Gerry Souter > Quotes

“Her personal vocabulary of iconic imagery reveals clues as to how she devoured life, loved, hated, and perceived beauty.”
― Gerry Souter, Frida Kahlo: beneath the Mirror

“Her paintings formed a visual diary, an outward manifestation of her inward dialog that was, all too often, a scream of pain.”
― Gerry Souter, Frida Kahlo: beneath the Mirror

“To his considerable discredit, Diego did not break off the affair with Cristina once Frida discovered them. He went on to paint a rather glamorous portrait of the younger sister with her two children in the National Palace mural, partially obscuring a dowdy image of Frida.”
― Gerry Souter, Kahlo

“On Friday 15 December, GIs in northern Luxembourg were entertained by Marlene Dietrich – code-named LEGS bestowed by Patton – singing “See What the Boys in the Back Room Will Have” and “Falling in Love with Love” after a sensational performance at Bastogne in Belgium. When film director Billy Wilder asked about her rumoured affair with General Eisenhower, she replied, “But Darling, how could it have been Eisenhower? He hasn’t been to the front!”
― Gerry Souter, The Ghost Army: Conning the Third Reich

“The self-portraits persisted as the body cannibalized itself toward eventual destruction,  and her mind endured the metamorphosis from youthful anticipation to the dawning realization that the fantasy of a life without daily stabs of physical pain was a false hope. In effect, Frida created her own exhibition of self images that, over time, produced a visual documentary displaying the day by day corruption of her physical and mental world from behind a mask that never complained or cried. Every day, she added a brush stroke to her own impassive monument.”
― Gerry Souter, Kahlo

“The Ghost Army’s deception equipment was recycled to be used in the army’s “Aggressor Force” training program. It was a hypothetical enemy to train against, with the unstated goal of fighting communism. As for the artists, actors, technicians, magicians and designers of the Ghost Army, they kept silent about their war experiences because the records were still classified Top Secret. Some stayed in the military to continue their careers, while most returned to civilian life faced with answering the question, “What did you do in the war, daddy?” They could reply with an ETO travelogue of impressive adventures without ever mentioning how they had a personal hand in conning Adolf Hitler.”
― Gerry Souter, The Ghost Army: Conning the Third Reich