By ELISABETH MALKIN

SAN MIGUEL DE ALLENDE, Mexico - In a back room tucked behind an antiques gallery in this mountain town there is a shrine to the painter Frida Kahlo.

A dozen paintings jostle for wall space. A trunk shows off folded huipiles, the traditional Oaxacan blouses that Kahlo favored. Binders hold copies of pages of notes scribbled at dawn and airmail letters never sent, filled with anger and passion for her husband, Diego Rivera, the muralist.

The question is whether any of it was hers.

Carlos Noyola, the art and antiques dealer who acquired the collection, says he has proved that it is. There are 1,200 items, worth a fortune if they were Kahlo’s.

But the publication by Princeton Architectural Press of a glossy art book in the United States about the trove has mobilized a diverse group of experts in Mexico, the United States and Europe who say that the objects are fake. In late September the Mexican government trust that controls the copyright to Kahlo’s work filed a criminal complaint against Mr. Noyola.

Mary-Anne Martin, a New York dealer in Latin American art, said in an e-mail message that she had “seen photographs of many of the works in this collection” and had “read the provenance and all the material provided.” She added, “On the basis of the style and execution of the paintings and drawings, the character and the content of the letters, recipes and diary pages, I can tell you that they are fake.”

The book, “Finding Frida Kahlo,” scheduled for publication on November 1, contains lavish illustrations of many items in the collection. The book includes a lengthy interview with Mr. Noyola and his wife, Leticia Fernandez. Beginning in 2004, the couple said, they bought the items from a Mexico City lawyer, who told them that he had acquired them from a woodcarver who had made frames for Kahlo. She trusted him so much that she gave the woodcarver several suitcases and boxes full of her most intimate possessions. The Noyolas tracked down a photograph of the woodcarver, Abraham Jimenez Lopez, which appears in the book. They had the works authenticated by Ruth Alvarado, Rivera’s granddaughter, who died two years ago. They also consulted three artists who studied and worked with Kahlo and Rivera in the 1940s.

Throughout the Noyola collection, nearly every piece is signed “Frida K.,” a signature rarely seen in the collection of documents stored at the Frida Kahlo Museum, which was her house.

Jennifer Thompson, editorial director of Princeton Architectural Press, said she had not consulted outside experts before signing up the book because she had confidence in the steps Mr. Noyola had taken to authenticate the works.

“We just fell in love with the material,” she said. “There’s something so provocative and shocking about it. I think if it hadn’t been Kahlo it would still be interesting.”


PRINCETON ARCHITECTURAL PRESS / A sketch attributed to Frida Kahlo, part of a dealer’s collection; a page
from an authenticated diary by Kahlo, right.


FRIDA KAHLO MUSEUM, MEXICO CITY