Graciela Iturbide and "art chat" at the Women's Museum

The photographer, Graciela Iturbide, at the opening of her exhibition, Mexico, at the National Museum of Women in the Arts, Feb. 25, 2020/Photo by Patricia Leslie

The photographer, Graciela Iturbide, at the opening of her exhibition, Mexico, at the National Museum of Women in the Arts, Feb. 25, 2020/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Please keep this a secret so all the Friday afternoon classes  don't fill up before I can make my reservations, but the National Museum of Women in the Arts has free participatory art history sessions every week! 

And they're all sold out for the rest of June, but wait!  July comes, and the museum plans to keep up the chats 'til fall which are more popular than anticipated, wrote Adrienne Gayoso, the museum's senior educator and one of the "Art Chat" presenters.

Great news!

Graciela Iturbide, Pajaros, Nayarit, 1984. Collection of Joan and Robert Stein

Graciela Iturbide, Peregrinacion, Chalma, 1984. Masked figures surround a man dressed as a skeleton and there is a baby dressed possibly as an angel, these disguises worn as part of a funerary procession to represent life and hope. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

The "chats" are all about women artists and their works which the curator presents over 30 minutes, soliciting opinions from the 20-or-so attendees who Zoom in from all over the world to attend, ask questions, and comment.

For art lovers, it's super-fantastic!

One week Ms. Gayoso led us in discussion of Rosa Bonheur (French, 1822-1899) and Niki de Saint Phalle (French-American, 1930-2002). Another week, Ashley Harris directed discussion of photographer Esther Bubley (American, 1921-1998), and Alma Woodsey Thomas (American, 1891-1978). 

Graciela Iturbide, Novia Muerte,  Chalma, 1990; Courtesy of the artist; © Graciela Iturbide. This is a man whose extended arm possibly represents his missing partner.

Then, the featured artist of an exhibition currently on display at the museum, Graciela Iturbide's Mexico, was the solo subject one Friday in a presentation by NMWA's Deborah Gaston.

(That show of 140 photographs is extended through August 30, after the museum's hoped-for-reopening date of July 7, according to museum director, Susan Fisher Sterling, quoted in the Washington Post: "We felt that setting the date helps us move toward our goal of serving the public.")

Graciela Iturbide, El Baño de Frida, (Frida’s Bathroom), Coyoacán, Ciudad de México, 2005
Courtesy of the artist; © Graciela Iturbide. In 2005 Ms. Iturbide was granted a one-week permit to photograph the life Frida Kahlo left behind at her "Blue House" in Mexico City where Ms. Kahlo was born and died (1907- 1954).

Graciela Iturbide, El Baño de Frida, (Frida’s Bathroom), Coyoacán, Ciudad de México, 2005
Courtesy of the artist; © Graciela Iturbide. Behind Ms. Kahlo's crutches is a photograph of Stalin. Reflected in the protective glass over the picture are more photographs of her bathroom in the Frida gallery at the museum.

 Graciela Iturbide, El Baño de Frida, (Frida’s Bathroom), Coyoacán, Ciudad de México, 2005
Courtesy of the artist; © Graciela Iturbide

The NMWA gallery of Graciela Iturbide, El Baño de Frida, (Frida’s Bathroom), Coyoacán, Ciudad de México, 2005 


Ms. Iturbide (Mexican, born 1942) is a cultural historian-photographer who for decades has pictured indigenous Mexican men and women in natural settings, amidst festival, funerals, everyday life, and their conflicts with modernity.  She is "widely regarded as Latin America's greatest living photographer," according to the NMWA quarterly publication, Women in the Arts.

Born in Mexico City, Ms. Iturbide was the oldest of 13 children who received her first camera when she was 11.  After she married an architect at age 20, she had three children in rapid succession and at age 27 began her art studies. 

When her daughter, Claudia, died at age six, Ms. Iturbide's life reset. Photography helped to bring her some measure of comfort and peace. 

Graciela Iturbide, INRI, Juchitan, 1984. The museum label copy contrasts the standing woman with the man a viewer may not notice at first, lying drunk on the stones, roles evident in this society (and many others!). "INRI" is an abbreviation for Latin and means "Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews."

The photographer, Graciela Iturbide, at the opening of her exhibition, Mexico, at the National Museum of Women in the Arts, Feb. 25, 2020/Photo by Patricia Leslie

The photographer, Graciela Iturbide, at the opening of her exhibition, Mexico, at the National Museum of Women in the Arts, Feb. 25, 2020/Photo by Patricia Leslie

You may recall Ms. Iturbide's enduring photograph of the lady with the iguanas on top of her head.  Five (?) of them at last count which we learned at the discussion were alive!  Mercy! (They are not shown here, but at the show you can see them to believe them.)
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This is another show not to miss at the National Museum of Women in the Arts! You see how happy this makes me!  Whatever will be the effects upon you? I am going to Mexico City in February to visit Frida's house!

*To register for "Art Chat," go to the website>What's On>Calendar>Signature Programs.  I found the next open date is July 17, 2020.

Just remember, when it comes to "art chats," mum's the word! The sessions do zoom by! Thank you, National Museum of Women in the Arts!

The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston organized the show.

Who: Various female artists including Graciela Iturbide

What: "Art Chats" and Graciela Iturbide's Mexico


When: Fridays at 5 p.m. for "Art Chats." (The museum's usual open hours are 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and 12 - 5 p.m., Sunday.)

Where: Online and soon, in person! The museum is located at 1250 New York Ave., NW, Washington, D.C. 20005

How much:  No charge for online sessions. Customary admission: Adults, $10; seniors over 65 and students over 18, $8; no charge for anyone under 18 or for members. The first Sunday of the month is a free-for-all!

For more information: 202-783-5000 or 1-800-222-7270

patricialesli@gmail.com