The Franz Mayer Museum in Mexico City is featuring a special exhibition about the Virgin of Guadalupe. The images include primitive figures in carved wood, elaborate paintings and wood carvings from church altars, woven and embroidered textiles, and contemporary 2016 photographs by Federico Gama taken at the Basilica de Guadalupe in Mexico City.
Why am I so taken with this exhibition? Certainly not from a religious point-of-view, but from one interested in the cultural expression of this great nation. The Virgin of Guadalupe is Mexico’s own, personal patron saint.
To me, she is a woman of strength and valor, able to transform and uplift a nation. She is Mother Earth, fertility and blessing. Her figure transcends and tricks the Spanish overlord. She is disguised as and more than the Virgin Mary. Her roots are indigenous. She belongs to the people.
I am also taken with the various artistic expressions of her figure, how she is depicted: from facial expressions, use of color and shadows on the folds of her gown, the portrayal of the angel at her feet, from simple to elaborate. It seems that everyone had their own version of the Virgin of Guadalupe vision.
As my friend, artist Lena Bartula says, In Guad We Trust.
Virgin of Guadalupe Exvoto
I hope you enjoy this visual expression of Mexican life.
Stone church carving
Ceramic plate from Patzcuaro
A Federico Gama portrait
Even the Virgin wants us to drink Pepsi
Close up of the angel, 18th century
A book engraving
One artist’s version with apparitions and flowers
Another version with a different cloak and coloring
Note the more elaborate Mexican flag on the angel’s wings
A polychrome figure, perhaps from Oaxaca
A Federico Gama portrait at the Basilica de Guadalupe
Inlaid oyster shell portrait
Exvoto, giving thanks to the Virgin for a car purchase
Embroidered textile, huipil
Ceramic and alpaca metal from Guadalajara
A primitive painting, every bit as meaningful
Formalized altar construction
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