College of DuPage officially reschedules Frida Kahlo exhibit for 2021
College of DuPage is pressing the pause button on "Fridamania."
The school's board of trustees agreed Thursday to officially delay a blockbuster Frida Kahlo exhibition because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Kahlo's resilience through chronic illness and her empowering artistic themes would deeply resonate in a time of global crisis. But amid virus uncertainty, the COD board made the call to push the opening to summer 2021 after more than a year of preparations to host the largest private collection of works by the revered Mexican icon.
"Although this was an incredibly difficult decision to make, we feel that this will give us the best opportunity to bring Frida's artwork to the widest community possible, and to present her legacy in the celebratory spirit with which it has always been intended," said Diana Martinez, executive director of the college's McAninch Arts Center, in an announcement Thursday night.
Before the pandemic suspended construction on March 20, a $3 million expansion of the college's Cleve Carney Museum of Art was proceeding on schedule - an addition built specifically to house the 26-piece exhibition on loan from Mexico's Museo Dolores Olmededo in Xochimilco.
The college expects the enlarged gallery and security improvements will enable the Glen Ellyn campus to welcome other high-value art exhibits.
But the $450,000 fee for the rental of Kahlo's art will remain unchanged under an amended agreement to postpone the show, originally slated to run from June through August.
The college made a $150,000 deposit upon signing the contract with the Dolores Olmedo Patino Museum of Trust to hold the art for the exhibit. The college will now make an advanced, second deposit of $100,000.
The final two payments of $100,000 would be due upon the first and the last shipment of the artwork.
COD trustees approved the one-year delay without discussion as a consent agenda item during Thursday's board meeting.
It's been more than four decades since Chicago's Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago presented a Kahlo exhibit of similar scale in 1978.
Martinez helped COD land the exhibit through one of the school's founding members, Alan Peterson.
He's a longtime friend of Carlos Phillips Olmedo, the son of Dolores Olmedo, a former model for Kahlo's husband, famed muralist Diego Rivera.
Frida fans who already have purchased an exhibit ticket do not need to take any action, officials said. The MAC box office will automatically move those tickets to the equivalent date in 2021. If the new date presents a conflict, ticketholders can email the box office at themac@cod.edu starting Tuesday.