Exhibition transport news
25/07/2011
Gelman Mexican paintings in Chichester
Exhibition transport professionals have recently had the pleasure and responsibility of delivering works by the two leading Mexican artists of the 20th century to Chichester's Pallant House Gallery.
In what was a carefully conceived exhibition transport operation, the paintings of Diego Rivera and Frieda Kahlo were transported from New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art, where they are held as part of the Gelman Collection, to the increasingly influential gallery in West Sussex.
However, the exhibition itself has not been without controversy – some say that the decision to juxtapose the work of the two artists, who where spouses in real life, in some way relegates Kahlo's role to that of wife rather than artist in her own right.
Artist Judy Chicago comments, "The big issue is that we need to open the narrative to allow women to be seen as central, rather than peripheral," Chicago said. "Are we going to continue to see them in relation to giant males as exceptions, in other words?"
Yet it is also true that as many of Rivera's most important works are huge permanent murals, which even the most specialist exhibition transport would struggle to move, he may not receive the favourable comparison some say his work deserves.
However, many experts contend that there is little point in comparing the two artists because although they were married and therefore share a personal relationship, there is little to be gained in imposing any kind of artistic dialogue between the two.
