bookbinder illuminates the course of art history to create unforgettable art.
Frida Kahlo's Month in Paris: A Friendship with Mary Reynolds by Tamar Kharatishvili Alive Piliado Santana Caitlin Haskell (Editor)
Publisher Description: The richly illustrated story of a brief yet pivotal encounter in Paris between Frida Kahlo and Mary Reynolds, two luminaries of the Surrealist movement. In February 1939, while visiting Paris at the invitation of writer André Breton, Mexican artist Frida Kahlo (1907–1954) became sick and convalesced at the home of American expatriate Mary Reynolds (1891–1950), an avant-garde bookbinder, collector of Surrealist artist books, and partner of Marcel Duchamp. This book traces the story of Kahlo and Reynolds’s connection and its influence on their work, even after the friendship had elapsed.
How to present this to library customers: Most times, we learn about Frida Kahlo through her dwellings in her native Mexico and her relationship with fellow artist, Diego Rivera. However, this book depicts how the exhibit at the Art Institute of Chicago explores Kahlo’s relationship with avant-garde bookbinder Mary Reynolds during her first and only visit to Paris. Pair this book with other Kahlo biographies and info about Diego Rivera and patrons would be interested.
Audience Key:
NOVICE:
A patron who does not know about the arts but is looking for new interests. These items are for public collections that call for you to introduce the arts to patrons and ignite their interests. They often know much more about popular culture than what’s happening in the arts.
EXPLORER:
These items are for customers who have some knowledge of the arts and want to learn more. Oftentimes these patrons stream music from your music streaming service, take out music and art biographies and they may attend music and art programming at your library.
AFICIONADO:
Ordering for aficionados requires knowledge about their habits when consuming the arts. These patrons are aware of the arts through museums, classical music, jazz and more. Oftentimes, these patrons attend music and art programming at your library, are professionals in the arts world with thorough knowledge of visual and/or performing arts.