FRIDA KAHLO: TIMELESS, AT THE
A TRANSFORMATIVE EXHIBITION FOR THE GLEN ELLYN COMMUNITY
FRIDA KAHLO, THE BUS, 1929, OIL ON CANVAS, COLLECTION MUSEO DOLORES OLMEDO, XOCHIMILCO, MEXICO © 2020 BANCO DE MÉXICO DIEGO RIVERA FRIDA KAHLO MUSEUMS TRUST, MEXICO, D.F. / ARTISTS RIGHTS SOCIETY (ARS), NEW YORK
BY ALISON REILLY In March of 2020, Justin Witte, curator of the Cleve Carney Museum of Art at the College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn, was working tirelessly with his staff to prepare for the opening of an expansive exhibition featuring the renowned artist, Frida Kahlo. In order to accommodate the 26 works of art that were scheduled to arrive, the college expanded the gallery from a 1,850 square foot exhibition space focused primarily on showing contemporary artists to a 2,500 square foot museum equipped with state of the art lighting, security, and climate control systems. “While the administration of the college was closely monitoring the coronavirus situation, in the museum, we were very focused on our exhibition. The week of March 10th, we were busy with installation plans, working out final aspects of delivery and really moving towards the exhibition,” Witte 24 | CGN | Summer 2021
recalls. “Because we had come so far with the exhibition, our immediate thought was, ‘How do we operate with less access to campus for what we hoped would be a short period of time?’ We had the idea that we may have to pause some of our in-person preparations for a week or two. At worst, a month.” Witte had been working on preparations for the Kahlo exhibition with Diana Martinez, director of the McAninch Arts Center (where the museum is located) since 2017. Alan Peterson, a longtime supporter of the college and the art center, was a close friend of Carlos Phillips, the director of the Museo Dolores Olmedo in Mexico City and son of the collector Dolores Olmedo. “Alan always had the idea that he wanted to bring the collection to the College of DuPage to help bring awareness to all the amazing cultural things happening here,” Witte explained.
