Baile Con La Talaca (Dance With Death) VERY RARE!

Description: Baile Con La Talaca (Dance With Death)Stone Lithograph on rice paper. 198439 x 26 7/8 inches, 99.1 × 68.6 cm.Luis Jimenez 1940 - 2006Luis Jiménez was born in El Paso, Texas on July 30, 1940. He is the son of an illegal immigrant who became a citizen at the age of 25. At an early age he worked in his father's neon-sign making shop. As a young person Jiménez witnessed the power of festival music and dance to build community identity, although as a Protestant he was not allowed to dance.After beginning his college education at Texas Western College in El Paso, Jiménez studied architecture at the University of Texas in El Paso and later studied art at the University of Texas in Austin. When he switched his major to fine arts, his father "basically disowned me. He [Jiménez' father] wouldn't speak to me for a couple of years. In 1964 Jiménez studied art in Mexico City, and in 1966 moved to New York City. Jiménez lived in New York City during a time of street riots and anti Vietnam War protests. While living in New York, he worked for the NYC Youth board, worked as a sculptor's apprentice, and succeeded in having his artwork exhibited for the first time. "At his first show, Jiménez received a gold watch from his father. Engraved inside were the conciliatory words, 'To my son the artist.'" The print illustrates the ending of a traditional legend attributed to Aztec culture. Luis Jiménez used the print, as well as numerous drawings, as he worked out his composition for a large fiber glass sculpture also called Southwestern Pieta."What I liked about the Southwest Pieta image in terms of Albuquerque was a kind of commonality of symbols and images. The same images and symbols that are so important to us in Mexico are also equally important to us in the U.S. Certainly the eagle - it's the national symbol for both countries. The rattlesnake is important from a religious standpoint for the Native Americas, as are the two plant forms that I used in the piece. The Nopal cactus was an important food and actually still is south of the border, as is the Maguey Mescal cactus. You know, the local Apaches here in the area are called the Mescaleros because they were Mescal eaters. There's a bulb at the bottom of the plant. It's an important food source. It's also what they make tequila out of." Man on Fire: Luis Jiménez/ El hombre en llamas, Albuquerque, NM: Albuquerque Museum, 1994, p. 142.There is an edition of fifty prints of Southwestern Pieta. Some are owned by museums and other by private individuals. A print displayed in a home may well have special significance to its owner. Viewers of a print exhibited in a museum in the southwest may understand it differently from visitors who see another of the prints of the Soutwestern Pieta on exhibit at a museum in the east, south, or midwest .Mexican Americans who grew up with the story that the print depicts will understand it differently from, for example, art history scholars who are familiar with many pietàs (usually the dead Christ held by his mother, the Virgin Mary) in Western art.According to a May 19, 1996 article in the Salt Lake Tribune, "Aztec Past Meets Fiberglass Future," "Jiménez has become a contemporary spokesman on commingling of cultures as they were in historic Mexico and as they continue to be in the American Southwest, where he resides." Jiménez' depiction of a legend that precedes Hispanic influence using Western art traditions supports an interpretation of the Southwestern Pieta as an expression of commingled cultures.(Luis Jiménez made a sculpture called Southwest Pieta, a year after the print. It is one of an edition of five castings. The sculpture met with controversy when it was installed in a park in Albuquerque. There were rumors that it depicted a Spaniard's rape of an Indian woman. Eventually the sculpture was installed in the workers' community of Martineztown.)Many Chicanos are familiar with the story depicted in the print. The story is often represented on Mexican calendars. Non-Chicano viewers are not so likely to be able to "read" the narrative of the print. According to the legend, attributed to Aztec culture, but refined by 19th century romantic Mexican sensibilities, Popo and Ixta, the Aztec emperor's daughter, were secret lovers. In order to prove himself to the father of Ixtaccíhuatl, the hero, Popocátepetl, goes to war, Ixtaccíhuatl, remains faithful to him at home. Popocátepetl's evil rival gets word back to Ixtaccíhuatl that Popocátepetl has been killed. When Ixtaccíhuatl hears of her lover's death, she dies of grief during her wedding ceremony to the evil rival. After Popocátepetl returns safely he discovers the tragedy. He takes Ixta to the highest mountains and stays with her for days on end. Eventually, the gods take pity on the lovers and turn them into complementary mountains (Popocáteptl is on the right and Ixtaccíhuatl on the left), for all eternity. The two mountains in the background of Luis Jiménez' print represent actual mountains near Mexico City (Tenochtitlán, the Aztec capital) named, Popocátepetl and Ixtaccíhuatl, after the two Aztec lovers.The sensuous curves of the image emphasize the attraction between the lovers. The warm colors suggest passion and blood. The triangular position of the woman suggests the strength and endurance (like the mountain) of faithful love. As Luis Jiménez points out, the plants and animals are significant symbols in U.S., Mexican, and Native American cultures. Corn, a plant indigenous to the Americas has great significance in traditional Mesoamerican and Native American cultures.Clearly recognizable subject matter and traditional drawing techniques (anatomical detail and cross hatching, for example) are often characteristics of artworks by Chicano artists. Many Chicano artists also choose ancient Mesoamerican subject matter.Luis Jiménez work draws from several traditions, from the sign-making practices of his father; from the street culture of the Southwest; from the WPA mural tradition of the Depression; as well as from the graphic traditions of Mexican artists in the first half of the twentieth century. Jiménez went to Mexico City in 1964 to work with Francisco Zúñiga. While there he also saw paintings that he admired by José Clemente Orozco."Early on, [Jiménez] realized that the glimmering lowriders cruising the streets and highways of the Southwest had already synthesized painting and sculpture. They were the ultimate accommodation of solidity and translucency, and as a young Protestant, growing up in a Catholic world with an artist's education, Jiménez recognized the traditions of Baroque art in the design and execution of these magical automobiles -- in the way the smooth folds of steel and the hundreds of coats of transparent lacquer caught the light and held it as they slipped through the dry streets like sleeves of liquid color." Dave Hickey, (1997) "Introduction" in Howl: The Artwork of Luis Jiménez by Camille Flores-Turney, New Mexico Magazine, p. 8.The theme of narrative unites Luis Jiménez' work with many artists of different cultures. Among these artists are Chicana/o artists like, Carmen Lomas Garza, Luis Guerra, and Yolanda López; Mexican artists like Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo, José Guadalupe Posada, and Alfredo Zalce; American regionalists, such as Thomas Hart , and Grant Wood; and European artists such as Francisco Goya, Honoré Daumier, and William Hogarth.The idea of seeking cultural identity in legends of the past is a theme that bridges cultures. Examples include the Renaissance revision of classical Greek and Roman art and culture, early U.S. neo-classical architecture, and the Chinese painting tradition of looking to great masters of the past.The pietà theme, unites Luis Jiménez lithograph with the long tradition of Christian pietas depicting the Virgin Mary holding her dead son, Christ (such as Michelangelo's Vatican pietà).© 2001 Hispanic Research Center, Arizona State University. Excerpts from Camille Flores-Turney. (1997). Howl: The Artwork of Luis JiménezCollier Gallery has been in continuous operation for over 42 years. Originally located just off Main Street in downtown Scottsdale, Arizona, we have moved to Phoenix to accommodate and showcase our large inventory including:• Original works by Maynard Dixon, Lon Megargee, Ed Mell, Fritz Scholder, Bill Schenck, Bill Lesch, Luis Jimenez, GregSingley, Dan Budnik, and other 20th century Western, WPA and Contemporary Southwestern artists.• The Fine Art Estate of Lon Megargee• Vintage rodeo photography from our collection, hand colored, & reproduced in very large format, archival quality.• Western Antiques and Mid Century Modern furnishing, lighting, lamps and chandeliers from the 40s, 50s and 60sMichael Collier has over 42 years of fine art expertise and framing design. A custom frame maker offering hand carved, gilded frames, finished in wood tones and genuine gold leaf. 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Price: 17500 USD

Location: Phoenix, Arizona

End Time: 2024-10-01T23:29:08.000Z

Shipping Cost: 450 USD