Newly Discovered Letters Reveal Jacqueline Lamba's Affair with Frida Kahlo
This spring, Merrell Publishers released a biography of French Surrealist Jacqueline Lamba, which uncovers her romantic relationship with Frida Kahlo through letters from the late 1930s, recently found by Kahlo expert Salomon Grimberg. These letters, written after Lamba and her spouse, André Breton, visited Kahlo and Diego Rivera in Mexico in 1938, express deep affection. Born in 1910, Lamba wed Breton in 1934 but their marriage ended in 1944. She subsequently married American sculptor David Hare, divorced in 1955, and shifted her focus to abstract painting. Grimberg, who met Lamba in 1986, organized a retrospective of her work at four venues, including the Pollock–Krasner House, from 2001 to 2002. Lamba passed away in 1993.
Key facts
- Biography 'Jacqueline Lamba: The Forgotten Surrealist' published by Merrell Publishers this spring.
- Newly discovered love letters reveal affair between Jacqueline Lamba and Frida Kahlo in the late 1930s.
- Letters found by Salomon Grimberg, offered by a dealer unaware of their significance.
- Lamba met Kahlo in 1938 while staying with Kahlo and Diego Rivera in Mexico.
- Lamba wrote to Kahlo: 'Don't forget me' on her return to Paris in 1938.
- Lamba married André Breton in 1934, with witnesses Alberto Giacometti and Paul Éluard.
- Grimberg argues Lamba is the subject in Picasso paintings at the Met and MoMA.
- Lamba's last exhibition was in 1967 at the Picasso Museum in Antibes, with Picasso's help.
Entities
Artists
- Jacqueline Lamba
- Frida Kahlo
- André Breton
- Diego Rivera
- Alberto Giacometti
- Paul Éluard
- Man Ray
- Pablo Picasso
- Marie-Thérèse Walter
- Nusch Éluard
- David Hare
- Leon Trotsky
- Dora Maar
- Salvador Dalí
Institutions
- Merrell Publishers
- Metropolitan Museum of Art
- Museum of Modern Art
- Picasso Museum in Antibes
- Pollock–Krasner House and Study Center
- Salvador Dalí Museum
- Artnet News
Locations
- Paris
- France
- Mexico City
- Mexico
- New York
- United States
- St. Petersburg
- Florida
- Café de la Place Blanche
- Le Coliseum nightclub
- Air-Bel
- Marseille
- London
- New Burlington Galleries