Frida Kahlo

Jean Franco's work as a path-breaking theorist, cultural critic, & scholar has helped to define Latin American studies over the last three decades. In the process, Franco has played a crucial role in developing cultural studies in both the English- & Spanish-speaking worlds. Critical Passions is the first volume to gather a wide-ranging selection of Franco's influential essays. A key participant in the major debates in Latin American studies-beginning with the "boom" period of the 1960s & continuing through debates on ideology & discourse, Marxism, mass culture, & postmodernism-Franco is recognized for her feminist critique of Latin American writing. While her principal books are all readily available, Franco's several dozen articles are dispersed in a variety of periodicals in Latin America, Europe, & the United States. Although many of these essays are considered pioneering & classic, they have never before been collected in a single work. In this volume, Mary Louise Pratt & Kathleen Newman have organized the essays into four interrelated sections: feminism & the critique of authoritarianism, mass & popular culture, Latin American literature from the "boom" onward, & the cultural history of Mexico. As a group, these writings demonstrate Franco's ability to reflect on & judge with equal seriousness all spheres of expression, whether subway graffiti, a fashion manual, or an avant-garde haiku. A bona fide fan of popular & mass media, Franco never allows her critiques to dissolve into the puritanical or reductive; instead, she finds ways to present & debate complex theoretical questions in direct & accessible language. This volume will draw an extensive readership in Latin American, cultural, & women's studies.

Critical essays on 20th-century female artists of color focus on how these distinguised artists achieved success, what makes their work important--both to the art world and to their specific communities--and what influences their work is likely to have in the future. The artists are representative of four ethnic groups: African American, Asian Pacific American, Latin American, and Native American. Parallels drawn explore the similarities and differences among the artists. The early feminist art movement of the 1970s concentrated on gender with less consideration given to race or class, yet to many artists of color, ethnicity factors significantly into the shaping of their identities and to the content of their art. Women artists of color have expanded the scope of protest art, fusing the past and current history with gender and race and deconstructing stereotypical mainstream representations of their gender and ethnic identities. This presentation of artists balances older and deceased artists with the younger, emerging artists. The artistic mediums span the gamut from traditional painting and sculpture to newer forms such as video, conceptual, and performance art.

A story of heroic proportions, "The Fabulous Life of Diego Rivera" captures a career more extravagant and dramatic than most fiction. It is peopled by Rivera's friends and enemies, men such as Picasso, Cocteau, Trotsky and Rockefeller, by his many, many women, including four wives, and by his disowned children.

The places are as exciting as the people: Paris, Spain, San Francisco, New York, Moscow, and above all, Mexico. "I doubt if any other land," says Wolfe, "has had so much of its life set down on wall and canvas by any other painter."

Here, then, is biography in the grand style, the story of a hugely talented artist wresting a vision of centuries past and centuries to come from within himself and transcribing them for all the world to see.

Surrealism and the Exotic is the story of the obsessive relationship between surrealist and non-western culture. Describing the travels across Africa, Oceania, Mexico and the Caribbean made by wealthy aesthetes, it combines an insight into the mentality of early twentieth century collectors with an overview of the artistic heritage at stake in these adventures. Featuring more than 70 photographs of artefacts, exhibitions and expeditions-in-progress, it brings to life the climate of hedonism enjoyed by Breton, Ernst, Durkheim, and Mauss, It is an unparalleled introduction to the Surrealist movement and to French thought and culture in the 1920s and 1930s.

The Encyclopedia of Mexico: History, Society and Culture seeks to present an overview of the specific events and broad processes of Mexican history, society and culture from ancient civilizations to the present day.

This two-volume work consists of some 600 entries. A collaborative effort that has involved more than 350 leading scholars from a variety of different countries, the Encyclopedia of Mexico makes a wide range of scholarship available to all those interested in the history of Mexico.

From Renoir and Picasso to Red Grooms and Guerrilla Girls, this is the most useful reference work on twentieth-century art available in a one volume. Compiled by Ian Chilvers, the editor of The Oxford Dictionary of Art, it is both authoritative and accessible, with generous use of anecdote and clear explanations of many potentially confusing terms. Providing broad coverage of painting, sculpture, drawing, and the applied arts, the dictionary has major entries on the important movements and styles of the twentieth century, including Dada, Cubism, Surrealism, Art Deco, Abstract Expressionism, Pop art, Body and Performance art, and Neo Expressionism. In addition there are entries on art schools and galleries, exhibitions and prizes, terms and techniques. The biographies feature not only artists but also collectors, critics, dealers, and patrons. And though the dictionary concentrates on the great names, it is not confined to the mainstream of modern art, featuring many artists working in a more popular tradition as well as interesting peripheral figures (such as the forger Elmyr de Hory). This up to date and informative guide is an essential reference for anyone interested in modern art.