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Frida Kahlo (1910-1954) FRIDA AND THE MISCARRIAGE Lithograph, 1932, inscribed in red pencil '8va. prueba', dedicated by the artist, one of twelve impressions, on laid paper, with margins, in good condition, the sheet backed with wove, pale discoloration throughout sheet 315 by 240mm. 12 3/8 by 9 1/2 in. As Diego Rivera began work on his 1932 mural project for the Detroit Institute of Art, Frida Kahlo was enduring a much longed for, but painful, pregnancy. A nearly fatal traffic accident in Mexico three years prior had left her physically fragile, and she was advised against attempting to bear a child. Undeterred by these warnings, she became pregnant and, after only 3 1/2 months, suffered a devastating miscarriage. In an effort to overcome her depression, Kahlo began to express her debilitating sense of loss through painting and drawing. Along with one of Rivera's assistants, Lucienne Bloch, Kahlo worked evenings in a lithography workshop where she produced Frida and the Miscarriage, which was to be her only attempt at printmaking. The self portrait weaves together such striking images as a baby still attached to his mother by an umbilical cord and blood dripping from the womb to nurture both a grave and a garden at her feet. A third arm clutching a palette may represent art as diversion or an alternative means of conception. Of the twelve proofs of this haunting image, the location of only seven impressions is currently known.