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The Punch and Judy Show: Frida and Diego

1990
Miriam Schapiro (American (born Canada), 1923–2015)

In this work, Miriam Schapiro transformed silhouettes of the familiar husband and wife puppets Punch and Judy, known for their shockingly violent slapstick comedy, by inserting images of the married artists Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera over their faces. In selecting Punch and Judy as stand-ins for Kahlo and Rivera, Schapiro calls attention to the tumultuous partnership between the artists. A leader in the Feminist art movement, Schapiro also critiqued gender roles in this collage by placing the photograph of Kahlo atop Punch and that of Rivera on Judy. The scene is encapsulated in a polygonal shape collaged over a sheet of vibrant floral silk, echoing puppet theaters and theater curtains, and suggesting that the relationship between the two famous artists was as performative as that of the puppets.


Object Details

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