Catrina figure, unknown maker from Mexico

Artwork Overview

Catrina figure
Catrina figure
Catrina figure
1998
Catrina figure , 1998
Where object was made: Chiapas, Mexico
Material/technique: ceramic; glaze; metal
Dimensions:
Object Height/Width/Depth (Height x Width x Depth): 66.5 x 20.5 x 25 cm
Object Height/Width/Depth (Height x Width x Depth): 26 3/16 x 8 1/16 x 9 13/16 in
Credit line: Gift of Lee Mann
Accession number: 2007.1506.a,b
Not on display
Add to portfolio

If you wish to reproduce this image, please submit an image request

Images

Label texts

Exhibition Label:
"Time/Frame," Jun-2008, Robert Fucci, Shuyun Ho, Lauren Kernes, Lara Kuykendall, Ellen C. Raimond, and Stephanie Teasley
The Mesoamerican feathered serpent deity, known to the Aztecs as Quetzalcoatl, gave
time to humanity, and by so doing defined their world. For this gift, humanity was bound to reciprocate with human blood: death was seen, and celebrated, as a necessary part of life. The Aztec Month of the Dead, in which the souls of the deceased were believed to return and dance among the living as winged creatures, is celebrated in modern Mexico as Day of the Dead, or Día de los Muertos, when the living celebrate the lives of those who have gone before.

Exhibitions

Time/Frame
Spencer Museum of Art Interns 2007–2008, curator
2008
The Object Speaks
Cassandra Mesick Braun, curator
Kate Meyer, curator
Celka Straughn, curator
2016–2021
Brosseau Center for Learning: Remembrance: Reflections from the Día de Muertos
Kate Meyer, curator
2024

Resources

Audio

Didactic – Art Minute
Didactic – Art Minute
Episode 272 (revised Episode 165) Nov-2008, revised Sep-2012, Megan Ampe I’m David Cateforis with another Art Minute from the Spencer Museum of Art. One of the most popular figures of the Mexican Day of the Dead festival is that of the Catrina. The Catrina is a woman of obvious wealth and sophistication, depicted as a skeleton. This figure challenges the perception that the wealthy are somehow impervious to death. Currently on display in the Spencer is a Catrina figure from Chiapas, Mexico. Made by an unknown artist in the late 20th century, she stands just under two and a half feet tall, and is made of glazed and fired clay. Large yellow flowers, interspersed with green stems and leaves trace their way up the flowing black gown of this elegant skeletal woman. Her collar is trimmed with a wide blue ribbon. Her garment provides ample opportunity for the viewer to see the bare ribcage beneath, and her grinning skull peaks from beneath a wide brimmed hat decorated with blue flowers. This skeleton, dressed in her finery, reveals the absurdity of vanity and forces each of us to confront the inevitability of death. With thanks to Megan Ampe for her text, from the Spencer Museum of Art, I’m David Cateforis