The American-Mexican female painter Rosa Rolanda was a prominent female representative of the Surrealist movement in the early 20th century. Along with Frida Kahlo, Leonora Carrinton and Remedios Varo, she has called "Mexico's most popular female artist."
Born in Los Angeles on September 6, 1895, Rolanda studied dance with dancer Marion Morgan in high school. After graduating from high school in 1916, she emerged from a pool of 300 dancers to join the Morgan Dance Company in New York, and soon became the darling of the Morgan Dance Company on Broadway, starring in dances that often appeared in Vogue magazine. He also performed at the Globe Theatre as part of the "Rosegirl" performance and eventually toured Europe with Sigfeld Foley.
In 1923, Rolanda starred on Broadway in a stage play called "Mexican Hacienda", met the famous Mexican illustrator Miguel Covarubias, when Miguel designed all the episodes for the stage play, the two had many common interests, from dance painting to Mexican culture, and the two soon fell in love.
In 1926, Rolanda followed Miguel to Mexico to meet family and friends, and met Frida Carlo, Diego Rivera, Tina Modotti and Edward Weston, which was when Rolanda tried watercolor at the Mexican Hotel.
Settled in Lolanda, Mexico began a lifelong friendship with Frida, two girls with common hobbies and artistic pursuits became inseparable, whether it is the United States tour or the Paris art exhibition, you can see the two figures, Rolanda's later paintings, and clothing design are deeply influenced by Frida, the two later co-founded the Mexican art expression of clothing brand Mexican (now scarecrow brand).
In 1930, Rolanda and Miguel were married in Mexico City and lived in Bali, Indonesia for the next 9 months. They were quickly captivated by Balinese culture and stayed much longer than they expected, with Lolanda taking hundreds of photos of markets, children and local customs.
In 1935 the couple moved to the childhood home of Tizapien, Mexico, where Miguel had recently left. Anthropology and archaeology became Miguel's life's work, and Lolanda began hosting elaborate dinners and painting portraits of her friends. Her first portrait is of Dolores del Rio, a famous Mexican actress and a lifelong friend of the Covarubbians. Influenced by the environment and artistic culture, Most of Lolanda's paintings were in gouache paintings.
In 1936, Rolanda, who had always been obsessed with Mexican art, founded a costume studio, which became a release of art for Rolanda and her friends, and the studio became a weekly must-visit for her friend Frida Kahlo. A year later, inspired by Frida and other friends, he founded THE MERCICA clothing company, which is known today as the Scarecrow brand.
In addition to her global adventures, Rolanda draws inspiration from the Mexican culture she calls "home." We can see that this influence lies mainly in her choice of subjects; She often chose to portray the ancient Aztecs, tracing the roots of the state. In fact, this influence is also evident in the way she paints her subjects. Lolanda often painted warm-skinned women and children with big eyes, small, childlike body proportions, playing with traditional Mexican stereotypes. She wears authentic Mexican costumes and often features traditional Mexican artifacts and customs.
In her 1947 painting The Girl With the Tortilla in Her Hand, Lolanda depicts a young girl with wide-eyed, squatting body proportions holding a tortilla while a malnourished dog gazes longingly at it. The girl wears a traditional headdress with paper flowers and ribbons of blue and gold, paired with simple shoes and a very "Mexican" dress. The girl seemed to stand in the foreground of a scene involving a church ceremony or some sort of community celebration. On the right side of the scene, lurking in the shadow of an alley, is a man in a skull costume. Skull portraits are full of meaning in Mexican culture, and Lolanda included this skeleton man in her paintings to commemorate the custom. All of these traditional elements speak out loud about the true "folk" feeling that Lolanda hopes to recreate in her work.
These explicit "Mexican" elements also paint her self-portraits, born in California and raised as a member of a completely ordinary family, longing to bury her humble origins in a mystique that she strives to create for herself. She deliberately was vague and encouraged speculation that when she moved to Mexico, she wholeheartedly adopted the customs and history of the country as her own. We can see this in the way she often portrays herself in paintings, such as Autorretrato (1939). Lolanda gave herself large almond-shaped eyes, as well as traditional Mexican hairstyles and clothing, to cultivate a new identity for herself, the complete "Mexican.".
In an interview with Bertha Cuevas, Rolanda once said of her paintings: I am a travelist painter, I do not participate in exhibitions, I only paint what I know and I like, painting to capture surprising curves or colors, out of deep desire and crazy passion, there is no doubt that Rolanda's painting skills are deeply influenced by her friends, such as Frida Kahlo and Tina Modotti, They were busy exploring the world of Surrealism with their own art, and when female Surrealists began to explore the subject of identity, self-description was crucial to them, and they began to express their inner feelings rather than appearances.
The early 1920s brought an emerging feminist consciousness to the art world, and feminist themes spread rapidly throughout the Surrealist community. Many women begin to reject their traditional role as domestic wives and mothers in favor of pursuing their own personal aspirations. Women still have families, but they refuse to be bound solely by this function and hold on to themselves in exciting ways, where many Mexican women artists, including Rolanda, express feminist themes in their works during this period.
Lolanda's 1943 feminist theme can be seen in paintings such as Doll Girl, which depicts a young girl in traditional Mexican clothing, reminiscent of Rolanda's other works. The girl holds a Danguyu doll, usually given to the little Zapotec girl, and kitchen utensils. At the feet of the girl is a horse and a rider, the same tradition used to be given to the little boys.
While the girl seems very stereotypical, in her pleated pink gown, the small details of the painting point to an idea of latent feminine power. First, the doll in the girl's arms wears a typical Tevana dress, "which is a mature symbol of the independence and strong character of the Twatpec woman".
Komizarenko Mirkin also points out that the rider at the bottom may also have symbolic significance: his hat refers to him as "Charro," a typical farmer who carries a pistol on horseback, a recognized sign of Mexico's stereotypical "machismo" culture and its emphasis on masculinity, bravery, performance, and physical aggression. Because of its shrunken size and "toy-like" connotations, he placed it at the girl's feet, as if to give her a Celeste, humorously stating that, according to Roland's progressive views, the positive prospects of changing gender roles in Mexican society.
In addition to working under the many external influences discussed so far, Rolanda, like many Mexican women artists of the time, drew inspiration from her own personal struggles. She was able to delve fearlessly into her deepest emotional insecurities and paint them on canvas for the world to see. For example, in her painting Autorretrato, we painfully and clearly feel the inner turmoil of Lolanda during the most troublesome time of her life. Rolanda created the painting in 1952, during Miguel's affair with the much younger Rossio Sagun. Rojo is a dancer, like Rolanda, and in many ways the two are too similar; Miguel soon fell in love with the younger version of his wife. Rolanda knew it wasn't one of Miguel's typical throws. His feelings for Rossio are deeper than anything else, and Miguel and Lolanda have become increasingly estranged. Eventually, Miguel leaves his wife, leaving Lolanda feeling overwhelmed, angry, and incompetent as a woman.
In the self-portrait, we see Lolanda, her face tired and haunted, her hands clamped around her head, as if trying to hold herself together, or to force painful thoughts. These ideas are illustrative in the space around her. Floating around her body, filling in the rest of the painting, we see images of skeletons (probably intended to represent her dying relationship with Miguel), and dancing figures (almost certainly described by Rossio). As we look at the cold pain in Rolanda's eyes, the swirling numbers overwhelm us, and we understand the pain of a woman whose life is coming at a rapid pace, stitched with needles.
Lolanda's ability to take advantage of such a heart-wrenching theme is part of what makes her work so ubiquitous. More than 50 years later, she portrays her pain in a way that still resonates with audiences. Of course, we can dissect the painting from a technical level, objectively analyze Rolanda's skills as an artist, but we are also able to relate to her suffering on a very real human level, which I believe is one of the greatest attractions of her work.
Rosa Lolanda lives a life full of artistic expressions, from painting and costume to dancing and cooking. She draws inspiration from experiences in all areas of her life; Her travels, her friends, Mexican culture, the Surrealist movement, the feminist movement, and her own personal struggles inspired Lolanda's creativity. These different influences shaped her art in a vital, visible way, adding to the richness of Rolanda's artistic repertoire that we are still able to appreciate today.
Today we can still see Rolanda's paintings in the world's major museums, and of course, the scarecrow she founded with Frida (MEXICAN), the fashion brand that made her proud all her life.
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