Are the new Frida Kahlo books full of fakes?
23rd September 2009
Some of the artworks included in two new books about feminist icon Frida Kahlo have prompted a forgery investigation by prosecutors.
Mexican officials are following up a claim by the Frida Kahlo Trust that more than 1,000 items attributed to her are in fact fakes.
In a statement to the press, Frida Kahlo Museum director Hilda Trujillo said: 'We must stop the commercialisation of false works.'
The claim concerns works included in the two books The Labyrinth of Frida Kahlo: Death, Pain and Ambivalence and Finding Frida Kahlo.
Calls for the withdrawal of Finding Frida Kahlo from shop shelves have been rejected by the publisher, which claims that it has stated that some of the works have not been 100 per cent authenticated.
Kahlo died in 1954 and is renowned for her self-portraits. Her life and work are chronicled in a number of books, including Frida by Frida and The Diary of Frida Kahlo.