48.2015.1 Frida Kahlo, Itzicuintli Dog with Me, c. 1938

Completed immediately before Frida Kahlo’s solo debut in New York and subsequent sensational reception in Paris as a Surrealist painter, this 1938 self-portrait was likely painted at the artist’s home in Mexico City. The addition of indigenous flora and fauna to her self-portraits was not uncommon for the artist, who paints herself here draped in a traditional Tehuana (Tehuantepec) folkloric dress, adhering to her well-established modes of self-representation. A unique addition, however, is Señor Xólotl, a dwarfed xoloitzcuintli (hairless dog). Kahlo’s compact companion—whose Nahuatl name itzicuintli (dog) is echoed in the title—is representative of the many pets she kept at her home, La Casa Azul (The Blue House), during her lifetime. Unable to have children of her own, she sought the companionship of animals like the small xoloitzcuintli, whose species origins held a powerful position in Aztec myth and folklore.

Erin Piñon, Tower Gallery: Latin American Art, Label text, 2017.

Kahlo_Frida: ULAN: 500030701

Mexico (nation): TGN: 7005560

Mexico City (Mexico): TGN: 7007227

Coyoacán (inhabited place / Mexico City): TGN: 1004317

oil paint: AAT: 300015050

canvas: AAT: 300014078

board: AAT: 300014616

composition wood board (composition board): AAT: 300411316

painting (visual works): AAT: 300033618

oil paintings (visual works): AAT: 300033799

figures (representations): AAT: 300189808

human figures: AAT: 300404114

female: AAT: 300189557

women (female humans): AAT: 300025943

sitting (seated): AAT: 300263970

chairs (furniture): AAT: 300037772

portrait: AAT: 300015637

self-portraits: AAT: 300124534

identity: AAT: 300257052

houses: AAT: 300005433

homes (concept): AAT: 300239112

rooms and spaces: AAT: 300133704

walls: AAT: 300002469

shirts (camisas / main garments): AAT: 300212499

tunics (main garments): AAT: 300209869

huipils (tunics / main garments): AAT: 300410449

dresses (garments): AAT: 300046159

skirts (garments / refrajo / corte): AAT: 300209932

petticoats (underskirts): AAT: 300209927

hairstyles: AAT: 300262903

braids (hairstyle): AAT: 300404709

ribbon (material): AAT: 300014668

necklaces: AAT: 300046001

brooch: AAT: 300045995

rope: AAT: 300014248

Pre-Columbian (American): AAT: 300016619

population (demographics): AAT: 300055417

human (culture): AAT: 300393250

humans (homo sapiens species): AAT: 300265711

culture: AAT: 300055768

folklore: AAT: 300055920

folk art (traditional art): 300056487

Tehuantepec (inhabited place): TGN: 1018412

Zapotec (culture or style): AAT: 300017179

animals (Animalia kingdom): AAT: 300249395

dogs (animals): AAT: 300250130

Canis (species / dogs / coyotes / wolves / jackals / dingos): AAT: 300265714

Mexican Hairless / Xoloitzcuintli / Xolo (dog breed): DMA

pets (domestic animals): AAT: 300249494

children (people by age group): AAT: 300025945

Aztec: AAT: 300017033

myth: AAT: 300201023

mythology (literary genre): AAT: 300055985

mythical or legendary beings: AAT: 300375725

New York (New York/United States): TGN: 7007567

Paris (France): TGN: 7008038

Surrealist (style or movement): AAT: 300021512

American Kennel Club (AKC)~Learn more about the Mexican Hairless or Xolo (Xoloitzcuintli) dog.

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