The first photographs Nick took of Frida date from 1937 when Muray, on the pretext of leaving New York to renovate his studio, returned to Mexico. On this trip Nick used Kodachrome film, which had only been introduced to the market two years earlier. During a lunch at Covarrubias’ house he photographed Frida, both alone, gazing lovingly at him, and together with Diego Rivera and the cashier.
Muray’s stay in Mexico was brief, however, as his presence was required in New York for the opening of his new studio, which was attended by over 300 guests. Equally brief was his trip in July 1938, as Frida was busy with her duties as hostess since she was hosting the Surrealist poet and critic André Breton and his wife Jacqueline Lambda.
Muray returned to Mexico to visit Frida in September 1938, as soon as the Breton conjuncts had departed. And it is to this occasion that the first colour photos of Kahlo date back: her in a white lace blouse through which her turgid breasts are pressed, or her in a green and pink silk dress, kneeling in front of her cactus fence on the patio of Diego’s pink house in San Angel. Other photos show Rivera and Frida kissing or playfully playing with a gas mask.
In a self-timer, obtained thanks to a timer, Muray is also present: if it is true that a picture tells more than a thousand words, then this one tells everything about the relationship between Nick and Frida. The photo, published in the January 1939 issue of Life magazine, shows from left to right Alfa and Beta Rìos, Rosa Covarrubias, Muray, Diego, Miguel, Frida and her Mexican nude dog Kaganovich, and catches the latter at the very moment when she turns to look at Nick with a loving gaze.
In 1938 gallery owner Julien Levy, a pioneer of surrealism in the United States and of the artistic and photographic avant-garde in the 1930s and 1940s, invited Frida Kahlo to hold a solo exhibition in his New York gallery. Frida and Nick saw this offer as an opportunity to spend time together, and Nick took charge of organising the practical side of the exhibition, helping Frida to prepare the accompanying documents for the works, as well as producing both black and white and colour photographic reproductions of them.
The exhibition was a real success and Frida was acclaimed by the entire New York cultural milieu, which she actively attended for several months. Although Frida did not have an exclusive relationship with Nick – she even had a flirtation with Levy himself – the two spent most of their time together and Nick introduced her to his family and close friends.
Up until then Muray had taken many photographs of Kahlo but none like the ones that would become famous and turn Frida’s image into an icon. One morning, after breakfast, Nick brought her into his studio with the intention of taking formal portraits of her using the Carbro Printing technique, a type of coloured charcoal pigment printing of which he was a pioneer. Muray was such a skilled photographer that he usually only needed to take one shot to get the result he wanted, but on this occasion Nick – enchanted by Frida’s face and captivated by her feelings – couldn’t help but keep shooting. That first studio session was followed by two more before Frida left New York.