The long tradition of Tlaquepaque Mexican Presidents figurines

Last month a very good friend of mine and owner of one of the best collections on Mexican Folk Art asked me to help him complete his collection of Vintage Tlaquepaque Mexican Presidents figurines. In the past I had seen them on museums and books like "Ceramica Mexican pottery of the 20th Century" but I had never own one. My friend had in his collection 22 figurines dating fromt he 1930's and 1940's with presidents from the 1910's (Porfirio Diaz) to the 1940s's. So my task was to help him find the rest of the presidents from the 1940's to todays (that makes up another 33 Presidents!!!).
Making some research with my friends and contacts in Museums of Mexico, I was able to find the Nunez (Nuñez) family in Tlaquepaque Mexico. The main living artists of this family are Margarito Nuñez (80 years old) and Pilar Nuñez (daugther of Margarito Nuñez). Between the 2 of them have been keeping the tradition of making Mexican Presidents, a tradition that started Margarito Nuñez Panduro (father of Margarito Nuñez) back in the 1915. But this tradition of making figurines did not started with the series of "Mexican Presidents", actually the tradition started with Margaritos grand grand father Pantaleon Panduro (the guy in the black and white photo). Master Pantaleon (1830-1912) its a folk art legend from the late 1800's, and actually there it is a museum and a street with his name in Tlaquepaque Mexico. Pantaleon its father of Maura Panduro, Maura its the mother of Margarito Nuñez Panduro, Margarito is father of Margarito Jr and Margarito Jr its the father of Pilar.
Getting back to the "Mexican Presidents" Margarito Nuñez Panduro in 1915 started with the figurine of Mexican President "Benito Juarez" and as time went by he keep adding and adding more presidents till his death, the last Mexican President that he made was Adolfo Lopez Mateos. Margarito Nuñez Jr (now 80 years old) keep the tradition and he added the next presidents as time has gone from President "Ruiz Cortinez" to current Mexican President "Felipe Calderon". Pilar, daughter of Margarito saw that before Benito Juarez there where also many other presidents!, so she now completed the collection from the First Mexican Emperor once Mexico became independent from Spain adding up another 30 presidents and 2 emperors to the collection.
If you are interested on buying pieces of the Mexican Presidents collection, please get in touch with us at mexfolkarts@yahoo.com.mx, the Nuñez family has the originals antique and vintage molds of the same figurines that you see in books and museums.
Tha last photos show Margarito Nuñez with a miniature Tibor mold made by his grand grand father Pantaleon Panduro. The tibor shows that bust of current mexican President from those days "Porfirio Diaz".
Please remember to see our online store at http://losnaguales.com if you are looking for something in particular please do not hesitate to send us an email.

The new era of Patric Jars (Tiburcio Soteno)

Hi again!
As many of you may all ready know this 2010 in Mexico we celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Mexican Revolution and 200 years of the Independence from Spain!. Well over the year I will be writing about Mexican Folk art that Celebrates the Bicentennial and Centennial.
This time the subject for this post will be the "Patriotic Jars" many of them where made in the early 1900s as part of the celebration of the 100th years of the Mexican Independence. This first photo shows an example.

Many of this antique jars where made in Metepec in the State of Mexico, one hour away from Mexico City. Unfortunately now in modern days its impossible to find some one in Metepec that could make similar items, well that was until thanks to the idea of good friend, collector and customer Michael Ricker we commissioned Great Master of Mexican Folk Art Tiburcio Soteno to start making testes in order to recreate this old jars with great decoration. The result was a very impressive piece of folk art with a great composition and a great amount of work, much more sophisticated compared to the old ones.
The subject of this Patriotic Jar that Tiburcio Soteno made was the "Decena Tragica" a passage of Mexican the Mexican Revolution when in October of 1911 president Madero was betrayal by Victoriano Huerta and the American Ambassador Henry Lane Wilson, so the jar shows Huerta and Lane, below its the "Palacio Nacional" being fired by cannons, the people below represent the civil people that where killed as part of the battle.
If you want more information of Tiburcio please check my older post about his Trees of life, or write me to mexfolkarts@yahoo.com.mx, we can commission him special order items. Enjoy!!

Our Day of the Dead Paper Mache Linares Exhibit

Well the day finally arrived and on October 24 we had on display our exhibit of life size day of the dead Skeletons by Ricardo Linares and Felipe Linares at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery day of the dead celebration!.
The place of display was the Cathedral Mausoleum of the Cemetery (where the rests of Rudolph Valentino are). A perfect place with the look of a Museum where besides the Linares art also on display where paintings from Local artists and by artists from Rosarito Mexico like David Silvah and Francisco Cabello.
The event took place from 4pm to 11pm and all of the time the Mausoleum-Gallery was packed with visitors (see photo). From all of the pieces on display the Wedding set made by Ricardo Linares was very popular (Groom, bride, girl with rings, bishop and dog!!), other popular pieces that everyone took photos of where a big Catrina and an Enramada (branchmen) both of them made by Felipe Linares).
We would like to thank our patrons that very kindly let us use the pieces that we have sold them over the last few years. Our patrons are: Kelly Holland, Amy and Arthur Franz and Joan Kramer and Brian Hudson!.
Over the next days and weeks we will receive other very interesting life size pieces by the Linares, they are special orders by our collectors, I will make sure to post the photos!, one of them its a life size Cuahutemoc (Aztec Warrior) by Leonardo Linares, a Life size Judero (street vendor of Judas paper figures) and a Life Size Crowned nun made by Felipe Linares!!.
If you would like to inquiry about Linares pieces, please send us an Email to mexfolkarts@yahoo.com.mx and also you can check our online store to see what we have on stock by them, click here to see them.

What is day of the dead?

Mexican Day of the Dead is an interesting holiday celebrated in the cities and countryside in central and southern Mexico during the chilly days of November 1 & 2.
Even though this coincides with the Catholic holiday called All Soul's & All Saint’s Day, the indigenous people have combined this with their own ancient beliefs of honoring their deceased loved ones.
They believe that the gates of heaven are opened at midnight on October 31 and the spirits of all deceased children (angelitos) are allowed to reunite with their families. On November 2, the spirits of the adults come down to enjoy the festivities that are prepared for them.
In most Indian villages, beautiful altars (ofrendas) are made in each home. They are decorated with candles, lowers (wild marigolds called cempasuchil & bright red cock's combs) mounds of fruit, peanuts, plates of turkey mole, stacks of tortillas and big loaves of bread called pan de muerto. The weary spirits need lots of food, bottles of soda, hot cocoa and water. Toys and candies are left for the angelitos and on Nov. 2, cigarettes and shots of mezcal are offered to
the adult spirits. Little folk art skeletons and sugar skulls, purchased at open-air markets, provide the final touches.
Day of the Dead is a very expensive holiday! Many spend over two month's income to honor their dead relatives. They believe that happy spirits will provide protection, good luck and wisdom to their families.
On the afternoon of Nov. 2, the festivities are taken to the cemetery. People clean tombs, play cards, listen to the village band and reminisce about their loved ones. This tradition keeps the village close. Day of the Dead is becoming very popular in the U.S.~ perhaps because we
don't have a way to celebrate and honor our dead, or maybe it's because of our fascination with its mysticism. We would like to thank Angela Villalba for her information about this subject, you can check her wonderful webpage at http://mexicansugarskull.com

Ricardo Linares: Humor & Day of the Dead

I have been always a big fan of papier mache folk art, specially the one made by the Linares Family the creators of those fantastical animals called "Alebrijes". The story tells that the Patriarch of this family "Don Pedro Linares" saw this fantastical animals in his dreams while beein sick. Once he recovered, he started making those fantastical figures on papier mache and gave them the name of "Alebrijes". He never imagined that his creation will have such a deep reception on Mexican Folk.
Ricardo Linares (grandson of Don Pedro) at age 40 its one of the most prolific members on the family; museums, Galleries and private exhibitions in the States and Europe have had his work on display some the places are: San Jose, Sacramento, San Fransisco, Oakland, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Cleveland, Chicago, Philadelphia and Boston. Over seas his work has been in Spain, France, Germany and Australia.
The special trade mark of Ricardo has been the sense on humor that his pieces show, for example you can see scenes with devils and angels figthing for the soul of a skeleton, or the same devil and angel having fun with a bottle of Tequila. One of his most famous piece its called "Dolor de Cabeza" (The headache) basically its a day of the dead skeleton running with an expression of pain in his head, and poping out from it there it is an Alebrije!!. Another piece that I like its the piece entitled "El coco" (the bogeymen) it shows a skeleton with a mask playing a joke to a scared smaller skeleton.
For more information on the Linares Family, you can also check my older post on Felipe Linares. Enjoy!!
To see the art by Ricardo Linares that we have for sale click here.

Angel Santos: Perfection on Tonala Ceramics

There are 2 artists from Tonala that I like the most, one its Salvador Vazquez, and the other one its Angel Santos, both of them Masters, but very different in style. While Salvador follows a more "naive" and traditional line of decoration, Angel Santos looks for perfection, perfection in its burnished finish and perfection in his very sophisticated decoration, specially in his miniatures.
Angel was born in Zacatecas (as many great Mexican Artists), but moved to Jalisco at a very early age. At age 7 he started his relationship with clay, he was a helper at the Mario Silva studio, folk art its about tradition from one generation to the other the earlier you begin the better, that's what happened to Angel, he felt in love with the craft at a very early age.
While still a teenager Angel Santos opened his own studio, in those days it was difficult to convince folk art store owners that he was the artisan that made those well made ceramics, but with time and hard work he made a name of his own, specially because he was able to do his own designs with new never seen before ideas for his Ceramics.
His quest for perfection brought him to search for professional studies, so he went to school at the Universidad de Guadalajara where he made 2 mayors one in Graphic Design and the other one on Sculpture, this its something very rare to see in a folk art artist because usually they only learn the craft from family tradition.
Besides his skills for the craft, Angel also its a leader in his community, some years ago he formed the non profit organization "Herencia Milenaria" which its a group of Tonala Artisians that joined forces in order to be able to exhibit there ceramics as a collective group outside Mexico. In 2006 his group received from Mexican President Fox the National Award on science and Arts in the folk art category in recognition for work to promote Mexican Ceramics.
If you would like more information on this artist or just to get in touch please write us to mexfolkarts@yahoo.com.mx or check our item by the Tonala Great Masters please click this link: www.losnaguales.com.

Guadalupe Hermosillo: Master of old style Ironsmith

Since the XVII Century old buildings in the Colonial city of San Cristobal de las Casas Chiapas have been decorated with big iron crosses on top of there roofs. Usually those crosses have several figures like a ruster, a hearth, a leader, a snake, a balance and so on, each one of them has a meaning and all they represent the passion of Christ (Hearth=Sacred hearth of Christ, rooster=Peters denial, snake=temptation, balance=justice, the leader to bring down Jesus from the Cross, the lance that the Roman soldier used, etc).
My first approach to one of these crosses (before visiting San Cristobal) was 3 years ago at the new National Museum of Mexican Folk Art in Mexico City know as MAP (Museo de Arte Popular), behind glass there lies a huge cross with all those symbols made by Great Master of Mexican Folk Art Guadalupe Hermosillo. 2 years ago I was lucky enougth to meet him in person at his studio in San Cristobal de las Casas. He its a great person, very humble men who likes to work hard and to do things as perfect as possible, for example: his new crosses are much more sophisticated compared to the one at the book Great Masters of Mexican Folk Art (now each bar of iron its actually made of 2 twisted bars that look like one, making double work just to give the optical illusion of one bar), another example its that he likes to keep working the same way as in the old days, each and every joint are made with rivets, my guess its that 99.99% of modern ironsmiths only know how to make soldered joints instead of using rivets.
He its also very reliable of special orders, one time he made for me a custom cross just to hold in front of it a wood cross with a straw mosaic by Guillermo Olay, he ended up making an amazing job!!. I hope to post a photo of it some day. See you on the next post!.
Please write us to let us know your favorite subjects on Mexican Folk Art in order for us to write about it in our blog, our email its mexfolkarts@yahoo.com.mx if you would like to see our items for sale by the Great Masters of Mexican Folk Art just click on the next link: www.losnaguales.com thanks!!

Mexico's National Award of Ceramics 2009

Since the late 1970s the "Premio Nacional de Ceramica" was established to help promote the craftsmanship of Mexican artisans and to bring there work at collectors level, each year the number of the pieces and there quality has been growing and growing!, this year 5200 pieces where summit!!.
I'm very happy to let you know that this year 3 of my friends that I work with have won this great contest. They are: Angel Santos, Juan Hernandez and Juan Carlos de la Cruz.
Angel Santos, won the "Angel Carranza Award" in recognition to his long trajectory as a great master in the field of burnished ceramics from Tonala, just a couple of years ago he and his group of artisans "Herencia Milenaria", won the National Award of Science and Arts in the folk Art category. The work of Angel can be found in several books of Mexican Folk Art, between them Great Masters of Mexican Folk Art and Arte Del Pueblo, Manos De Dios/Art of the People, Hands of God ( the catalog of the National Museum of Mexican Folk Art). Angel its very famous for his miniatures where in just a few inches he can show a Mexican fiesta!.
Juan Hernandez from Metepec its also very famous for miniatures but his are miniature trees of life just 4 inches tall. One example its a day of the dead tree of life that we have at hour gallery, its 3.2 inches tall and it has 50 day of the dead musicians!!! each one with its own musical instrument!!!. (see photo) His work can be found in the miniatures section of the book "Crafts of the people hands of God", several museums have his work including the National Museum of Folk Art in Mexico City know as MAP.
Juan Carlos de la Cruz, wow!, what to write about him??!! I'm always speechless every time I see one of his day of the dead miniatures. Since a young kid he has been working the clay, he learned the craft from his dad also famous artisan Alvaro de la Cruz in Capula Mexico. Specially I love his day of the dead crowned nuns and his Galleros (see photo).
Usually we carry the work of this 3 masters under special order, any way, please check our online store www.losnaguales.com or send us an email to mexfolkarts@yahoo.com.mx Enjoy!!!.

Angelica Morales Tzinztuntzan lead free pottery

In the small village of Tzintzuntzan there has been several generations of artisans doing wonderful cream and black ceramics, the book Cera*mica: Mexican Pottery of the 20th Century
shows some examples, all of them at a very naive level. Angelica Morales, her sister and brother have been the pioneers on bringing this “naive” decoration to the next level of beauty. Angelica's unique style shows scenes of traditional fiestas, Mexican markets, festivals and geometric prehispanic figures. Usually the main characters on her compositions are women, kids and mermaids. Specially her mermaids call the attention of every one, I have never seen nothing similar to her exquisite mermaids!. Another plus on her ceramics its that they are lead free, giving a special bonus to her art!.

Besides her pottery, Angelica its also famous for her drawings on amate bark paper, the most impressive one I have seen by her its a big scene with many Mexican children playing traditional Mexican games, own by collector of Mexican Folk Art Gale Cunningham.

Welcomet to our New Blog!!

Hello friends!!
Thanks for checking this new blog devoted to Great Masters of Mexican Folk Art!. Here we will be publishing information and photos about Mexican them, there work, biography, books and museums with there work. Please feel free to get in touch with all your comments, suggestions or questions about the subject.
If you would like to buy art from these masters please get in touch with us at mexfolkarts@yahoo.com.mx or check our online store www.losnaguales.com

About Los Naguales Great Masters Of Mexican Folk Art

Founded in 2003 by Benito Del Aguila, Los Naguales: Great Masters of Mexican Folk Art was established as a pioneering Folk Art Gallery, aimed to promote Mexican traditions by bringing the best artisians from all over Mexico to our online Gallery and to our bricks & mortar Gallery in Rosarito Mexico, our catalog of artists include several ones that have won the National Award for Science & Arts in the folk art category, others have been published in several books of Folk art, won contests or have pieces of them on display at Museums all around the world.

Vision: To help artisians with there cultural labor by working with them in a fair trade relationship and by publishing there biographies, techniques and work on the World Wide Web.

Mission: To help promote the best Mexican folk art around the world by providing both collectors and artisians a safe and easy way to trade between both parties