She is and she isn't, and that's Bath House's twist on the Mexican art parade. Yampolsky is a Chicago-born, non-Hispanic woman who fell in love with the art of Mexico in the 1940s, traveling there to study a decade or so after Rivera's and Kahlo's heyday, when Mexico City's art scene was still celebrating. Today, she is a Mexican citizen whose oeuvre captures the people--women, children and families mainly--of her adopted country with a decidedly smitten sensibility.
Yampolsky won't be attending the Dallas opening of her show for health reasons, but curator and Bath House visual arts coordinator Enrique Fernández Cervantes will be there to discuss the artist's work. Cervantes' moving essay on Yampolsky is included in the "Primera Luz" catalog. "I am from Mexico, too, and I had seen her work in museums there," Cervantes says. "Her work really captures the everyday man and woman, the country people. That essence of wanting to connect with them in her work was very attractive."
If you make it to the opening Friday, May 11 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., take note of the classically composed, aching "La Ciega" (The Blind Woman) and Yampolsky's tender use of light in "Caricia" (Caress). All photos are gelatin silver prints.
