JOHANNESBURG.- The Joburg Contemporary Art Foundation announces Kahlo, Sher-Gil, Stern: Modernist Identities in the Global South opening October 25th. The exhibition features the works of three seminal women artists, Frida Kahlo (1907– 1954), Amrita Sher-Gil (1913–1941) and Irma Stern (1894–1966), together in South Africa and in Africa, for the first time. Expounding on the lives and practices of these Modernist women artists, the exhibition aims to reposition their contribution to the rewriting of art history through their pioneering artistic production.

The lives of Kahlo, Sher-Gil and Stern overlap in a decade that lay between the two World Wars. From approximately 1930 to 1941, they were all affected in various ways by the grand unfolding of historical events between the end of colonialism and the advent of nationalism in Mexico, India, South Africa and the Congo.

In addition, all three artists have in common a mixed heritage that is inevitably represented in their work: Frida Kahlo was born in Mexico City to an immigrant German father and a Spanish-Mexican indigenous mother, Amrita Sher-Gil was born in Budapest to an aristocratic Sikh Indian father and a Hungarian-Jewish mother, while Irma Stern was born in Schweizer-Reneke (in the then Transvaal) to immigrant German- Jewish parents.

“The exhibition asks how these three pioneering artists explore this multiplicity in portraits of themselves and others,” says Clive Kellner, Executive Director of JCAF and curator of the exhibition. “Kahlo, Sher-Gil and Stern all construct a self through an imagined identification with indigenous women. Drawing from aspects of traditional cultures, they created modern hybrid identities against the backdrop of evolving nationalisms across three continents in the Global South.”

“These were not artists who reacted against the world through direct political commentary. Instead, they sought to express personal experience as a representation of political realities. ”The beauty of Kahlo, Sher-Gil, Stern: Modernist Identities in the Global South is that the exhibition unfolds in three different content-rich parts and the final section consists – quite simply – of a single painting by each artist.

The exhibition design references the cultural and architectural heritage of each artist: the Pre-Columbian architecture of Mexico for Kahlo, Sikh and Mughal architecture in India for Sher-Gil, and Watusi Congo vernacular architecture for Stern. A simplified form is abstracted from the architecture to produce a singular motif that represents the artists, and offers a visual path for guests to follow.

Part 1 introduces the socio-political background events that were occurring during each of the artist’s lives as pioneers of modernity in the Global South.




Part 2 introduces documentary material comprised of photographs, films, diaries and objects that situate each artist’s practice within specific personal and socio-cultural contexts. The content reveals a transformative narrative for each artist, from childhood into adulthood and from early European influences to that of an embodied local indigenous identity formation.

Part 3 consists of the three paintings, each contained within its own uniquely designed self-contained space based on the contextual architectural motifs.

“This exhibition,” concludes Kellner, “explores ways in which these extraordinary artists were shaped by the histories that made them and how they too helped to shape history.”

Portraits and Self-Portraits

Kahlo’s Self-Portrait with Hummingbird and Thorn Necklace (1940) reflects the influence of Kahlo’s mestizo heritage: the Catholic symbol of the thorns is combined with Kahlo’s indigenismo politics, which is suggested by the ‘natural’ elements of flowers, leaves, cat and monkey. The artist’s pet spider monkey, named Fulang Chang, is a recurring motif in her work, representing the children she was unable to have. Kahlo was well aware of the attributes bestowed on monkeys within Aztec civilisation as symbols of fertility. Here, Kahlo’s complex identity is foregrounded, and shown to be a hybrid repository of the modern and natural worlds, of the religious and the secular.

Three Girls (1935) is the first painting Sher-Gil did upon her return to India in 1934. She painted her nieces, Beant, Narwair and Gurbhajan Kaur, in a pose that suggests a contemplative melancholy, something that Amrita wished to convey as a quality intrinsic to her subject matter. Art historian Yashodhara Dalmia writes, “The lines and forms were a continuation of her years abroad, as the figures stood together in a studio pose, but their grave expressions, their sense of being at once together and isolated, would become the key motif of all her paintings in India.” Three Girls, demonstrates a move away from the academic style of painting, yet signals a strong identification with the subject.

Stern’s Watussi Woman in Red (1946) is a portrait of a young woman dressed in red, set against a lush yellow background. The portrait is a robust interpretation in which the artist constructs a self-image that, according to art historian Marion Arnold, is ‘infiltrated by her personal and social history and experience’. The young woman depicted in the painting is Princess Emma Bakayishonga, sister of King Mutara III Rudahigwa (1912–1959). This is denoted by the glass-beaded hoop necklace around the figure’s neck. It is a masterful painting that depicts not only the exterior beauty of the subject but also the interiority of the sitter, who appears caught in her own thoughts.

Special thanks to the lenders, estates and archives for their generous support of the exhibition: Harry Ransom Center, The University of Texas at Austin; Museo Frida Kahlo and Banco de México Diego Rivera & Frida Kahlo Museums Trust; George Eastman Museum; Nickolas Muray Photo Archives; Fritz Henle Estate and Throckmorton Fine Art; The Ministry of Culture, Government of India and the National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi; Sher-Gil Sundaram Arts Foundation; The Estate of Umrao Singh Sher-Gil and PHOTOINK; Irma Stern Trust Collection and Irma Stern Museum, Cape Town; National Library of South Africa, Cape Town; RMCA Tervuren; Standard Bank African Art Collection and Wits Art Museum; National Film, Video and Sound Archives of South Africa; and private collections that wish to remain anonymous; and the support of the Embassy of Mexico in South Africa; the Mexican Studies Centre UNAM–South Africa; the High Commission of India in South Africa and the Consulate General of India in Johannesburg.

Exhibition dates: 25 October 2022 – 22 February 2023
Exhibition viewing is by appointment only Entrance to JCAF is free to the public