Shrines of Life: Peruvian Retablos - Great Pix!!

Peruvian retablo master Claudio Jimenez Quispe at work, July 2004( Photograph © Anthony Hart Fisher).
Dias de los Muertos (Days of the Dead) Scenes from the Cemetery -Retablo (#PRTB91) Claudio Jimenez (Peru), c.2013 Painted plaster sculpture in painted wood box (`14 1/4" h. x 15" w. x 6" d. with doors closed, 30" wide when open) One of a kind masterpiece - our largest and most detailed retablo yet!$2800
Nacimiento 4 ( Nativity 4) - Retablo(#PRTB-85) Claudio Jimenez Quispe (Peru), c.2013 Painted plaster sculpture in painted wood box (9 3/4" h. x 11 3/4" w. x 3" d.)$595	Retablo Shop - Retablo (#PRTB-62) Claudio Jimenez Quispe (Peru), c.2008, 2009, 2010 Painted plaster sculpture in painted wood box (13 3/4" h.. x 8" w. x 3" d.) Four versions shown. Individual designs will vary.$575
Virgen de Guadalupe - Retablo (#PRTB-89) Claudio Jimenez Quispe (Peru), c.2013 Painted plaster sculpture in painted wood box (14" h. x 8" w. x 3" d.)$595	Taller de Corazones (Valentine Workshop) - Retablo (#PRTB-55) Claudio Jimenez Quispe and Vicenta Flores Atausis(Peru), c.2009, 2113 Painted plaster sculpture in painted wood box (13 1/2" h.. x 8" w. x 3" d.) Individual designs will vary.$595
La Sirena con Guitarra - Retablo (#PGRTB8) Pedro Gonzalez (Aza, Huancayo, Peru), 2008 Painted carved maguey wood sculpture in painted wood box (8 3/4" h.. x 4" w. x 2" d.)Design and colors may vary. $120	Cross (#PGCRS2) Pedro Gonzalez (Aza, Huancayo, Peru), c.2010 Painted carved maguey wood sculpture . (17" h. x 8 3/4" w. x 3" d.) Each piece is one-of-a-kind. Details may vary.$275 SOLD 10/2013
Adam and Eve - Retablo (#PGRTB6) Javier Gonzalez (Aza, Huancayo, Peru), Painted carved maguey wood sculpture in painted wood box (6" h.. x 4" w. x 2" d.)$62	Artist and Model - Retablo (#PGRTB2) Javier Gonzalez (Aza, Huancayo, Peru), Painted carved maguey wood sculpture in painted wood box (6" h.. x 4" w. x 2 1/4" d.)$62
Garden of Eden/Garden of Extinction - Retablo (#PRTB86) Claudio Jimenez Quispe (Peru), c.2013 Painted plaster sculpture in painted wood box (`9 3/4" h. x 11 3/4" w. x 3" d.) Individual designs may vary.$595 SOLD 10/2013	Rodeo de los Muertos (Rodeo of the Dead) - Retablo (#PRTB87) Claudio Jimenez Quispe (Peru), c.2013 Painted plaster sculpture in painted wood box (`9 1/2" h. x 11 3/4" w. x 3" d.) Individual designs may vary.$595
Calavera Bicycle - Retablo figures(#PRFIG-04) Claudio Jimenez Quispe (Peru), c.2012 Painted plaster sculpture. (7" h. x 6 1/2" w. x 2" d.) Individual designs will vary.$65	Novios Muertos - Retablo figures(#PRFIG-06) Claudio Jimenez Quispe (Peru), c.2012 Painted plaster sculpture. (6" h. x 3 1/4" w. x 3 1/4" d.) Individual designs will vary.$65
Retablo Devil Ornament (#PDVL-1) Claudio Jimenez Quispe (Peru), c.2012 Painted plaster sculpture (5 1/4" h.. x 2 1/2" w. x 1 1/4" d.)$32	Retablo Heart Ornament (#PHRT-12) Claudio Jimenez Quispe (Peru), c.2012 Painted plaster sculpture (4 " h.. x 3 1/2" w. x 1 1/4" d.)$38

SHRINES OF LIFE: PERUVIAN RETABLOS

Posted on October 17, 2013 by admin

• Receptions: Saturday, Oct. 19, 2-5pm & Thursday: 
Nov. 14, 6-9pm,
• Indigo Arts
• Wednesday - Saturday, 12 - 6:00 pm.
• Free & Open To The Public

With works by Claudio Jimenez Quispe, Mabilon Jimenez, Eleudora Jimenez, Luis & Julia Huamani, Javier Gonzalez and Pedro Gonzalez.

Shrines of Life celebrates the art of the contemporary Peruvian retablo. The retablo is a portable shrine or nicho that holds figures sculpted of pasta (a mixture of plaster and potato) or maguey cactus wood.   The making of retablos is a folk art whose roots go back to the sixteenth century in the Andes. Spanish priests introduced small portable shrines in the 16th century to aid in the conversion of the Indian population. These were miniature houses made of wood that held images of saints. Over five hundred years this art form has evolved into the retablos that Indigo Arts exhibits today. While the art’s origins are religious, contemporary Peruvian retablos range from the sacred to the secular, to the profane.

Works by master “retablista”,Claudio Jimenez Quispe of Ayacucho, and other members of his extended family, such as Eleudora and Mabilon Jimenez, and Luis and Julia Huamani sculpt pasta figures to depict not just saints but scenes of daily life, commerce, romance, political strife and fantasy. Some of the recent work shows strong influences of Mexican folk art as well. In keeping with the season, Shrines of Life includes scenes of death and the underworld that celebrate the upcoming Dias de los Muertos (Days of the Dead) holidays, as well as some exquisite nativity scenes.

Javier and Pedro Gonzalez of Huancayo, Peru create retablos, santos and devotional crosses using a different technique from the Ayacucho artists. In a technique learned from their grandfather, Don Pedro Abilio Gonzalez Flores, they carve figures from maguey cactus wood, finishing it with a plaster gesso. Working in the tradition of Peruvian santeros, who carved saint figures for both churches and home altars, the Gonzalez brothers are known for the exquisite detail and sensitivity of their faces. Like the Jimenez family of Ayacucho, they also carve many figures of calaveras – skeletons – for the Days of the Dead.

Indigo Arts, a Gallery of Ethnographic, Folk and Contemporary Arts from Africa, Asia and the Americas, established in 1986, is located in the Crane Arts Building, Suite #104, 1400 North American St., Philadelphia, 19122. For further information contact Anthony Fisher at (215)765-1041, or go to http://indigoarts.com/news_shrines2013.html