Sixty-three years after her death, Mexican artist Frida Kahlo has achieved a level of fame she never reached in her lifetime, her image emblazoned on mugs, T-shirts, keychains and even underwear. But scholars and the painter’s descendants lament she has been reduced to a set of distinctive physical features that often overshadows her actual work.
The debate heated up this spring when toymaker Mattel released a Barbie in Kahlo’s image, over protests from her family.
The Barbie and other merchandise do not capture Kahlo’s complex legacy as a feminist icon, a disabled woman who channeled . . .
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