A Century of Retablos [SOLD]

A Century of Retablos - The Janis and Dennis Lyon Collection of New Mexican Santos, 1780-1880

Hardback, first edition

Authors: Charles M. Carrillo, PH.D. and Thomas J. Steele, S.J.

Condition: excellent condition

From the inside cover:

A rich tradition of religious painting flourished in New Mexico during the years prior to statehood in 1912. In the Spanish colonial era, many painters and their workshops created painted wood panels depicting various santos, or saints, and Christian holy figures, earning for themselves the title of santeros — saint makers. These colorful, narrative panels, called retablos, were worshiped in churches and private homes. Their heyday in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries remains a largely overlooked episode of the history of art in New Mexico.

A Century of Retablos presents for the first time the Janis and Dennis Lyon Collection, one of the finest private collections of retablos in the world, which encompasses the breadth and depth of the retablo tradition. This catalogue not only celebrates the beauty of these images, it examines the methods of creating these panel paintings and provides original research into the santeros who painted them.

This book and accompanying exhibition, originating at the Phoenix Art Museum, is groundbreaking in its approach. Previously unconsidered questions and the biographies of various santeros are explored, as well as the relationship among artists, workshops, and patrons. The essays explore themes of art and religious value, artists' interpretations of religious symbolism, and the stylistic development of santeros.

The expert research by Dr. Charles Carrillo and Father Thomas Steele is the basis of this effort. Carrillo, an accomplished anthropologist who is well-respected in his field, has been widely published over the past twenty years. He is also a leading contemporary santero and recipient of the 2006 National Heritage Fellowship Award. Father Thomas Steele is a highly regarded author and social historian who studies Hispanic life in early New Mexico. Together, their research sheds new light on the social history and artistic significance of colonial retablos, examining not only the physical and aesthetic nature of the decorative panels, but also the ways these works were used in churches and as private devotional objects.